A Day Without Women

I am writing to inform you that I will not be working on March 8th.

The Women’s March organized this day in the same spirit of love and liberation that inspired the march on January 21, 2017. Today, A Day Without A Woman, is a recognition of the value that women of all backgrounds add to our socio-economic system. It is to raise awareness and remind us all of the pervasive and systemic gender-based inequalities that still exist within our society, from the wage gap, to vulnerability to discrimination, sexual harassment, and job insecurity.

I am one woman. On any given weekday, I read a thousand lines of code. I review between 30 and 60 plugins. I write at least 2,000 words on WordPress.

But not March 8th.

On that day, I will review no plugins.

On that day, I will answer no questions in the forums.

On that day, I will not work on WordPress.

I’m one person, and I do shy away from the political on this blog, but now, this year, this time is different.

I understand if you can’t, we can’t all afford to do this, we can’t all risk this. But I can. And I will. Because I am one person, but my family taught me to care about everyone, not just myself. I am one person, but together we are a nation. I am one person, but I am not alone.

So on March 8th, there will be no WordPress for me.

I hope you will stand in support of me, and any of my friends and colleagues. I hope that everyone will give women workers today off without retribution. I hope you will all stand with me and others.

I know this is a big ask, and I know a lot of you can’t. I understand that, I respect that, and I support that. We need to eat.

I am dedicated to my work. I am dedicated to WordPress and DreamHost. I respect them, the work we do, and their values. And I am grateful my company does support me when I chose to do these things. I am lucky and thankful and grateful I won’t be fired for taking this day off.

At an increasingly insecure time for the rights of women and other minority groups, it is important to me that I also stand for the value of equality.

I hope you, the people who read this, will support me in my decision. I hope you will join me if you can.