In June 19, 1915 women of Iceland gained suffrage and eligibility to be voted in general election. Since then, the 19th of June is celebrated as a tribute to women’s rights.
Iceland was one of the first nations in the world to grant women suffrage. In 1908, women gained suffrage in elections to local authorities and that year few women in Reykjavík established a women alliance and ran for city council. No other party in the Reykjavik’s city council election received more votes and within a year women were allowed to vote in election for local authorities, four women had a seat in Reykjavík´s city council.
In 1915 the suffrage was extended to general elections, but women had a much harder times gaining seats at Iceland’s parliament, Althingi, than in towns councils. It wasn’t until the 1970’ that women started to run for general elections for all parties and now 21 out of the 63 MP’s are women.
