Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Activists Plan Mass Women's Strike To Coincide With Inauguration
By
Emma Whitford
Published Jan 5, 2017
Modified Jan 5, 2017
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Scott Heins / Gothamist
By
Emma Whitford
Published Jan 5, 2017
Modified Jan 5, 2017
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
As organizers across the country coordinate bus and carpool trips for the upcoming Women's March on Washington, a local feminist group is urging women to abstain from all labor—physical, as well as emotional—for two full days at the end of the month, starting on January 20th, Inauguration Day. The goal, organizers say, is to demand protections that the President-elect and GOP lawmakers openly oppose: full access to birth control and abortion, as well as a $15 minimum wage, universal childcare, and paid parental leave. In response to Trump's degradation of women, immigrants, and the disabled, strikers will also demand an end to bigotry and harassment.
"This is a way for women to express their disappointment and also show power," said Paulina Davis, a Women's Strike organizer with National Women's Liberation. "We as women collectively have the power to disrupt workplace and home life."
"If you can't get on a bus to go to D.C., if you are not able to march in NYC, you can still, on inauguration weekend, show that you are going to fight back against Trump," she added.
Organizers say the "strike" can take many forms, depending on the striker's personal circumstances: abstaining from housework like laundry or food preparation; refusing to tidy up a conference room after a work meeting, or refusing to do other administrative tasks around the office; refusing to flirt, return a smile on the street, wear makeup, or shave.
"I'm no longer going to accept one sexist remark, insinuation, action or verbalized thoughts without calling the person on it," one participant wrote on the strike's website.
"I am not going to be at work, I will not be answering any emails, I'll be striking from wearing makeup, from smiling," another wrote.
Instead of laboring, organizers wrote, women are encouraged to "be out in the streets demonstrating, and talking [to] our families, friends, and coworkers about what [we] need to make our lives fairer, happier, less hectic and more secure."
Davis clarified that the strike will not be made official until at least 20,000 people have pledged to participate. For comparison, she cited the August 1970 Women's Strike for Equality—about 50,000 marchers took to Fifth Avenue, while others pledged not to cook or clean for a day. "We don't want this to be a small fringe thing," she said. So far, the strike has about 1,500 pledges. Steps to sign the online pledge are here.
Organizers of the concurrent Women's March on Washington have said explicitly that they are not organizing an anti-Trump protest. Instead, they're presenting their march as a push for fundamental human rights. Davis said that while she agrees that Trump is a symptom of a larger problem, the significance of the November election is undeniable.
"The reality is this—hundreds of women showed up at our November meeting because there was an awakening about how far we have not come," she said. "Look at the election campaign and see not only statements made by the President-elect, but also the ways in which Hillary Clinton was criticized in ways that were very engendered."
Strike organizers say they welcome trans and non-binary participants. Men, meanwhile, are encouraged to take a different tack. "They should take on additional work at home to support women’s full participation in the demonstrations," organizers wrote.
National Women's Liberation is holding a public meeting ahead of the strike, on January 19th. The meeting will take place at 7:30 p.m., at The Commons on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.
Tagged
donald trump
inauguration
women's rights
women's strike
Emma Whitford
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
NYC tow companies busted for ripping off drivers must give $67K in refunds, city says
Mayor Mamdani has expanded enforcement on towing scams, but the unlicensed towing industry remains largely unregulated.
By
Liam Quigley
Published Oct 2, 2026 at 4:47 p.m. ET
Off-duty NYPD officer stabbed in the Bronx, police say
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Commissioner Jessica Tisch visited the officer in the hospital.
By
Ryan Kost
News
Off-duty NYPD officer stabbed in the Bronx, police say
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Commissioner Jessica Tisch visited the officer in the hospital.
By
Ryan Kost
DOC negligence factored in death at Rikers' Bellevue hospital outpost, jail officials say
By
Brittany Kriegstein
Conductor on NYC subway that dragged man to death may have skipped safety check, source says
By
Stephen Nessen
NYPD still searching for man who threw burning substance on victim in East Harlem
By
Ryan Kost
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .