A World Without Men

In response to recent and repeated comments about how good women would have it if men just suddenly disappeared for a while...

Day 1

At midnight UTC (late afternoon to late evening in the US), all men in the world disappear. The absolute certainty that they're just gone for a while and will be back, safe and sound, is immediately put in the mind of every woman in the world by the entity that oversaw this disappearance, so no one panics for their loved ones. Additionally, this entity is kind enough to land every plane, park every road vehicle, safely stop every train and bring every ship securely into port, so we don't have hundreds of millions of accidents immediately.

A certain sense of celebration breaks out in Western cities, as women celebrate the World Without Men. Bras are thrown to the sky in liberation, hair is let down, and abused women rejoice. It doesn't last long, however.

Within about half a day, the power grid fails from lack of proper operation (94% of operators are men). Thermal plants shut down without being fuelled, causing cascading blackouts as protection devices disconnect sections of the network. By night, there is no electricity unless you have your own generator.

Day 2

Come next dawn (unlike some had imagined, few dare go out in the moonlit night), everyone has realised that no one will be supplying shops (84% of truck drivers are men), and panic looting begins. With next to no law enforcement (83% of officers are men), there isn't even an attempt to impose order, and much violence takes place at this stage as women fight over vital goods.

By that night, backup systems have failed and all utilities shut down completely: no water, no electricity, no gas, no telecommunications. Women resort to lighting candles and building makeshift open pit fires for heating and cooking, leading inevitably to building blazes, which in the absence of almost all firefighters (89% are men) spread much farther than they otherwise would.

Day 3

The sun rises on an apocalyptic scenario. Fires that had started the previous evening are still raging across cities worldwide. The stink of smoke is compounded by rotting garbage and human waste which, in the absence of water pressure, has been often just dumped outside buildings. Millions of women have died.

At this point, the entity that had begun the experiment, and had originally planned to let it run a week, decides to terminate it early. Men are returned, safe and sound as promised, to find a world that needs much rebuilding.

In an alternate timeline, the same inscrutable demiurge has run the same experiment, sexes inverted. Daycares and schools have shut down from lack of sufficient personnel. Hospitals are under extreme strain from the disappearance of the vast majority of nurses. Old people's homes are similarly critically understaffed. The administration offices of most companies and public entities see up to 3/4th of their personnel missing, bringing their work to a standstill. Restaurants are missing more than half of their workforce.

However, civilisation doesn't immediately collapse. The power grid remains operational, so do telecommunications networks. Law enforcement and military are called in to ensure public order, with night curfews being imposed by many countries. With the saving grace that half of patients have also disappeared, hospitals and care homes cope as best they can, postponing operations, reducing services to vital minimum, and recruiting volunteers. Supplies keep coming into cities, and utilities keep on ticking.

At the end of the week, women reappear, safe and rested from their vacation without men. Articles, documentaries and movies are produced in short order about the Week Without Women. Speeches are given about how it proved the central and growing role of women in modern society; moving stories are told of children who missed their favorite teacher, and patients relieved to be reunited with their nurses and care workers; the event becomes a favorite subject of comedies for the next few years. It is hailed as a triumph of feminism, and many jokes are told about how much women would enjoy it if the next time it was the men's turn to disappear.