'Don't Iron While the Strike is Hot': These Are the Precursors to 'A Day Without a Woman'

On International Women's Day this year, the organizers behind the Women's March on Washington are aiming for another national demonstration of solidarity — this time in the form of "a day without a woman."
Organizers have called on women to take the day off from paid and unpaid work on March 8, avoid shopping and wear red to show support. Those who participate will follow the precedent set by generations of women who previously spent a day — or weeks — on strike for various causes.
Here are some of the issues that have previously led women in the U.S. to strike — and what they accomplished by doing so:
Uprising of the 20,000 in 1909
In what became known as the " Uprising of the 20,000," New York City garment workers led a weeks-long strike beginning in November of 1909, calling for better working conditions and higher wages. The strike, led mostly by young women, came out of a meeting of workers from different garment companies. Male union leaders were hesitant because they "did not believe that women could be trusted with a strike," as framed by the Harvard library's special collection on women at work, but one young female union member, Clara Lemlich, stood up and demanded a strike among workers across the industry.

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