Dear Women Who “Aren’t Feminists:” An Open Letter On International Women’s Day

I’m noticing plenty of comments about how conservative women are “too busy working hard to protest/go on strike” today.

Let’s clear something up. Here’s why I’m “on strike” from work today:

1) Because I can and it’s my choice.

2) Because thousands of my fellow American women, including conservatives, cannot take a day off — even after they’ve just given birth or if their children are sick — without fearing for their jobs, their financial wellbeing, or their healthcare coverage.

3) Because thousands of my fellow American women — including conservative women — have to choose between their careers and caring for their children because most of their income would go toward childcare.

4) Because thousands of my fellow American women — -including conservative women — -come to work afraid to confront or report sexual harassment because they will be ignored, penalized, or forced to work with their harassers. (See Uber).

5) Because thousands of my fellow American women’s bodies (including conservative women’s bodies) are forced to be used as incubation chambers for unwanted pregnancies, thanks to increasingly restrictive legislation that makes abortion services inaccessible and unaffordable.

6) Because my fellow American women — -including conservative women — - are forced to continue unwanted pregnancies and often end up trapped in a catch-22 of poverty: they lose their jobs or drop out of school, have to take minimum wage work for companies that promote men to management positions at a higher percentage than women, and have to rely on government programs to feed their kids.

7) Because thousands of my fellow American women are referred to as “him” by transphobic conservatives and are forced to use a men’s restroom, where they have a 70% likelihood of being harassed or assaulted.

8) Because millions of my fellow American women heard a candidate for the President of the United States bragging about his ability to “do anything he wants” to women, and they voted for him anyway.

9) Because American men — especially white men — who “do anything they want” to women can get out of jail after 3 months and go back to their lives (or commit sexual assault again) while their victims are scarred for life.

10) Because thousands of my fellow American women get jeered at and viewed with contempt by bigots for choosing to wear a symbol of their religion on their heads. These bigots say their head coverings are a symbol of oppression for women. Yet those same bigots cry “religious freedom” when they are criticized for refusing to cover birth control for their employees or refusing to support government funding for women’s health centers.

11) Because millions of my fellow American women stand at an intersection of oppression due to the color of their skin, their sexual preference, or their disability.

12) Because millions of my fellow women and girls worldwide are still treated as property to the point where they are literally bought and sold. They are forced to live in poverty due to lack of access to education or even the knowledge that they are capable of becoming more than what their society tells them they are.

13) Because millions of my fellow women still say “I believe in equality, but I’m not a feminist.”

If you’re not a feminist, what does that make you?

(PS, Even if you’re not a feminist, if you’re a woman, I stand for you and I stand against your being treated as unworthy of the same freedom, respect, and rights as men.

Because that’s what feminists do.)

#InternationalWomensDay

#ADayWithoutWomen

#SheHasAName

#NotOkay

#YesAllWomen