Iceland Prime Minister joins nationwide women’s strike News
Johannes Jansson/norden.org, CC BY 2.5 DK, via Wikimedia Commons
Iceland Prime Minister joins nationwide women’s strike

Icelandic women across the country, including Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, participated in a nationwide strike Tuesday, demanding an end to gender inequality and discrimination.

The event echoed the 1975 Icelandic Women’s Strike, with the Foreign Ministry stating:

Today we repeat the event of the first full day women’s strike since 1975, marking the day when 90% of Icelandic women took the day off from both work and domestic duties, leading to pivotal change, including the world’s first female elected president of a country.

In 1975, a movement known as the Women’s Day Off saw 90% of Icelandic women walk out of their jobs, highlighting the essential role they play in society. Since then, Icelandic women have staged several strikes, with the most recent one taking place in 2018.

Iceland, known for its progressive stance on gender equality, has been ranked as the most gender-equal country in the world for the past 14 years by the World Economic Forum. However, despite these accomplishments, the strike organizers emphasized that there is still a long way to go in achieving true equality. The main grievances voiced during the strike included the undervaluation of female-dominated occupations, wage disparities, and the burden of unpaid domestic work disproportionately falling on women. Furthermore, the organizers called for greater recognition of the skills and education of women of foreign origin, as well as increased support for survivors of gender-based violence.

The Act on Equal Status and Equal Rights Irrespective of Gender, enacted in 2020, aims to prevent gender-based discrimination and promote equality in all spheres of society. The Prime Minister’s Office is responsible for enforcing the act, while the Directorate of Equality oversees its implementation and provides guidance and public education on gender equality issues.

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