Icelandic Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir arrives at the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain, on October 5, 2023, before an official dinner at the European Political Community summit (AFP/Archives/JORGE GUERRERO)
Tens of thousands of women, including Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, stopped work in Iceland on Tuesday to demand equal pay and protest against violence against women.
Iceland is ranked first in the world for gender equality, according to World Economic Forum (WEF) rankings, but organizers of the movement stress the need for their country to go further and lead by example .
“We are perfectly aware that we have not achieved equality between men and women and that, even if the situation is better than elsewhere, there is no reason to stop there,” he told AFP Steinunn Rögnvaldsdóttir, one of the organizers of this day called “Kvennafrí” (“Free Day for Women”).
This day has been organized six times since 1975 in Iceland but this is only the second time that the strike will be observed all day, she adds.
In previous times, women stopped working at the time of day when they were no longer paid compared to men.
In Iceland, the average gender pay gap was 10.2% in 2021, according to the national statistics agency.
Some 90% of women had participated in 1975 and “at the time, it was radical”, notes Ms. Rögnvaldsdóttir.
The Prime Minister announced that she would lead by example.
“She will not carry out her official duties (…) and the cabinet meeting scheduled for today has been postponed until tomorrow,” Ms. Jakobsdóttir’s office told AFP.
– “Gift for mother-in-law” –
A large gathering began at 2:00 p.m. in Reykjavik where the main square appeared crowded, according to images from the Icelandic media. Gatherings were planned in around twenty municipalities across the country.
The city of Reykjavik, where 75% of employees are women, announced that 59 daycare centers and nursery schools would be closed and that all municipal services would operate slowly. The salaries of striking civil servants will be paid.
Movement organizers expect men to take over the unpaid work that often falls to women on Tuesday.
“We expect husbands, fathers, brothers and uncles to assume responsibilities related to family and home, for example: preparing breakfast and tupperware for lunch, remembering loved ones’ birthdays, buy a gift for the mother-in-law, make a dentist appointment for the child, etc.,” the strikers list on their site.
“We always have to be on guard when it comes to our rights,” Lína Petra Thórarinsdóttir, 45, in charge of tourism at Business Iceland, an agency promoting the country, told AFP.
“In Iceland, we are proud of what we have accomplished and I am grateful to the women who were there before us.”
She says she wants to continue until full equality between men and women is achieved, at all levels.
The strikers also want, with this day, to raise the problems linked to gender violence.
“We see that 40% of women have suffered or will suffer violence in their lives. This strike is both for equal pay but also against violence against women and non-binary people,” according to Ms. Thórarinsdóttir.
The movement also promised to be widely supported by women forced to work this Tuesday.
Fjóla Helgadóttir, 41, works as a nurse and says she cannot strike. “I would have liked to participate (…) today, but as we work in a children’s emergency service, we have to provide this service,” she explained to AFP, stressing that the cause is “extremely important”.
© 2023 AFP
Did you like this article ? Share it with your friends using the buttons below.
