A Day Without a Woman?

Did you know it is International Women’s Day? I confess, I did not get the memo, so I am grateful to a colleague who asked me early in the day why I had not taken the day off—or at least worn solidarity RED!

The same organizers who brought us the marches with those charming pink knitted hats following the President’s Inauguration, have called for:

  • Women to take the day off, from paid and unpaid labor
  • Avoid shopping for one day (with exceptions for small, women- and minority-owned businesses)
  • Wear RED in solidarity with A Day Without A Woman

If anyone doubts that the teachers union (not necessarily teachers) are behind this movement, note that 15,000 students in Alexandria, Virginia and elsewhere could not go to school because so many teachers took the day off. And just how did that help young women, and working women?

But I digress.

I apologize to women everywhere. I should have worn RED and taken the day off to wallow in my oppression and complain about my First World Problems to make sure that my value at work and home are appreciated but honestly, it was a packed day:

After shaking off overwhelming and daily feelings of gender-oppression, I kicked myself into high gear:

I started the day working with officials, including women, in Washington, D.C., to make sure that Minnesota appoints outstanding candidates to fill openings in the Administration and on our federal bench. Some of the candidates are women.

Then I chatted briefly with Katherine Kersten, a fellow lawyer, writer and respected policy leader about our amazing daughters and our feelings of oppression. Neither one of has time to knit, so if someone could send us one of those pink hats?

On my way to the Capitol, I stopped off at a radio station to record an interview on the President’s Executive Order affecting refugee resettlement in Minnesota. My expertise was accepted (phew!) even though I am a woman.

As I was walking into and around the State Office Building (better known as the “SOB”) I saw women carrying signs demanding the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment! Most were dressed in red, even women elected officials. It’s like 1978 all over again!

After talking to several elected officials, one of whom was a woman, I finished drafting testimony I delivered this afternoon to a committee on transportation policy at the Minnesota House of Representatives, chaired by a woman. My testimony, by the way, upset some men.

Do you think it was because I am a woman?