I'm going to answer each question briefly to get this started.
1) What name should we use? We want to bring the men in, so it is not clear if we should call it a "Women's Strike"? Should we even use the word "strike" because it might scare people off? As I mentioned in our last meeting, it will be referred to as a strike, but we can assertively call it Red Stockings or something. Kind of like the "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" movement, welcoming men also.
2) The Iceland example - what happened? What can we learn from it? In 1975, 90% of women left their homes and jobs for a full day; men could not cope. In a year women received equal pay and in five years had a female president. It reminds us how dependent men are on women's work yet how undervalued and underpaid or unpaid women's (sextyped) work is.
3) Is it primarily a strike for gender equality? Or are other issues involved? It is primarily about equal pay and representation in politics.
4) Are we aiming at a global strike? We need to weigh the pros and cons. It could cause World War III, so we might want to start on a smaller level. It might have a better chance working like a domino effect instead of everywhere at once.
5) For IWD 2016, are we aiming at a San Francisco event or a Bay Area event or set of events? What kind of event? A mini-strike? A big meeting? We have talked about being absent from work for a half hour, but it might take the whole day for men to really see how they cannot cope without women working.
6) Cities for Cedaw (C4C) local organizing can build gender equality and reduce violence against women, and could be a basis for a local to global movement leading to a Strike for Gender Equality. CDC is a UN treaty for eliminating discrimination against women. We could use it hand-in-hand with the strike. Since the treaty is already signed but not ratified, the strike could get it ratified.
7) How can the UNA-SF Crosstalk technology be useful here? It gives us a private place to communicate which is accessible from any computer. Let's build on that.
8) When and where is our next Women's Committee meeting? I inquired with my law firm, Baker & McKenzie. They turned down the idea for our next meeting. BUT, they gave me contact information for Embarcadero Center - I am waiting to hear back. We are thinking early June and about having pizza at next meeting, perhaps for a few dollars per person.
