How ‘A Day Without a Woman’ Could Backfire

Fifteen-thousand public school children are being kept out of their classrooms in Alexandria, Virginia, on Wednesday. They’re not sick. Their schools are not being renovated. Nothing is wrong with the schools at all. Rather, a group of teachers decided they’d rather engage in political protest than do their jobs, shutting down the entire school system and leaving working moms and dads scrambling to make arrangements.

According to a statement released by Alexandria Public Schools, more than 300 staff members of the 2,352-strong workforce asked to skip work to observe “A Day Without A Women,” a request granted Monday afternoon. They, like the protest’s other participants around the country, are refusing to engage in any work to show commitment to “equity, justice, and human rights of women and all gender-oppressed people through a one-day demonstration of economic solidarity.”

No one should kid themselves, however, about the radical action these protesters are embracing. Women aren’t simply “tak[ing] the day off,” as organizers have phrased it. It’s not an incident of “high staff absenteeism” as Alexandria’s superintendent described it, either. “A Day Without A Women,” planned by the same people who arranged the Women’s March earlier this year, is a one-day strike—a form of protest so unpopular it’s typically used only as a last resort. Adding further insult to the families inconvenienced by the demonstration, the strikers appear unable to answer one simple question: What, or whom, are they striking against?

Theoretically, Wednesday’s event is designed to highlight the economic power of women by showing the world what can happen if they refuse to engage in both paid and unpaid work, as well as any shopping, for a day. Right away, thorny questions pile up. First off, are women really attempting to show their value in the workplace by refusing to work? This seems like a risky strategy. No worker is truly indispensable, and going on strike could invite employers to consider just how replaceable you are. Not to mention that parents thrown into the lurch due to last-minute school cancellations for petty political games will surely be tempted to consider other educational choices, too.

Second, what would happen if all women actually participated?

Third, what political remedy are they seeking?

In fact, all Wednesday’s meaningless demonstration does is hand the Republican Party a wide-open opportunity to dismiss it as a hysterical hissy fit, staged by left-wing activists still mourning Hillary Clinton’s loss.

More From Politico: