This Is How Tomorrow's Women's Strike Came About: Women's March Leader

3 months ago

On "Forbes Newsroom," Rachel O'Leary Carmona, Executive Director of Women's March and Women's March Network, spoke about tomorrow's Women's Strike.

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Transcript

00:00Hi everyone, I'm Maggie McGrath, editor of Forbes Women.

00:07The second anniversary of the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, is upon us and

00:13in honor of the occasion, or rather to mark the occasion, women will be going on strike

00:18on June 24th.

00:20Here to explain what we need to know about this strike and all it hopes to accomplish

00:24is the executive director of the Women's March, Rachel O'Leary Carmona.

00:29Rachel, thank you so much for joining us.

00:32Thank you for having me.

00:34Let's start with this strike.

00:35How many women do we expect to strike and what exactly does the strike entail?

00:42We're not really sure.

00:43We're going to find that out together on Monday.

00:45The strike began as a grassroots movement on TikTok actually, and one day Women's March

00:51staff woke up and we found 60-70 marches planned on our map, which is exactly what our tools

00:56are used for for everyday feminists to be able to take action on the issues that matter

00:59to them.

01:00And so it's just been growing ever since.

01:02We have a couple of our own rallies that we are planning for the Dobbs anniversary and

01:07so we'll see how many people strike, how many people attend.

01:11We know right now there are hundreds planned.

01:12There's still a week to go, so we're all going to find out together on Monday the 24th.

01:18Based on activity you've seen in prior marches, what effect do you hope to make or what statement

01:24do you hope to make on Monday?

01:27The way to really understand marches is that this is the way that many people get involved

01:32for the first time.

01:34So about 80% of our march attendees and our march planners, and I say march loosely, it

01:38could be a rally, it could be a strike, it could be another kind of action.

01:41They're new to movement and not just new to Women's March, but new to movement in general.

01:46So what we are seeing is an expansion of the movement, a movement that continues to grow,

01:50continues to add people to its ranks, and I think particularly with this grassroots

01:54initiative, a demonstration of the ways in which women are furious, and I think that

02:00we will continue to see these organic grassroots movements pop up as we get closer and closer

02:04to November.

02:05Earlier, I spoke with a sociologist, Jessica Calarco, who talked about the effect of a

02:11strike that women in Iceland put on in 1975, and it happened unmasked.

02:17Women were responsible for caregiving, had schools shut down, some workplaces found themselves

02:22inundated with kids, and she says that as a result, it led to more women in government,

02:28it led to Iceland's first female president.

02:32Could we see the same type of impact here from a strike and demonstration on June 24th,

02:38or is the fact that it's a mix of strikes and demonstrations a sign that it's perhaps

02:43more of a message-sending moment than a moment for policy change?

02:48I mean, what you're talking about in Iceland and this strike today are kind of apples and

02:53oranges.

02:54You know, a general strike is a completely different scale, takes months and months to

02:59plan and a lot of resources to help folks who, you know, especially in the United States,

03:03might lose their jobs, you know, in right-to-work states or places where it's actually risky.

03:09So we have a completely different landscape.

03:10We're much bigger, we're much less homogenous, and so I guess the impact of that type of

03:18strike would necessitate a multitude of different tactics in the United States and pressure

03:25over time.

03:26So mobilizations are a part of that, but it also requires organizing, deep relational

03:30organizing, lobbying, and inside-outside game.

03:33So there's not an easy kind of, would this, is this replicable?

03:37Well, you know, sure, you know, but we also have to take into account a different time,

03:42a different space, a different political climate, different, you know, incentives that run for

03:47and against organizing and mobilizing in the United States.

03:50It's actually not, it's a pretty hostile environment to protest these days.

03:55So I think that it's important for us to take all that into consideration and say that we

03:59have to continue to fight in all the ways that are available to us.

04:03And the only thing that gets us closer to the win is just keeping that fight up.

This Is How Tomorrow's Women's Strike Came About: Women's March Leader

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