On this day in Labor History the year was 1975.
That was the day that the National Organization for Women, or NOW, called for a strike by women across the nation.
They called the action, “Alice Doesn’t Day.”
This referred to a critically acclaimed movie by director Martin Scorsese that came out the year before, entitled “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.”
The main character in the film is Alice Hyatte, who pursues her dream of being a singer after she is widowed.
It was lauded by feminists as a story of women’s empowerment.
NOW used the film title, and asked women to participate with the slogan “Alice doesn’t...you fill in the blank.”
Women were encouraged to participate in the day however they could, including refraining from volunteering, shopping, and if possible working for one day to demonstrate their importance to the economy.
Women who could not skip work, were asked to wear arm bands to show their solidarity with the cause.
In an interview published in the Chicago Tribune, NOW President Karen DeCrow explained, “There is a myth that women in the work force could go home, but if they did our economy would stop. If all the secretaries did not come to work, all things would stop.”
But not all women were excited about the day.
Some anti-feminist women decided to protest the day by wearing pink, baking cookies and performing other stereotypical female tasks.
While NOW called the event a success, Time magazine deemed it “spectacular failure.”
One critique was that the event reflected the white, middle class dominance of the women’s movement.
Working class women, and especially women of color, had a much more difficult time withholding their labor.
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January 30 - Fred Korematsu Day
January 29 - Bread & Roses Striker, Anna LoPizzo, Shot Dead
January 28 - The 1917 Bath Riots
January 27 - Bans on Yellow Dog Contracts Ruled Unconstitutional
January 26 - Sid Hatfield Stands Trial
January 25 - Solidarity Works!
January 24 - Arturo Alfonso Schomburg is Born
January 23 - If Poison Doesn’t Work, Try Briggs!
January 22 - Tragedy in the Mines & in the Union Hall
January 21 - On Strike for Health & Dignity
January 20 - The Flint Womens Emergency Brigades
January 19 - A Snapshot in Misery
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January 17 - Standing Against Wage Theft
January 15 - We Want to Live, Not Just Exist
January 14 - The Rise of the Bellamyites
January 13 - Johnny Cash Plays Folsom Prison
January 12 - The Cost of Wartime Industrial Peace
January 11 - Battle of the Running Bulls
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