Good morning!

Today is International Women’s Day, and as you’re surely heard, this year Women’s March organizers have dubbed it A Day Without A Woman – a strike of sorts in which, to draw attention to women’s issues and the magnitude of our gender’s contribution to society and to the economy, women of the world are encouraged not to go to work, not to spend money except at women-owned businesses, and to wear red for solidarity. We’ve been vocal supporters of women’s issues and many others, and we wanted briefly to address our decision to continue with business as usual today. In the interest of full transparency, we have contractual and financial obligations that made going dark an unrealistic choice for us. We are a women-owned small business, but we thrive on partnerships in order to remain so. Certainly we hope our readers understand and don’t doubt the thought we put into this, nor our commitment to this cause. We respect enormously any women who make the decision to take a stand, just as we do the women who do not feel they are in the position to bench themselves today. The very difficulty women have had with this decision goes to show what vital and vibrant lives we all do lead, and how much of the world depends on us to be the glue. We hope you understand that we made the decision we needed to, after much consideration, in order to keep our particular women-owned business in your lives for as long as possible.

That said — although we know Fug Nation does this every day — today in particular we encourage everyone to seek out woman-owned businesses to support, the works of women writers and artists to share and buy, and female-centric charities to boost. To that end, we’d love it if you could share any and all of your favorites in the comments below, to create a repository of sorts — or a reference guide — for those who are seeking places to patronize or causes to support. And if the woman artist or business owner is you, all the better.

[As a note: at the moment, when your comment goes into moderation, it seems like it just disappears, but it hasn’t. Be patient and I will rescue you.]

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