A broad coalition of groups across the nation is encouraging women to participate in Wednesday's strike, called "A Day Without A Woman."The organized protest comes on International Women's Day, and follows the successful Women's March in January.That mass protest on Jan. 21 — President Trump's first full day in office –- saw huge crowds of demonstrators converge on the nation's capital, and other rallies in cities across the country and the world.The protest aims to highlight the economic power of women — as well as ongoing problems of discrimination and pay disparity.To show their economic importance and impact on society, women are being encouraged to take the day off from paid and unpaid labor and not to shop — except at women and minority owned and small businesses.The National Domestic Workers Alliance has endorsed the strike.Ai Jen Poo, who directs the group, which advocates for housekeepers, elder care and child care workers, says it's a vital labor pool that's too often grossly underpaid and undervalued."This is an opportunity for women, like the low-wage workers that I work with, to join together with women everywhere to say 'women power this economy,' to have that be visible and recognized and to think together about how we might shape the future with that power.""A Day Without A Woman" gained momentum in reaction to President Trump's policies and comments on women — especially immigrants and Muslims. But planning for the strike predates the Trump administration. Inspiration came from International Women's Day events outside the United States, where the day is more widely observed.Last month, immigrants and supporters participated in a "Day Without Immigrants." Some schools and businesses were forced to closebecause of a lack of workers or to open with skeleton staffs.Other such strikes have been carried out by bodega workersand taxi drivers in New York.One unionized group of workers showing interest in the women's protest are school teachers: 76 percent of public school teachers in the U.S. are women.Faced with large numbers of staffers planning to take the day off for the strike, the school systems in Alexandria, Va., Prince Georges County, Md., Chapel Hill, N.C., and others told students to stay home.The decision for schools to close has put some parents in a bind when it comes to child care.The Associated Press reports:
