AIBU to think women should collectively down tools to demand change?

[ZoeHS]

Reflecting on current news such as the Epstein files and wars which are started by men in which women (and children) are adversely affected. We live in a time where women’s rights are being eroded even more and misogyny is increasing. It feels like being a female means we’re in constant danger despite being the reason for the human race existing. We’re exploited in so many ways. I know it isn’t just men who are the perpetrators, but the vast majority of those doing the exploiting are men.

Do those of us who can strike and down tools collectively?

By downing tools I mean not working, not having sex, not looking after children (or perhaps we take the children with us), not producing, not buying anything. We just sit down and say no. I know on one level that it’s bonkers but I also feel like we need a real disruptive movement to challenge the status quo.

Aye - anyone who disagrees must be a man, MRA or a 'bloody handmaiden'. Gods forbid women should have different views from each other and not think with a hive mind

Some women don't. Some have nowhere to go. No access to money. Husband's who control finances. There is a thread on these boards somewhere about a woman who is forced to live with her ex till her child turns 18 four nights a week or he's threatened to take the child abroad and not return her -even if he legally couldn't he's alarmed her so much she's agreed to his terms

You start…

I think my issue with vague foot stomping is that it doesn't actually achieve anything and it doesn't go anywhere.

We need actual change, rather than just venting. From my perspective, that has to start at an individual level with what happens within the home and with what we are modelling for the next generation - and men have no real incentive to change this, so women are going to have to drive it by insisting on genuine equality in their relationships and refusing to settle for less.

Then it continues in the workplace, where women have to assert themselves and keep pushing for progress, while also ensuring that they do what they can to support and facilitate the next generation of women coming through.

And it happens by putting constant and relentless pressure on our elected politicians to introduce concrete changes to legislation and resourcing which will actually tackle the issue of violence and exploitation against women and girls.

Just stamping your feet and refusing to do the washing up for a few days isn't going to cut it.

this!

Are they? What percentage of women are MPs for example? Surgeons like someone else said. How many women occupy roles such as mechanic, plumber, engineer.
There's still a gender pay gap.
Many women occupy part time roles -insecure -particularly women from the BAME community.

There are women who get dismissed when pregnant. I read a news article this morning where a woman was smacked and injured (for life)because she turned down someones advances -he got 21 months in jail

How so?

OP wants to improve women’s plight and representation. You think it’s unnecessary?
Maybe her solution needs to be discussed or you disagree with some points or most of them, fair enough, but “insulting”, where in the fresh hell is organising and seeing ourselves as a sex class, make use of the right to assemble and strike an insult? Can’t you just politely disagree, why is it getting under your skin, why put down another woman who comes with an idea like that?

I get what you mean OP, I m extremely saddened to see the reactions and obfuscations.

This thread reminds me of when the craze on Facebook was along the lines of 'it's national breast cancer awareness day so all women post the colour of their underwear as their status in solidarity' or some such nonsense.

Achieves nothing.

Meaningful change can only be achieved by education, right from childhood, and that's where we can ALL (men and women) make a difference.

Anyone who thinks most men are despicable must have had very bad luck, or made very bad choices in life. My dad, my lovely late husband, my sons, my grandsons and many,many other men I have met are far from despicable.
As I live on my own and am retired, me going on strike wouldn't have much impact - I suppose I could stop feeding my male dog and baking cakes for my male grandchildren., but I hardly think that would improve the lot of other women.
Better to do something practical to help women who aren't so fortunate - support women's aid for instance.

Insulting because her lists is stereotyping in itself. It includes shopping, childcare (although actually we should take the kids with us) and it assumes that all women are heterosexual.

Some elected politicians won't even respond to their constituents. Several of mine don't.

I mean are you asking because you don’t know or you think it means women aren’t at the table??
41% of all MPs in the UK are women, that’s incredibly substantial.

What do female plumbers have to do with women being at the table?

The gender pay gap is because many women go part time, ultimately a lot of the time that is choice. I’ve very rarely, if ever, heard a woman say “I work part time but I would love to work full time”.

Would women if the Western world ready to strike or protest for one day in solidarity with Afghan women to ask for our governments to do more to try and help them?

I would.

That's possibly because stats show that women do more housework, child care than men -and that's worldwide. Not just in the Uk

Disagreeing with the OP does not make us MRA’s or handmaids. I think we do need change but I disagree with the OP’s characterisation of womanhood. And feminism is about listening to all women, not calling them handmaids, MRAS etc when they disagree. That in itself is anti feminist.

I'm aware of this. My previous Tory MP never bothered to respond to anything. But I still think it's worth keeping the pressure up, even if they can't be arsed to respond.

I enjoy having sex, plus not sure how refusing to have sex with my husband, will affect women and girls trafficked for sex. My husband isn’t starting any wars either,

My child is a boy so do I leave him when I go?!

This has been done (at least fictionally) before : Aristophanes wrote about it in 5th century bc Athens

It's about traditional gender roles. The gender pay gap is not just because women choose to work part time. It's about women being paid less for doing the same roles as men

Some women work part time because they have other caring responsibilities. Elderly parents for example Or because they have more of a share of childcare responsibilities.

I personally don't think women who end up in unhappy marriages or relationship have necessarily made bad choices -not as simple as that

But what does traditional gender roles have to do with women being ‘at the table’!?? You’re muddling up a million different arguments.

Incorrect, in the uk the gender pay gap is predominantly not because men are paid more for the same roles and hours as women. 🤦‍♀️
The gender pay gap in the uk is caused by the gender makeup of different roles and industries.
On average women earn 7% less than men on average for full time roles, again this is comparing any role to another at random. It does not mean a man is paid more for the same job.
However for part time work women on average earn 3% more than men.

I’ve been at my table most of my life discussing things and raising my sons to respect and appreciate women. My parents brought us up to respect each other and I’ve done the same. Perhaps we need to start at our own tables before any others.

So the women who don't have lovely supportive husbands, what do you think happens when they don't cook dinner, refuse sex, refuse to do the washing? If course the reality shouldn't be true but it is. Not to mention the single women and the homosexual women who will be evicted and have their kids removed. OK, social services would be screwed without women so maybe the kids can continue to live in squalor whilst their mothers refuse to care for them. Result. Or is it just the sons? Your post is full of your own entitlement

First thing in the UK would be making fathers pay the appropriate child maintenance.

There is a lot wrong in the US, but by God if you don't pay your alimony, you're cooked.

It's caused by lots of things -you're right but further up you said that it was caused by women working part time -there are many other reasons why the gender pay gap exists

Maybe because it's difficult for women to get into roles that are traditionally male dominated. Even in 2026

My mum was both a primary and a secondary school teacher during her career -there were very few males in primary teaching. There are roles where women dominate and ones where men do. I'm not sure that's equality.

Women can only be at the table if there's a place for them to begin with -you stated earlier that 41 per cent of women were MPs. It was 34 per cent untill 2019

And that's before you consider intersectionality, race, gender, class,age. Lots of things exist to make life harder for certain sections of the population

How many BAME women MPs are there in the UK? 50. 7-8 per cent of the total number