Tens of thousands of women in Iceland, including its prime minister, are refusing to work today (24 October) in protest over the country’s gender pay gap and gender-based violence.
Women and non-binary people are being urged to refuse any paid or unpaid work, including household chores.
Iceland is often hailed as a global leader for gender equality, and topped the 2023 World Economic Forum gender pay gap ranking for the 14th consecutive year. However, in some professions, women still earn 20% less than men overall, according to Statistics Iceland.
Iceland has closed at least 91% of its gender pay gap and is the only country to have passed 90%.
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The strike, which has been organised under the slogan “Kallarðu þetta jafnrétti?” (You call this equality?), is being coordinated by around 40 organisations.
According to the Icelandic Teachers’ Union, women make up the majority of teachers at every level including 94% of kindergarten teachers, while around 80% of workers at the country’s biggest hospital are women.
Freyja Steingrímsdóttir, one of the strike organisers and communications director for the Icelandic Federation for Public Workers, said: “We’re seeking to bring attention to the fact that we’re called an equality paradise, but there are still gender disparities and urgent need for action.
“Female-led professions such as healthcare services and childcare are still undervalued and much lower paid.”
Iceland’s prime minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir said she expected that all women in her cabinet would take part in the strike.
She told the MBL news website: “I have decided not to have a cabinet meeting tomorrow and in Alþingi [Iceland’s parliament] only male ministers will answer impromptu questions. We show solidarity in this way.”
In 1975, the first Kvennafrí, or “Women’s day off” saw 90% of women refuse to work. The original strike is widely said to have led to important changes in Iceland, including the election of the world’s first female president of a country.
Today’s strike is the first full-day women’s strike in Iceland.
In 2018 Iceland introduced legislation that requires any company or government agency with more than 25 employees to obtain government certification to prove pay parity, with those that fail to do so facing fines.
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