At the Charité in Berlin, it all begins very quietly. No megaphones, no slogans, and no strike banners. Just coffee, cake – and a hypothetical question: What if all the women at the Charité went on strike?
Article by Rita Schuhmacher
It is 9 March 2026, the day of the global women’s strike. In over 90 locations worldwide, women stop their work. Not everywhere, not all at the same time, not visible everywhere. Some organise a babysitter at short notice and take to the streets with signs, some take the day off from their office jobs, whilst others leave their duties to their partners, turn their extended lunch break into a political gesture, quietly boycott the supermarket or simply wear pink and meet up with friends. And many carry on working – because they have to.
Because their work cannot simply be put on hold: not in nursing, not in care, not at home. Care work, in particular, cannot simply be set aside. Someone has to be there. And for many, the risk is too great to do it anyway. The key message of the day: We make up 50 per cent of the world population– and without us, nothing works. At the Charité, this figure takes on a concrete form. In fact, around 70 per cent of the workforce are women. Female doctors, nurses, cleaners, administrative staff. An organisation that cannot function without them. And at the same time, an organisation where power is unevenly distributed. “The problem is that only 20 per cent of management positions are held by women. 80 per cent of management positions are held by men,” says Christine Kurmeyer, Women’s and Equality Officer at Charité. “That is actually precisely the contradiction we see here.”
The majority works – the minority decides
The idea for the assembly came about at short notice. Traditional forms of protest are hardly effective here. “In Berlin, we have an average of 19 protests per day – it’s literally running itself into the ground,” says Kurmeyer. “And we’re not legally allowed to call for a strike.” So she uses a different tool: the women’s general assembly, a formal right that is rarely exercised in many workplaces. In the foyer of a new building, there are display boards where women can pin up their thoughts. There is coffee, cake, the Icelandic film “A Day Without Women”, which is so inspiring, followed by discussions.
“I’d said beforehand: in the worst case, we’ll just have a nice lunch break, eat loads of cake and watch the movie. Then 50 or 60 women turn up. From nursing, from medical technology, from administration. Female scientists too. A few men join them. The screening room is absolutely packed; afterwards, the conversation continues. “What really moved me was that there were so many female researchers there,” says Kurmeyer. “They’re usually rather wary of the term ‘strike’.” In the academic world, one’s own work is often not seen as traditional paid employment – and consequently rarely as part of industrial action. That is precisely why it is remarkable that they came. Because even in university hospitals there are clear hierarchies – between research and nursing, between top and bottom. “And yet they said: We are women, and we must stick together.” The healthcare system as a whole relies on women to carry the burden – often under great pressure, often poorly paid, often with no real alternative. Refusing to do so is therefore not just an individual decision, but calls the whole system into question. “Basically, everything relies on women simply carrying on with their work in their respective roles,” says Kurmeyer.
That is precisely where the general assembly comes in. Women from different fields sit in the same room – many of them work in the same company anyway, often side by side, but rarely with a common point of reference. On this day, it is not about departments or responsibilities, but about something that unites them: the fact that they are women – and that their work, no matter how varied, is taken for granted in a similar way and often remains invisible. “If the women are missing here, then nothing works anymore,” says Kurmeyer.
This is a powerful example – and a blueprint. Every public institution and every large company has equality officers with similar powers. Full assemblies can be convened, and employees are granted time off work for this purpose. The question is not whether the structures exist – but whether they are being used. For the upcoming 9 March, this means: more workplaces, more such meetings, more places where this question is raised – not as a catchphrase, but in the specific context of work. Not from the exterior, but from inside. 9 March 2026 was not (yet) a full-scale general strike. The circumstances of women are too varied for that, and the risks are too unevenly distributed. But it did show where the starting points lie and, for many women, gave them their first glimpse of what actually needs to happen for the ‘50 per cent’ to have a political impact – specifically where they actually work together.
Half of it is here. Now it’s a matter of making it ready for action.
