On October 24, 2023, thousands of people swarmed Arnarhóll hill in downtown Reykjavík, holding protesting signs, babies, and each other’s hands, turning the city centre into a historic spectacle. Iceland’s seventh Women’s Strike (Kvennaverkfall) had a much larger turnout than expected, with the crowd spilling out across Hverfisgata and Lækjargata streets. An estimated 70,000 to 100,000 people participated in the protest in Reykjavík, exceeding the numbers of previous strikes. Women and non-binary people were protesting for equal pay; the re-evaluation of their work, especially regarding unpaid (domestic) labour; and against gender-based violence. While Women’s Strikes have been held in Iceland from time to time over the last several decades, this event was only the second full-day strike of its kind, the first one being the original historic protest in 1975. This year, even Icelandic Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir walked off the job and attended the protest. The news about the Women’s Strike in Iceland spread fast around the globe, with international media outlets reporting on the event, including the New York Times, BBC, and the Guardian.
Nearly a third of Iceland’s population
Many women’s associations took part in organising this year’s Women’s Strike under the motto “You call this equality?” Among them was Iceland’s oldest organisation of its kind, the Icelandic Women’s Rights Association. Founded in 1907 by women’s rights activist Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir, in 2019 the Icelandic Women’s Rights Association reached a historic milestone itself, electing Tatjana Latinović as its first-ever president of foreign origin. In an interview with Iceland Review, she described her organisation’s goals: “We advocate for women’s participation in politics and public life. We pressure political parties to introduce mechanisms to level the gender ratio in their ranks.” Apart from this important work, the organisation also comments on certain draft legislation and hosts forums for public discussions about trends within the feminist movement.
When Tatjana moved to Iceland in 1994, she struggled with the same things many immigrants do, like finding a job and trying to fit into society. In 2003, along with a group of other women of foreign origin, she founded W.O.M.E.N., an organisation which advocates for foreign women’s rights in Iceland. Back at the time she also faced prejudice herself: “When you move to a different country, it takes a lot of courage, and you are met with preconceptions. Nothing that you have done before matters.” She also emphasised the dire situations that women of foreign origin can often be in when moving to another country. “I came here married to an Icelander, so I got the Icelandic residency permit on the grounds of marriage. It’s the same for so many women. But if there is a problem in the marriage, you can’t just leave.”
In previous Women’s Strikes, women walked out of their workplaces at a specific time of day that corresponded with the gender pay gap. The organisers of this year’s protest felt that the previous format was mostly convenient for educated native Icelanders with office jobs, who had the freedom to leave their white-collar jobs early. Immigrant and lower-class women, who often earn an hourly wage and not a salary, struggled to participate, as many could not take time off without repercussions. To address this class dynamic, organisers decided to hold a full-day strike this year. Protests were not only held in the capital area but all around Iceland. Many companies supported their striking employees, offering them paid time off. Women and non-binary people working in essential services, such as nurses and doctors who were not able to strike showed their support via social media using the hashtag #kvennaverkfall and by wearing stickers with “ómissandi” (essential) on their uniform. At the Women’s Protest in Reykjavík, people from all backgrounds, including disabled women, foreign women, and non-binary people held speeches and shared their struggles. Yet again, 48 years after the initial strike, the 2023 Women’s Strike brought the country to another halt. Preschools closed, school operations were affected, and swimming pools locked their doors all around the country, demonstrating the essential nature of women’s and non-binary people’s labour.
When life in Iceland came to a halt
Many people in Iceland remember the first Women’s Protest in 1975, then called Women’s Day Off (Kvennafrídagurinn). Many may not know, however, that the initial 1975 labour action was originally supposed to be called “Women’s Strike” (Kvennaverkfall), just like this year’s event. Back then, the proposed name caused controversy and the organisers had to compromise with the less provocative “Women’s Day Off.” While the goals of both events remain the same, this year’s change signalled a return to the spirit of the first women’s strike.
