In Iceland women go on strike for equal pay

This is the second time in the country’s history. On Tuesday 24 October, thousands of Icelandic women, including Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir, went on strike. Their goal? Achieve equal pay and denounce violence against women.

Show the importance of their contribution to society

A large gathering formed around 2pm in the Icelandic capital, Reykjavík. “All day, women go on strike to demonstrate the importance of their contribution to society » explained the organizers, adding that non-binary people were also invited. In addition to their professional activities, women were also encouraged to stop all domestic work.

While the day has been organized six times since 1975 in Iceland, this is only the second time in history that the strike has been observed throughout the day. During the first edition, 90% of Icelandic women went on strike.

This time, the Prime Minister also got in on the game, as his office stated: “Katrin Jakobsdottir will not carry out her official duties (…) and the cabinet meeting scheduled for today has been postponed until tomorrow.”

Iceland, an egalitarian paradise?

Iceland, which has almost 400,000 inhabitants, has been the most equal country in the world for 14 years according to the World Economic Forum (WEF), which takes into account criteria such as wages, level of education and healthcare system.

An image that the organizers of the movement ask to be blurred, according to the comments reported in The Guardian : “ They talk about us, they talk about Iceland, as if it were the paradise of equality. But a haven of equality should not have a 21% and 40% pay gap among women who are victims of gender or sexual violence in their lifetime. This is not what women around the world aspire to.. »

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