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A Women’s Strike Reading List

Red Papers presents a handy syllabus for those participating in, supporting or just curious about the International Women’s Strike.

Protesters rally during the Women's March in Oakland, CA, January 21, 2017. (Photo: Audrey Penven / Flickr)

Here’s a handy reading list on issues around labor, feminism and organizing for anyone who is participating in, supporting or just curious about the 2017 International Women’s Strike. This syllabus was assembled by Red Papers, a collective of socialist feminist thinkers, organizers and writers.

The 2017 Women’s Strike

Striking on International Women’s Day Is Not a Privilege” by Magally A. Miranda Alcazar and Kate D. Griffiths

The Impossibility of the International Women’s Strike is Exactly Why It’s So Necessary” by Camille Barbagallo

When Did Solidarity Among Working Women Become a ‘Privilege’?” by Tithi Bhattacharya and Cinzia Arruzza

Argentina’s Life-or-Death Women’s Movement” by Veronica Gago and Agustina Santomaso

Women’s Right to Refuse” by Melissa Gira Grant

A Feminism for the 99 Percent” by Sarah Jaffe & Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

A Feminism for the Masses” by Stephanie McFeeters

Why Women Are Going on Strike in Ireland Tomorrow” by Lia McGarrigle

For Domestic and Low-Wage Workers, the Stakes are Higher than Ever” by Ai-jen Poo

Why Women Should Strike” by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

The Women’s Strike and the Messy Space of Change” by Jia Tolentino

While The Iron Is Hot” by Dayna Tortorici

On Strikes

A Strike Against the New Jim Crow” by Janaé Bonsu

The Strike That Didn’t Change New York” by Megan Erickson

The Only Way to Know If Striking Works Is to Do It” by Dayna Evans

A Day Without Care” by Sarah Jaffe

The Role of the Mass Strike in the Revolution” by Rosa Luxemburg

On Reproductive Labor: Care Work, House Work, and Emotional Labor

Having a Child will Bankrupt You” by Bryce Covert

The Power of Women and the Subversion of the Community” by Mariarosa Dalla Costa and Selma James

Approaching the Obsolescence of Housework” by Angela Y. Davis

Women and Capitalism: Dialectics of Oppression and Liberation” by Angela Y. Davis

Wages Against Housework” by Silvia Federici

Grin and Abhor It: The Truth Behind Service With a Smile” by Sarah Jaffe

Adventures in Feministory: Johnnie Tillmon and the Welfare Rights Movement” by Kjerstin Johnson

Love’s Labor Earned” by J.C. Pan

The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty” by Frances Fox Piven and Richard Cloward

More Smiles? More Money” by Dayna Tortorici

Sex Class Action” by Dayna Tortorici

Viewpoint Issue 5: Social Republicroduction” by Viewpoint

On Organizing Women’s Work

The Problem with (Sex) Work” by Peter Frase

Happy Hookers” by Melissa Gira Grant

Organized Labor’s Newest Heroes: Strippers” by Melissa Gira Grant

Let Call Sex Work What It Is: Work” by Melissa Gira Grant

The Negro Woman Domestic Worker in Relation to Trade Unionism (1940)” by Esther Cooper Jackson

Walmart’s women can’t save money or live better with wages or hours like this” by Sarah Jaffe

A Life in Writing: Selma James” with Selma James

Domestic Workers’ Rights, the Politics of Social Reproduction, and New Models of Labor Organizing” by Premilla Nadasen

Unite and Fight” by Kate Redburn

On Hillary Clinton, Liberal Feminism, and “Trickle-Down” Feminism

The Atlantic, Trickle-Down Feminism, and My Twitter Mentions, God Help Us All” by Tressie McMillan Cottom

Trickle-Down Feminism, Revisited” by Tressie McMillan Cottom

Sheryl Sandberg’s ‘Lean In’ campaign holds little for most women” by Melissa Gira Grant

Trickle-Down Feminism” by Sarah Jaffe

Opting for Free Time” by Sarah Jaffe

Housekeepers Versus Harvard: Feminism for the Age of Trump” by Sarah Leonard

Feminism’s Tipping Point: Who Wins from Leaning In?” by Kate Losse

Kicking Back, Not Leaning In” by Madeleine Schwartz

The Woman’s Party” by Namara Smith

On Feminist Futures

On the “dispute” between radical feminism and trans people” by Juliet Jacques

The Kids Are Alright: A Legendary Feminist on Feminism’s Future” by Sarah Leonard and Ann Snitow

As Many Shoes As She Likes: On Feminism” by Jenny Turner

Books and Further Reading

Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldúa

Part of the Family? Nannies, Housekeepers, and the Battle for Domestic Workers’ Rights by Sheila Bapat

Undoing the Demos by Wendy Brown

The Other Women’s Movement by Dorothy Sue Cobble

Dishing It Out by Dorothy Sue Cobble

Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins

Women, Race and Class by Angela Y. Davis

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Global Woman by Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild

Class War: The Privatization of Childhood by Megan Erickson

Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Worker’s Rights at Walmart by Liza Featherstone

Revolution at Point Zero by Silvia Federici

Scales of Justice by Nancy Fraser

Fortunes of Feminism by Nancy Fraser

The Lost Promise of Civil Rights by Risa Goluboff

Playing the Whore: The Work of Sex Work by Melissa Gira Grant

The Managed Heart by Arlie Russell Hochschild

The Second Shift by Arlie Russell Hochschild

The Time Bind by Arlie Russell Hochschild

Feminist Theory from Margin to Center by bell hooks

To ‘Joy My Freedom by Tera Hunter

Sex, Race and Class: The Perspective of Winning by Selma James

Direct Action: Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism by L. A. Kauffman

Caring for America by Eileen Boris and Jennifer Klein

Freedom is Not Enough by Nancy McClean

Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale by Maria Mies

To Serve God and Wal-Mart by Bethany Moreton

Household Workers Unite by Premilla Nadasen

One Dimensional Woman by Nina Power

Whipping Girl by Julia Serrano

From Bondage to Contract by Amy Dru Stanley

Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power by Ann Stoler

From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga Yamahtta-Taylor

Strike for America: Chicago Teachers Against Austerity by Micah Uetricht

The Problem With Work by Kathi Weeks

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