Women across the United States and several other parts of the world went on strike on Wednesday in an International Women’s Day protest against inequality and gendered labour practices. The boycotts led to schools being closed down, farms being occupied, protests at Parliament buildings around the world and hundreds marching the streets. The strike was not without its detractors though, with some noting that the numbers participating were far fewer than the January 21 women’s march, and others pointing out that only women of privilege could afford to take time off work.

Several schools were closed in the US states of North Carolina, Maryland and Washington, The Guardian reported. Protesters blocked busy streets in Dublin, Ireland, demanding a reversal of the country’s strict abortion laws. Protestors agitated outside the Parliament building in London and child care centres in Australia were shut down after workers refused to show up. At the Trump Tower in New York, several protestors were arrested for deliberately blocking traffic in an act of “civil disobdience”. Several Democratic representatives in Washington DC walked out of the House in solidarity.

The strike, called ‘A Day Without a Woman’ was called by the same group that held the anti-Donald Trump women’s march, in which nearly 2.1 million were estimated to have participated. The strike sought to emphasise women’s roles in the industry and in unpaid domestic labour, criticising oppression, misogyny, sexual violence and the invisiblisation of women’s work.