It’s been two years since the right-wing majority on the United States Supreme Court reversed a half-century of jurisprudence by overturning the landmark case Roe v. Wade. Conservatives had spent decades chipping away at reproductive freedom; Roe falling unleashed a full-on assault on women’s rights. Since then, thousands have attended protests and participated in other forms of resistance.
Although women across the country share the same despair and outrage over losing their rights, thus far much of the resistance has been piecemeal and isolated to large urban centers—until now. The internet is abuzz with calls for a nationwide strike on June 24, the second anniversary of Roe being overturned.
And the women’s strike is the brainchild of one young woman in Texas.
Like many, over the last two years, 24-year-old Danielle Goodwin has watched states outlaw abortion, attack in vitro fertilization (IVF), and toy with restricting birth control with growing dismay. Goodwin told the Daily Dot that she kept waiting for someone to do something, anything, to spark a national resistance. She’d attended protests in the past, fondly recalling driving 17 hours through the night to attend the Women’s March on Washington, but she’d always been a face in the crowd advocating for Palestinian lives or Black people’s rights—never an organizer.
Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit inspired Goodwin to take action. The book discusses activism and advocates for optimism and action, rather than despair. It also recounts the 1975 Icelandic women’s strike in which women didn’t go to work or perform any domestic duties for a day in protest of wage discrepancy and sexist employment practices.
Ninety percent of Icelandic women participated; the following year, the country passed an equal rights law that is widely credited with paving the way for Iceland to elect the world’s first democratically elected female head of state in 1980.
“She also talked about how it takes one person to stand up,” Goodwin told the Daily Dot on Wednesday.
Thus inspired, she decided to take a stand.
A week ago, Goodwin created a TikTok account calling for women to strike on June 24 by opting out of work and the economy (except for women-owned businesses).
“With the Women’s Strike of 2024, we the people are saying ‘NO’ to abortion bans and the overturning of Roe v. Wade. This strike is also in opposition to Supreme Court rulings against the right to mass protest in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi,” she wrote. “These are violations of human rights, and we must put an end to the government’s attempts to control our bodies. We have the agency and responsibility to make a change.”
She’s called on people to take to the streets in nonviolent protest or to otherwise pitch in however they can, even if by simply wearing red that day to show their solidarity.
“I’m just one person who is tired of the war on women, but I would love to hear from leaders all over the United States to help organize demonstrations in various states, cities, and regions,” Goodwin wrote.
Goodwin also created accounts for the Women’s Strike on Instagram and Facebook and an email address dedicated to the strike, which is how the Daily Dot contacted her. Goodwin also responded to a DM sent to the TikTok account and confirmed her name.
Much like the 2017 Women’s March, which was launched by a woman in Hawaii who created a Facebook event, Goodwin’s idea caught fire online. Emails and messages poured in. One of her TikToks has 1 million views, over 140,000 likes, and nearly 3,000 comments.
“I’ve heard from people in 30 states,” Goodwin said. She hopes to have events organized in all 50.
The internet being the internet, there are some naysayers (who appear to mostly be male), but the overwhelming majority of comments and engagements are from women who want to participate.
“I support myself as an independent artist but I SUPPORT!! YESS BABES STRIKEE,” wrote one.
The Daily Dot found posts about it on Threads, Reddit, Facebook, X, and TikTok. One TikTok promoting the strike has over 900,000 views; several others have 10,000 or more.
@the1christin June 24, 2024 #womensstrike #womenstrike #feminism #womensrights #womenshealth #healthcare #prochoice #USA #America #unitedstates #Democrat #independent #moderate #progressive #liberal #leftist #leftwing ♬ original sound – The1Christin 😎
Serena Sullivan is one of the people who has offered to help make the strike happen. Sullivan, who works in higher education in Colorado, told the Daily Dot that the last two years hark back to dark days from the not-so-distant past.
“I’m 45 and my mom is in her late 60s and she told me, ‘Do you know how many of my friends got thrown in jail for protesting this stuff?’ She goes, ‘I cannot believe we are here doing this again,'” Sullivan said.
She and others believe outlawing abortion is just the first step and wonders what rights women might lose next. Sullivan said the strike could demonstrate that women will not simply sit back and accept it.
“If we could just get them to do for one day show everybody how they feel, then perhaps maybe that will be the beginning of some change. I hope,” she said.
State Sen. Lydia Edwards (D-Mass.) emailed Goodwin after seeing one of the TikToks. On Wednesday, Edwards told the Daily Dot that she believes a national collective movement will send a powerful message that women are all connected.
“It’s really important for our nation, our country, our city, our state to see the economic impact of our absence,” Edwards said, adding that she believes those who support taking women’s rights suffer from a sense of “arrogance that is grounded in the belief that women are less than and are not contributing.”
She and others believe that the only way women will get their rights back is by demanding change themselves, just as the women before them did.
“No one is coming to rescue us but us,” Edwards said.
Lynn Ortiz, 23, lives in the overwhelming conservative burg of Pineville, Louisiana. Ortiz also contacted Goodwin after seeing one of her TikToks, all of which are set to the pro-choice anthem “Labour” by Paris Paloma.
It couldn’t have come across Ortiz’s for you page at a more opportune time. Ortiz told the Daily Dot that a few weeks prior, she’d emailed her senator to express outrage at the loss of reproductive freedom. Ortiz provided the Daily Dot with a copy of the letter.
In it, she wrote, “I have never been one to care much about politics, but today Friday, April 12th , 2024, I decided enough is enough. Today is enough. No more waiting quietly for someone to tell our leaders to correct themselves. The women of America are not scared, we are not weak; our mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, grandmothers and grandfathers have taught us well. We will not stand down. We the people of America have decided to fight for our rights to our bodies.”
Ortiz told the Daily Dot that she isn’t surprised that the women’s strike is resonating with so many people. She keenly feels the anger women everywhere have over losing their reproductive freedom and believes that a movement like the women’s strike can be a step toward change.
“I believe that this can actually make a difference eventually. Because they’re ticked off the whole nation plus more of women so much so that it doesn’t even matter if they’re Republicans or Democrats. The women have come together as one,” she said.
When is the women’s strike?
June 24 is still two months away, and it’s unclear how all the enthusiasm on social media will translate into real-world action. If it does, it will because one young woman in Texas harnessed the anger and despair many are feeling and turned it into hope and action.
As Solnit wrote in the book that inspired Goodwin: “Your opponents would love you to believe that it’s hopeless, that you have no power, that there’s no reason to act, that you can’t win. Hope is a gift you don’t have to surrender, a power you don’t have to throw away.”
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