Pluto to shut office for International Women's Strike

London-based radical publisher Pluto Press will be shutting its office on 8th March to mark the ​International ​Women's Strike.

Taking place in more than 56 countries on International Women's Day, the strike will see women walk out of paid work in offices and factories, as well as unpaid domestic work in homes, communities and bedrooms, and marching in central London ​for gender equality. 

The high profile series of allegations made against a host of men, including Donald Trump and Harvey Weinstein, and the subsequent #MeToo movement, has highlighted the "widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment in every aspect of women's lives", said the publisher.  

Just over half of respondents in a recent survey conducted by The Bookseller said they had experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. Recent analysis by the Women’s Budget Group also highlighted that women bear the largest brunt of cuts in the Conservative government's austerity programme, with tax and benefit changes since 2010 significantly increasing the equality gap.

Emily Orford, marketing manager at Pluto Press, said: "As a radical publisher, we feel it is important not just to publish books for and by radical feminists, but also to support campaigns where theory can be put into practice. That is why we are supporting the #westrike movement." 

​Orford added: "Pluto Press will be standing in solidarity with our sisters around the UK on the 8th of March. The Women’s Strike is about refusing all the work that women do, work which makes all of life possible. So making a decision to close the office and get out on to the streets is central to this - and Pluto employees with be marching in London, the women will refuse to do domestic labour and the men will take their place in the household. We will literally be disrupting 'business as usual'."

As well as joining the London march, Pluto Press will also be interviewing Camille Barbaglio and Tithi Bhattacharya, two of the organisers of the International Women's Strike, on their Radicals in Conversation podcast, which will be released on 8th February. Pluto will be donating 10% of sales on its website to the Women's Strike Fund on orders placed between the 8th and 16th February.