I doubt Rosie the Riveter would have stopped working. I doubt she would have thrown down her tools, threw on a red shirt, and marched her ass right out of the factory to stand and shout in the street.
She had a job to do. She had an army of men and an entire country that relied on her. We relied on her for one simple fact - women get shit done.
I know. This doesn't sound like me, the raging feminist. Hear me out.
On March 8, International Women's Day, women all over the world will be participating on A Day Without Women. On this day, we are to take to the streets and march, holding signs high and shouting our worth to the world. This is what we did just a few short months ago on January 21. On March 8, we are called to "not engage in paid and unpaid work, avoid spending money, and wear red in solidarity."
Uh huh.
So... if I'm not engaging in paid or unpaid work, what the fuck am I doing? Sitting on my ass all day? Catching up on my reading? Sounds terrible...
This isn't the first Women's March. In fact, it isn't even a new thing. Women have been marching and protesting for equal treatment since the 1700s and earlier (see: Women's march on Versailles on October 5, 1789). Side Rant: Anyone else feel exhausted by that fact? Now I totally get that "I can't believe I still have to protest this shit" sign. Yeah. It's been over 200 years. Honestly.
As I was saying, women all over the world have held protests of this nature and they have been successful. Women in America marched for suffrage in 1913 and were finally granted the right to vote seven years later. Women in South Africa started a protest against discriminatory laws. The subsequent protests became deadly and violent. The laws were finally overturned in 1986. Women in Iceland took "Women's Day Off" in 1975, with 90% of the women refusing to do any work. In a related strike just last year, women in Iceland left work at 2:38pm to protest the wage gap. The number of protests in 2016 from all over the world was historic.
Given the three examples from above, you may notice a pattern: time. History shows that when women march and protest, they are heard and seen. The social injustices they are so passionate about are adorned on the front page news and garner attention. And thirty years later, the goal will be met. It takes time. It shouldn't, but it does. And it will, because it's worth it, because it's effective. So, keep marching.
Just keep marching, without me, on March 8.
Like Rosie the Riveter, I have a job to do. I have a wage to earn. I have a family that depends on me, not just for my wage, but on ME. I have children to feed, to get off to school, to teach about the world and the people in it. I have a future generation to mold. Ain't no one got time off for that.
It's kind of like when members of Congress decline to vote on crucial issues in protest or boycott important events because they simply don't agree. From an American woman that is working her ass off every day, I want to say: GET BACK TO WORK. I did not elect you to throw a temper tantrum and play the silent treatment. I elected you because I know you can make the changes.
It comes back to that whole phrase "actions speak louder than words." Guess what. That's bull crap. Action and words have power, especially when used together.
Right about now it sounds like I'm a little hostile towards my fellow ovary-carriers that are spending their time and effort on marching. I'm not, so let me backpedal here a bit and clarify: The Women's March, A Day Without Women, and International Women's Day are all necessary and important. We need women that are willing to walk off the job and out of their homes. We need women that are taking the risk to be heard and seen and fight for the next thirty years or however long it will take.
We need you. I need you. I need you because while you're out at the front lines, I'm going to be back here, using my words, working my ass off in another aspect to fight for what I believe in. I'm going to get up in the morning, take care of my babies, go to work, run a household, and save this chauvinistic world from itself one hour at a time.
Rosie the Riveter knew she was doing the work of men and getting paid half. She knew she was leaving her family behind and taking on the roles of two people. She knew that at the end of the day she still had to go home and be mom and make up for all of it. But she did it. Because she could. Because she understood what it meant for the backbone of a nation to rely on the backbones of women, and that without us, history would have been much different.
On March 8, I won't be marching. I might wear red. I will participate in paid and unpaid work. I will probably spend money. But I will still be a woman, and a feminist, and I will still believe in the cause and support it and uphold it every day. And I will still march, in my own way, to my own beat.
