Why I Won't Participate in 'Day Without a Woman'
Today thousands of women around the country will skip work, wear red and attend rallies in honor of "A Day Without a Woman," the first major event by organizers of the Women's March since the actual march in January.
I will not be one of them. I refuse to take part in this incredibly hypocritical event.
First, let's be clear. Today is not a day without "a woman," but a day without 160- to 200-million women — all erased from this planet in utero due to sex-selection abortion.
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This is arguably the worst misogynistic practice on this planet, but the organizers of today's event won't utter a single word of protest against it. That's because "reproductive rights" is one of the central "unity principles" of A Day Without a Woman. Plus, one of the premiere sponsors of this event is Planned Parenthood, a group responsible for more than 300,000 abortions every year.
Though Planned Parenthood publicly claims to oppose sex-selection abortion or "gendercide," its workers have been repeatedly caught facilitating the practice. For example, a Live Action investigation showed a worker at a Planned Parenthood clinic in New York, NY, actually instructing a woman on how to determine her child's sex. Then, the worker scheduled the mother for an abortion at a future date in case she was confirmed to be carrying a girl. Live Action found similar instances of sex-selection abortion at clinics in Texas, Arizona, Hawaii, and North Carolina.
Planned Parenthood also opposed legislation last year that would have banned sex-selection abortions, touting its all-too-familiar slogan that restricting abortion in any way is tantamount to a war on women. But what could be more warlike than actually killing women? This just once again shows how truly misguided the Women's March movement is.
But abortion isn't the only aspect of A Day Without a Woman that actually hurts women. Thanks to women teachers participating in this counter-productive day, several schools in at least four states were forced to close today. So today, thousands of single mothers must take off work, whether they can afford to or not, because their children are home from school.
"The only people who are going to be affected by this are women — poor women who cannot afford to miss wages or pay for day care," wrote a mother on the Facebook page of the Alexandria City Public School District, which is closed today. Another mother wrote, "What about the students and the importance of education?" And yet another commented, "This is teaching our kids to behave like the Berkeley students. Pathetic!"
Yet behaving badly has become a hallmark of feminism today, and that's yet another reason why I won't participate in this shameful day. The whole idea of refusing to come to work to bring attention to one's own importance is the very essence of self-promotion, something Scripture discourages.
Proverbs 27:2 says, "Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; an outsider, and not your own lips."
This is what's so beautiful about Mother's Day. Our children and spouses praise us — not because we demand it, but because they actually want to. The day also highlights one of women's most important contributions to society — motherhood — rather than demanding a false right to prevent that contribution.
Of course, some women who aren't mothers probably feel terribly left out by Mother's Day. I understand that. And I understand that gender discrimination still exists in our society, though let's be honest: American society is one of the most liberated in all of history.
As Penny Nance of Concerned Women of America noted, "The U.S. has the highest proportion of women in senior management positions (43 percent) of any country in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development." Also, "the U.S. was ranked eighth globally in gender equality by the World Economic Forum" and "24 percent of working American women are in professional fields (compared to only 16 percent of working American men)." In addition, "46 percent of American firms are owned or co-owned by women."
So women are not faring so poorly in America. In fact, we're faring rather well. Yet, it is true that we still earn less than men: women working full time still earn only 80 percent of what men earn. Yet the reason for that gap is complex and cannot be explained merely by gender discrimination.
A 40-year study called the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) showed that men in the study worked on average 11 hours more per week than women. Yet the reason men did this is because they said what they valued most was full-time work, making an impact, and earning a high income. Women, on the other hand, said they most valued part-time work, community and family involvement, and time for close relationships.
So women often earn less because we choose to work less, and instead invest in relationships. For many of us, that's a trade-off we're willing to make — because we're not men and we embrace our differences.
So no, I'm not going to protest today — or refuse to work, or wear red to show solidarity with a movement that does nothing to truly help women. Instead, I'm going to work my normal hours, make dinner and then spend time with my family. And rather than yell about what I don't have, I'm going to appreciate what I have — and thank God that I stayed home 13 years to raise children, despite the career sacrifices it required. Those are my values — ones which unfortunately are not shared by the organizers of a Day Without a Woman, but ones that bring women great joy and fulfillment.
