I’m not prone to overthinking things. Okay, I am prone to overthinking things. Or am I? Yes, I am. I think. In any case, lately I’ve been ruminating over the role of women in society.
A few weeks ago I wrote about the Women’s March on Washington. It turned out there were so many women in Washington that they filled the entire march route without actually having to march. Hundreds of other events were staged in unison at cities around the world. These women, and men, were protesting the inauguration of a vulgar misogynist con man. At the time I asked whether the pink hats could save us.
Tomorrow (March 8, 2017) is another day of protest billed as “A Day Without A Woman.” Women all over America (and perhaps the world) will choose not to work so they can join various walkouts, rallies, and marches. At least a few school systems have already announced the cancellation of school given the number of female teachers who have requested leave that day.
As I ruminate over the effectiveness of such activity, I recognize that there is a sort of privilege to those who have the option to not work that day. Many women – probably most women – don’t have that option, fearing loss of employment, harassment, and dysfunction. Mothers are likely to find it difficult “not to work” when their children need to get to and from school/sports/doctors/libraries/etc. As much as men may (or may not) try to fill in the gaps, the idea of surviving a day without the contributions of women seems impossible.
Which, I suppose, is the point. How many of us men (and children, and even other women) take the women in our lives for granted. Consider what would happen in the workplace without women. Most secretaries (professional assistants) remain women, as do support staff like accounting, human resources, and other traditionally female jobs. But many men might have missed the fact that women now also constitute a large, and growing, proportion of what had once been traditional male jobs – lawyers, scientists, CEOs, etc. During my career in the consulting sciences I recall clearly in the early days where the occasional woman among the men in regulatory meetings was a novelty. Now it is commonly the opposite.
To be honest, if all women chose not to work tomorrow, the world would come to a standstill. Perhaps again, that is the point. Perhaps we need this slap in the face to help us notice what should be obvious. Perhaps it’s also a good reminder to women of their power to affect change.
“A Day Without A Woman” coincides, intentionally, with International Women’s Day. In much of the world for over a century, International Women’s Day is “a collective day of global celebration and a call for gender parity.” This year’s theme is #BeBoldforChange.
Methinks this is a good idea.
Since I’m not a woman I understand that all I can do is acknowledge and support those women around me. I can ruminate, if you will, on my own place in society. I can be more cognizant of my own actions, my own biases, my own (unintended) sexism. I can be a better man. And that includes appreciating all the better women who surround me.
David J. Kent is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His next book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, is due out late July 2017.
Hot White Snow 
Thank you, David
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And thank you.
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I participated in the Women’s March (Memphis, TN) and I worked in a traditionally female role in Human Resources. While a day without women may be calamitous, so could a day without men. It seems to me we are stuck with each other and maybe a little more kindness would repair a whole lot of issues all around. But until that day arrives, I found your post thoughtful, current and gracious.
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Excellent point. We’re all in this together. Working together and appreciating each other is the only way forward.
As a scientist, I’m looking forward to April when there will be a Scientists March and a Climate March. Given the dire situation we find ourselves in now, speaking up is no longer an option, but a necessity.
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I absolutely agree men are no less important. BUT, for centuries and even today, no one has really come forward with the notion that men are unimportant. No one challenges that. No one dismisses that men are essential. (Well a few extremists, but they are hardly the majority)
Working in a “traditionally” female job might make that less obvious, of course, and women are not immune from their own brands of pushiness. Myself included.
But, even now in the twenty-first century as has been since the beginning of known human history, there is no one group of people as often and often intimately oppressed as women.
Standing up for women doesn’t make men less. That is and should never be the goal. Just given equal credit, equal opportunity, equal power.
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I agree, especially with your last point, that empowering women doesn’t unempower men. In fact, mostly we see a synergy, expanding empowerment beyond the individual additive effects. Equality is just that – equal, not substitution (or subtraction).
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Great, thoughtful essay. I have a feeling, though, that not working for one day means that those who already get it will take note, and those who don’t will hold off (grudgingly) until tomorrow & we’ll end up playing catch up. Kinda like going on vacation.
But, we MUST speak up by shutting down!
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You’re probably right that one day isn’t enough (and could be abused). My understanding is that the women’s march of January 21st and tomorrow’s “day without women” are just two steps in a long forward movement planned.
We’re in the position we’re in, at least in part, because not enough of us spoke up. Now we have no choice but to speak.