Women around Iceland went on strike for the entire day from not just their professional occupations, but also their labour at home, such as childcare and household chores. The 1975 protest took place in Lækjatorg Square in downtown Reykjavík and drew some 25,000 attendees. The event sparked subsequent feminist labour actions in the following decades. About 90% of all Icelandic women united in the protest, bringing the country to a halt. Many accounts famously reported helpless Icelandic fathers bringing their children to work with them, as kindergartens and schools had closed. According to those same reports, all hot dogs in Reykjavík were sold out, as panic-stricken fathers were out on the desperate hunt for food they knew how to cook to feed their hungry children.
The date and year of the first protest were not picked without reason. The United Nations General Assembly decided to dedicate 1975 to women’s issues and held its first-ever world conference on the matter that year. At the beginning of 1975, Icelandic women’s organisations, such as the Women’s Rights Association (Kvenréttindafélag), joined forces and planned numerous activities for the year, including a conference in June where the status of women was discussed. There, one of the proposals by the radical feminist Red Stockings Movement (Rauðsokkahreyfingin) suggested that women should take a day off on United Nations Day, October 24. The success of the Women’s Day Off protest in 1975 resulted in Iceland’s Equality Act just a year later, and it laid the groundwork for Vigdís Finnbogadóttir to become the first democratically-elected female head of state in the world just five years later.
Iceland: the paradise of gender equality?
While Iceland is often internationally perceived as a paradise of gender equality, many issues remain. “Iceland has achieved a lot obviously,” Tatjana states. “According to the World Economic Forum, we have achieved 91.5% gender equality. I always say it’s not 100%. So we’re not as bad as the rest of the world but we are also not the best. We have legislation for pay equity, which would not have happened if it were not for organisations like ours. The biggest issue now is that the labour market is very gender segregated. And I believe that it’s also becoming segregated according to the origin of workers.” For example, care jobs in Iceland are mostly still filled by women, with 80% of the National University Hospital’s workforce female and 94% of preschool teachers being female. Additionally, low-paying positions, such as cleaning jobs, are often occupied by women of foreign origin. Tatjana explains: “For every woman who steps higher in the patriarchal pyramid, there will be a new woman coming in. Until we dismantle that patriarchal pyramid, this cycle will continue.”
Another issue is gender-based violence. According to recent studies, 40% of women in Iceland have experienced gender-based or sexual violence in their lifetime and every sixth girl in 10th grade has been raped by a peer. A recent Gallup survey found that women in Iceland still take on more household management than their male partners, who may believe the division of labour to be more equal than it is. This issue, known as the “third shift,” (distinct from the “second shift,” which refers to domestic labour itself) has become increasingly important in feminist discourse and refers to the mental load of organising and planning that is often left to women.
According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report of 2023, Iceland is the most equal country in the world, closing its gender gap by 91.2%. Since 2006, the country has almost doubled its gender parity score in political empowerment by being led by a female head of state for 25 years in total. Nevertheless, the third shift, gender-based abuse, and discrimination against women of foreign origin and non-binary people remain significant obstacles to overcome in order to achieve full equality. Recently, Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir announced that Iceland will achieve gender equality by 2030. Tatjana remains optimistic: “If any country can achieve full equality, it’s Iceland.”
In other countries, women’s rights have been deeply threatened or have even faced setbacks in the last few years, making the call for equality as urgent as ever. The UN recently stated that it will take another 300 years until worldwide gender equality will be achieved.
This 2023 Women’s Protest was one of the biggest gatherings Reykjavík has ever seen. The systematic fight for equality is an old one, reaching back over a hundred years. Women in Iceland have put pressure on the public and the political sphere for a long time. Yet, even Iceland as a leading role model has not achieved full gender equality yet and much is still left to be done. Organisers of the Women’s Protest are hoping that it might be the last of its kind. Tatjana concludes: “But, realistically, we will probably have to meet again to increase the pressure for change.”
