[Iceland] First full-day women’s strike in 48 years over pay gap

In Iceland, tens of thousands of women, including the prime minister, stopped work – both paid and unpaid – on October 24 in the first strike of its kind in nearly half a century, The Guardian reports.

Organisers intended the women’s strike – with confirmed participants including fishing industry workers, teachers, nurses and Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir – to bring society to a standstill in order to draw attention to the country’s ongoing gender pay gap and widespread gender-based and sexual violence.

The event reportedly marked the first full-day women’s strike since 1975 when 90 per cent of Icelandic women refused to work as part of “kvennafrí” (women’s day off). That protest action led to pivotal change including the world’s first female elected president of a country.

However, organisers of the latest strike - some of whom participated in the 1975 action - say the core demand for women’s work to be valued has yet to be met 48 years later.

Iceland is considered a global leader in gender equality and topped the 2023 World Economic Forum’s global gender gap rankings for the 14th consecutive year. But, in some professions, Icelandic women still earn 21 per cent less than men and more than 40 per cent of women have experienced gender-based or sexual violence.

In addition, strike organisers say that jobs traditionally associated with women, such as cleaning and caregiving, continue to be undervalued and underpaid.

“We’re talked about, Iceland is talked about, like it’s an equality paradise,” Freyja Steingrímsdóttir - one of the strike organisers and communications director for BSRB, the Icelandic Federation for Public Workers - said. “But an equality paradise should not have a 21% wage gap and 40% of women experiencing gender-based or sexual violence in their lifetime. That’s not what women around the world are striving for.”

With the global reputation that it has, Iceland has a responsibility to “make sure we live up to those expectations”, Ms Steingrímsdóttir said.

There have reportedly been other women’s strikes since the first in 1975, however, the October 24 protest marked the first full-day event. Operating under the slogan “Kallarðu þetta jafnrétti?” (You call this equality?), it was the outcome of a grassroots movement and is being planned by about 40 different organisations.

Women across the country were urged not to do any paid or unpaid work, including domestic tasks at home, “to demonstrate the importance of their contribution to society”. Yet some reportedly began preparing ahead of time to make life easier for men during their absence.

“The third shift is real, women are going on strike but ‘let’s make sure that everything will work smoothly’ is the mentality we’re stuck in and we need to get out of,” Ms Steingrímsdóttir said. “For one day it’s not our problem, so let’s not try to make it easier for them.”

At least 25,000 people were expected to attend the event in Reykjavík city centre and many more participated in 10 other events around the country, making it Iceland’s biggest-ever women’s strike.

When she announced her participation, premier Ms Jakobsdóttir told mbl.is she expected the prime minister’s office to stop working. “First and foremost, I am showing solidarity with Icelandic women with this.”

The strike called for the gender pay gap to be closed by publishing the wages of workers in female-dominant professions and for action to be taken against gender-based and sexual violence, with more focus on the perpetrators.

Drífa Snædal is on the executive committee of the women’s strike and is a spokesperson for Stígamót, a counselling and education centre for sexual violence. She said increased access to pornography among children had contributed to violence against women.

Women’s status in society and their monetary value in the workplace were also linked to sexual violence, she said.

“We are now trying to connect the dots, saying that violence against women and undervalued work of women in the labour market are two sides of the same coin and have an effect on each other,” she added.

Women cannot count on Iceland’s justice system when it comes to sexually violent crimes, despite the #MeToo movement and various others demanding equality in Iceland over recent years, Ms Snædal said. 

“The patience of women has run out.”

Source: The Guardian

(Quotes via original reporting)

In Iceland, tens of thousands of women, including the prime minister, stopped work – both paid and unpaid – on October 24 in the first strike of its kind in nearly half a century, The Guardian reports.

Organisers intended the women’s strike – with confirmed participants including fishing industry workers, teachers, nurses and Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir – to bring society to a standstill in order to draw attention to the country’s ongoing gender pay gap and widespread gender-based and sexual violence.

The event reportedly marked the first full-day women’s strike since 1975 when 90 per cent of Icelandic women refused to work as part of “kvennafrí” (women’s day off). That protest action led to pivotal change including the world’s first female elected president of a country.

However, organisers of the latest strike - some of whom participated in the 1975 action - say the core demand for women’s work to be valued has yet to be met 48 years later.

Iceland is considered a global leader in gender equality and topped the 2023 World Economic Forum’s global gender gap rankings for the 14th consecutive year. But, in some professions, Icelandic women still earn 21 per cent less than men and more than 40 per cent of women have experienced gender-based or sexual violence.

In addition, strike organisers say that jobs traditionally associated with women, such as cleaning and caregiving, continue to be undervalued and underpaid.

“We’re talked about, Iceland is talked about, like it’s an equality paradise,” Freyja Steingrímsdóttir - one of the strike organisers and communications director for BSRB, the Icelandic Federation for Public Workers - said. “But an equality paradise should not have a 21% wage gap and 40% of women experiencing gender-based or sexual violence in their lifetime. That’s not what women around the world are striving for.”

With the global reputation that it has, Iceland has a responsibility to “make sure we live up to those expectations”, Ms Steingrímsdóttir said.

There have reportedly been other women’s strikes since the first in 1975, however, the October 24 protest marked the first full-day event. Operating under the slogan “Kallarðu þetta jafnrétti?” (You call this equality?), it was the outcome of a grassroots movement and is being planned by about 40 different organisations.

Women across the country were urged not to do any paid or unpaid work, including domestic tasks at home, “to demonstrate the importance of their contribution to society”. Yet some reportedly began preparing ahead of time to make life easier for men during their absence.

“The third shift is real, women are going on strike but ‘let’s make sure that everything will work smoothly’ is the mentality we’re stuck in and we need to get out of,” Ms Steingrímsdóttir said. “For one day it’s not our problem, so let’s not try to make it easier for them.”

At least 25,000 people were expected to attend the event in Reykjavík city centre and many more participated in 10 other events around the country, making it Iceland’s biggest-ever women’s strike.

When she announced her participation, premier Ms Jakobsdóttir told mbl.is she expected the prime minister’s office to stop working. “First and foremost, I am showing solidarity with Icelandic women with this.”

The strike called for the gender pay gap to be closed by publishing the wages of workers in female-dominant professions and for action to be taken against gender-based and sexual violence, with more focus on the perpetrators.

Drífa Snædal is on the executive committee of the women’s strike and is a spokesperson for Stígamót, a counselling and education centre for sexual violence. She said increased access to pornography among children had contributed to violence against women.

Women’s status in society and their monetary value in the workplace were also linked to sexual violence, she said.

“We are now trying to connect the dots, saying that violence against women and undervalued work of women in the labour market are two sides of the same coin and have an effect on each other,” she added.

Women cannot count on Iceland’s justice system when it comes to sexually violent crimes, despite the #MeToo movement and various others demanding equality in Iceland over recent years, Ms Snædal said. 

“The patience of women has run out.”

Source: The Guardian

(Quotes via original reporting)