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Yep. And agreed, several soft taps more likely to get the message received, than one explosive smack…IMHO. 🙂
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A “Day Without Women”… a worthy variation on the theme of, “Atlas Shrugged,” perhaps. But to be honest, it’s not likely anyone would notice whether or not I take another day off tomorrow. And just as you noted, few of the women I know whose absence would be noticed are in positions where they could do so. This is a “right to work” state.
That said, I’ve long felt that the overall vitality of a culture can be well measured by the ways in which the female population are treated. Truly egalitarian societies more effectively thrive through the participation of an entire population as opposed to just an invested few. And women usually constitute one-half of any neither war-torn nor filiacidal culture.
Working in primarily male-dominated fields, despite women now constituting a large percentage of American university graduates with engineering, sciences and technical degrees, I’ve experienced a wide range of responses to my gender. I very much enjoyed the vast majority of my professional interactions in Canada. But I can’t honestly say that everyplace was so accepting, and I understand why so many female engineers in the US give up after just a few years (myself included).
As for whether or not women would do a better job running things, I can’t honestly say. South Korea’s female president is under impeachment for corruption, and Thailand’s ex-prime minister didn’t fare much better. But Taiwan, which seems to have leaped peacefully into the 21st-century has nearly four-in-ten national-level political offices filled by women, including a female president who’s not simply a dynastic appendage. But the message there may be a little more nuanced than the mere proportion of the country’s representation.
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I have no delusions that the old adage about corruption of power would become invalid merely by inserting women as leaders. But one can hope that, at least for a while, we might do better. At the very least, the sentiments/truths noted in your second paragraph would have a chance to show us some light. Of course, we had more than 40% of the eligible voters not vote, many because of voter suppression, but many more because of neglect or choice (e.g., their “guy” didn’t win the nomination). It’s a travesty that us most privileged are so egregiously irresponsible.
I’d be interested to hear more about your experiences as a woman in a male-dominated field. When I first started attending conferences of the main scientific society in my field it was dominated by men. Without knowing the figures, I would say now it is more evenly distributed, perhaps even female-dominated. Alas, it is still horrendously monochromatic, with the diversity largely Asian-driven rather than African-American or Latino. I’ve not noticed any overt discrimination; I think it has more to do with subtle dissuasion in the earlier school years, much as it has been, and apparently remains, for women with early interests in STEM.
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In the US, I think I just happened into an ideologically machismo-driven management hierarchy that felt especially threatened by a collection of “underlings” who were far better educated (if not more intelligent). Being female simply amplified the effect.
In Canada, most of my associates were admittedly still male. And I also observed a similar ethno-cultural framing within most of the female population as primarily Asian (mainly Indian and Chinese). Personally, I feel that a great deal of this is due to the relative value of “education” within a given culture (or sub-culture). And that brings back Taiwan again, where I suggest consulting the image on the front of a one-thousand “New Taiwan Dollar” (the most widely circulated banknote, worth about $33 US dollars) to get a sense of the value that the nation places on education.
I truly believe that education is the basic foundation for any functionally libertarian society — which may explain much about what’s gone wrong in the US. Some time (if I feel like getting into a big controversy), I’ll share a long conversation I had with a young Palestinian woman from Gaza who was a science student at the college here. She presented an extraordinarily enlightened perspective of how misogynistic, and ultimately self-destructive social dysfunction can be fueled by ignorance.
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Sad to say our educational priorities are screwed up. And the current ruling party wants to make it worse by giving tax breaks to those who can afford private schools while strangling funds for the public schools that the vast majority of Americans attend. This inherently gives even more privilege to the rich and the white while further discriminating against the not-rich and the non-white. I’m disgusted by this and the ignorance and bigotry that allows it to happen.
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Very thought provoking…and I believe Woman and Man are wheels of a Chariot. They have to keep move together which is pulled by the GOD.
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Two things, after reading the post and following comments:
1. As HRC said on International Women’s Day (or at least at a conference on the same subject/with the same objective): “Women’s rights are human rights.”
2. I highly recommend two recent books and one recent film: “Rise of the Rocket Girls” and “Hidden Figures.” Both were very enlightening on the subjects of the expectations for women and girls in education in general and STEM in particular.
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Hidden Figures is definitely on my list. I hadn’t heard of Rocket Girls so will check that out too. Thanks!
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SO SWEET! MINDBLOWING,I like u’r thoughts alot…
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