Make wishtv.com your home page

Central Indiana women taking part in ‘A Day Without a Woman’ strike

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Wednesday is International Women’s Day, and this year some women are going on strike in order to put a spotlight on women’s rights.

The organizers behind the Women’s March on Washington put together A Day Without A Woman protests. Organizers are asking women to stay home from work, avoid spending money or wear red to show solidarity.

The goal is to use women’s economic power to show how important women are to society. Organizers said if women aren’t at work and aren’t spending money,  businesses will feel that impact and see how vital women are to the economy.

Organizers said they realize not everyone can stay home from work, but they hope people can avoid spending money or red to show support and spark conversations. Organizers hope to raise awareness about issues like equal pay, gender discrimination, health care, education, sexual harassment and job insecurity.

“We’re all doing this for similar reasons, but we have different experiences and we have different reasons why we’re so passionate about what we’re doing,” said Larissa Jones, a state Women’s March leader.

Since the March on Washington, Jones said participating women have been taking action in their local communities by contacting Congress, talking with local leaders and engaging with other women in their communities.

“We were fragmented before the march, but we all came together realizing we had a common goal and common tings that we need to protect: our education, our health care, our rights, our voting rights. We need to get rid of gerrymandering,” said Denise Valkyrie, “We’re also focusing on empowering more women to become involved in the political process.”

Jones and Valkyrie said they will continue to work for women’s rights after the strike on International Women’s Day.

“One thing we’ve been doing is… getting with women in your actual community, in your neighborhood. Coming together and discussing how we can make a difference in our education system how we can make a difference in local government, state government, how we can contact our representatives,” said Jones.

The organizers said men can join in the effort on Wednesday by  wearing red or just simply engaging and talking about with other people about  the issues.

Never miss another Facebook post from WISH-TV