On 8th March, International Women’s Day, we will hold public memorials to mourn the hundreds of thousands who we have lost unnecessarily, and the increased violence we are facing at work and at home. Now more than ever, women and non-binary people feel the weight of society on our shoulders and are holding the crisis of care in our hands. We will take this time to grieve collectively and stand together for those deemed expendable by the government, drawing a red feminist thread of care and resistance across our homes, our cities and our communities.
Full call out below…
📍Local : Events following covid restrictions will be held in Bristol, London, Liverpool, Plymouth. More info below.
👩💻 Digital memorial: Add to the memorial by sharing your message or why you’re striking (or can’t strike!) with #WeStrike on Twitter and Instagram. Your message will be added to the wall. If you don’t want to post on social media, send us a private message or email and we can add your message. Check out the wall here: womenstrike.org.uk/digital-memorial/
With the increased precarity of and dependency on the paid and unpaid labour that we do, and many people unable to leave their homes, we know it’s not possible for everyone to strike or join our local memorials. So here’s other ways you can join the strike:
- Call in sick, take paid leave from work, or log off during lunch (and tell your colleagues why.)
- Wear a red mask or red clothes.
- If you have a partner, or family member that usually doesn’t do the housework or care work, ask them to take over for the day.
- Put posters, red ribbons, flowers, candles, in your local park and on your windows. Make sure to take photos and share with #WeStrike
- Spread the word on your mutual aid groups.
National
https://fb.me/e/4jOt229zq
Bristol
https://fb.me/e/3woOzsiB1
Edinburgh
https://fb.me/e/1DhcAgPpw
Liverpool
https://fb.me/e/hxmb1pFJI
London
https://fb.me/e/6lVbOl0vM
Plymouth
https://fb.me/e/3mEInG1wW
🦠Please read before attending memorial:
We want to make these spaces covid-safe as possible. Please avoid using public transport or taxis to come to our memorial. Please make sure to observe social distancing at the memorials by staying 2 meters apart from each other, wearing face masks if possible and sanitise your hands before and after touching surfaces. We will be around to help ensure covid restrictions are being followed.
This year, more than any other, has made clear why the Women’s Strike is actually impossible – our labour is essential to keep everyone alive and profit flowing, and exploited at the same time. We have to do a triple shift: our paid work, our unpaid domestic labour as well as, in many cases, educating children at home.
At work, we represent a disproportionate number of key workers and those on the frontlines are overwhelmingly people of colour and migrants. It is us who have kept care homes, supermarkets, hospitals, schools and nurseries open. This labour has become more visible and has been deemed essential but what has this gotten us? We were sent back to work with no PPE and no increase in our wages.
The home has been and remains a place of violence for many of us and the pandemic has confined us to it. The State has long ignored gender based violence, in the home and on the streets and we have only seen this worsen under lockdown conditions.
We refuse to be the ‘heroes of the nation’ when at work or the ‘angels of the home’ when we aren’t. We demand an end to the system built on sexism, racism and violence – capitalism and patriarchy are deadly. We know that we can’t just demand this change, we have to start building it collectively, to support and care for one another. As our Chilean sisters say:
EL ESTADO NO ME CUIDA, ME CUIDAN MIS AMIGAS
THE STATE DOES NOT TAKE CARE OF ME, MY FRIENDS TAKE CARE OF ME
We are calling on feminists to weave a red thread of feminist resistance and care. Bring candles, flowers, placards, red ribbons and your rage, power and grief.