Global feminist strike on March 9 demands recognition of unpaid labor

Global Women's Strike on March 9 Calls for Work Stoppage—Paid and Unpaid

On March 9, women worldwide are being urged to halt all paid and unpaid labor as part of a global strike organized by the Germany-based Enough! Genug! initiative. On Monday, organizers unveiled their plans in Berlin, framing the Women's* General Strike as "a sharper tool in perilous times," according to initiative co-founder, psychologist, and politician Adrienne Goehler.

The action is designed to extend the International Women's Day protests on March 8—a day traditionally marked by global demonstrations for gender equality and against discrimination, also known as Feminist Strike Day or Women's Struggle Day. "Women still do not have the same opportunities in life as men," saidMarie-Florence Mahwera, director of theBerlin State Women's Council (Landesfrauenrat Berlin), during the initiative's launch. She warned that hard-won women's rights are eroding amid the current geopolitical climate—a trend the strike aims to reverse. The protest also targets "systemic devaluation, unpaid care work, femicides, war, and climate crisis denial."*

While branded as a strike, the initiative clarifies that the March 9 work stoppage is not a labor dispute in the legal sense. As stated on the Enough! Genug! website, it is "not an industrial action" but a political and societal form of protest. Since it lacks formal strike protections, participants must individually decide whether to "request leave, submit vacation days," or simply extend their lunch breaks.

Goehler emphasized that this approach makes the protest accessible to many. The day's activities will include "picnicking, lying down, screaming, dancing—but no marching." Demonstrators plan to occupy public squares in a "lazy protest," lying down as a symbolic act. Another key goal is to "bridge divisions within feminist movements." The term Womenencompasses a "diversity of genders"* invited to join the action.

Following Iceland's Lead

Enough! Genug! (known in some contexts as Genug! Basta!) claims 1,100 members across over 50 organizations and 42 regional groups. In Germany, supporters include Fridays for Future, Grandmothers Against the Right (Omas gegen rechts), and state women's councils. The Panter Foundation has also backed the strike.

Internationally, affiliated groups exist in cities like Lisbon, Buenos Aires, and Lima, though not every country is participating. Goehler stressed that the strike also stands in solidarity with women* who cannot take to the streets themselves.

The initiative draws inspiration from Iceland's "Women's Day Off" in 1975, when roughly 90% of Icelandic women stopped work to protest wage disparities and unfair labor divisions. Officially termed a "Women's Day of Rest"—since a discrimination strike would have been legally impermissible—the action was framed to avoid alienating conservative women.

Since 2009, Iceland has consistently topped the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index, which measures gender disparities in economic participation, education, health, and political empowerment. Germany, meanwhile, slipped from 7th to 9th place in 2025, with the WEF citing stagnant economic equality, declining female political representation, and a drop in women's healthy life expectancy as key factors.