Women in Iceland generally enjoy good gender equality. As of 2018, 88% of working-age women were employed, 65% of students attending university were female, and 41% of members of parliament were women. Nevertheless, women still earn about 14% less than men,[5] though these statistics do not take into account the hours worked, over-time, and choices of employment.[6]Iceland has the world's highest proportion of women in the labour market and significant child care allocations for working women.[7] It has gender neutral parental leave, with a quota for each parent, and a transferable part.[8]
Iceland is arguably one of the world's most feminist countries, having been awarded this status in 2011 for the second year in a row.[9] Iceland was the first country to have a female president, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, elected in 1980.[10] It also has the world's first female and openly gay head of government, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, who was elected prime minister in 2009.[11]
Iceland enjoys the smallest overall gender gap, according to the World Economic Forum ranking Global Gender Gap Report, a position it has held since 2009. In 2020 Iceland had a 12.2% gap, as measured across four categories: health, education, economic participation and opportunity, and political advancement. The pay gap between women and men is decreasing at a rate which would lead to parity in 2068.[12] Women earn about 72% of men's salaries on average, and are still subject to domestic and sexual violence.[7] Women in Iceland do not necessarily fare better than other countries in professional fields: for example Iceland's percentage of female medical doctors is one of the lowest within the OECD (only Japan, Korea, Luxembourg and the US have less female doctors).[13]
History
Viking age (793–1066)
Age of settlement (c. 870–930)
Both Norse men and Norse women colonised England, the Shetland and Orkney Islands, and Iceland during Viking Age migrations from Scandinavia.[14][15] Norse women journeyed with men as explorers, and later as settlers in the Settlement of Iceland. A large number of women were abducted from Ireland and Great Britain as slaves - more than 60% of modern Icelandic women show Celtic DNA from these slave ancestors. The settler Aud the Deep-Minded was one of the earliest known Icelandic women.[16][17] She was one of the four main settlers in early Icelandic history.[18] Other notable early Icelanders include the explorer Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir, the poet Steinunn Refsdóttir, and Thorgerd Egilsdottir wife of Olaf the Peacock. The age of settlement is considered to have ended in the year 930 with the establishment of Alþingi.[19]
Early Commonwealth Era
During the Viking Age, Norse women worked in farming and commerce alongside men, and were often left in charge while their husbands were away or had been killed.[20] Women's workshops for making woolen textiles have been found in Iceland.[21] Textiles were used as a form of currency in medieval Iceland, and there were regulations as to what was legal tender in the oldest (11th-century) part of the Grágás laws. Iceland exported shaggy cloaks to Europe.[22]
Viking Age society was male-dominated, with defined gender roles.[23] The dead were buried with some of their possessions: men were buried with tools and weapons, women with needlework, jewelry, rings of keys, and household items, although beads have been found in both male and female burials.[24] Graves of this time have been observed to show older women being highly respected, which was shown by their grave including high value items.[25] Foreigners that interacted with Viking women often later wrote about their "independent behaviors."[26] Viking Age women could own their own property, ask for a divorce and were entitled to reclaim their dowries.[27] If a woman's husband died, she would take his place on a permanent basis; in this way, women were often running farms or trading businesses.[23] Many Scandinavian cultures of the time practiced polygamy as well as concubine outside of marriage.[28] The Icelandic Sagas make reference to women acting as nurses and midwives, and attending to the wounds of men injured in battle.[29] Despite the image of female Viking warriors often pushed by stories and media, we can see from artifacts that it was quite typical for Viking women to take care of all the house duties while the men took care of all matters outside the house, similar to many other male- dominated European cultures.[26]
Women's suffrage
Icelanders celebrating women's suffrage in 1915.
Icelandic women first got the right to vote in parliamentary elections in 1915.[30]
In 1845 the vote was limited to men above a certain age who owned property and paid taxes. These restrictions were lifted over time, and in 1903 all men could vote except farm labourers.[31] In 1907 the right to vote in municipal elections was extended to all women, having been granted to widows and single women of independent means in 1882.[32]
A bill for women's suffrage was agreed on by the Althing in 1911, ratified by the Althing in 1913, and enacted on 19 June 1915 by the Danish king but only granted the vote to women over 40, and did not grant the right to vote to servants.[31] At the time this was around 12,000 Icelandic women.[34] In 1920 these restrictions were lifted after Iceland became an independent state under the Danish crown in 1918.[31][35]
It is said that in 1975, women in the workplace made 60% less than their male counterparts. Many were unable to work as they had to stay at home to do the housework and raise the children.[36] On Friday, October 24, women left their formal and informal work at 14:05 (2:05pm), the time at which they would have earned their day's wage had they been paid at the same average rate as men.[37] The scale of the event was very large, involving 25,000 women in a country with just 220,000 inhabitants. In Reykjavik, almost 90% of the women participated.[38]
The first strike in 1975 affected many things. Many schoolteachers were women, so schools closed or nearly so. The walkout disrupted the telephone service, and halted the printing of newspapers, as the typesetters were all women. Daycares were mostly closed, because the daycare workers were women, so men had to take their children to work. Easy-to-cook meals ran out in many stores, as did sweets and items to distract children.[38] The strike continued until midnight, when women returned to work. The typesetters returned to set newspapers which were almost entirely devoted to the women's strike.[36]
Women achieved their intended goal, basically shutting down Iceland for the day.[36] Men referred to this day as "the Long Friday".[38]Vigdís says she would not have become president without the strike which she said was the "first step for women's emancipation in Iceland", which "completely paralysed the country and opened the eyes of many men".[38] In the year following the strike, Iceland set up the Gender Equality Council, and passed the Gender Equality Act, which prohibited gender discrimination in the workplace and in schools.[7]
21st century
Women protesting in 2005
The strike was repeated; in 1975, 2005, 2010, and 2016 women in Iceland walked out in accordance to the time of day that they would stop being paid if their wage was the same as men.[38] On October 24, 2016, women left work at 2:38 pm, for the 41st anniversary of the original women's day off.[39] This indicated that women have gained only a half an hour more in pay in 11 years, that is slightly less than three minutes per year.[40] The International Women's Strike, a global version inspired by the Icelandic strike, spread in 2017 and 2018.[41][42]
Education and employment
Thora Melsted opened the first school for girls in the 1850s, and after a public debate concerning women's right to higher education, the Kvennaskólinn í Reykjavík was founded in 1871; women were given the right to attend university in 1886, and the first Icelandic woman to graduate was Camilla Torfason in Copenhagen in 1889 and Elínborg Jacobsen in Iceland in 1897. [43]
45.5% of the Icelandic formal workforce was women in 2010. In the 2000s, just under 80% of Icelandic women were in formal employment, the highest rate in the OECD (about 86% of men were in formal employment).[44][45] Rates of mothers in work are also high, perhaps due to high childcare coverage and generous parental leave policies.[46] Women were in formal work for an average of 35 hours a week, compared to 44 hours for men. In 2008, 65% of women working were doing so full-time, compared to 90% of men.[47]
14% of Icelandic families have single mothers, while 2% have single fathers. 40% have both parents, while the remainder of families are childless.[48] Among those not in formal employment, a 2010 survey found that 95% of those describing themselves as homemakers were women. The survey also found 1200 people on unpaid family leave, all of them women.[47]
In 1987 Icelandic fathers were given the right to share some of the mother's six month family entitlement.[49] This was enacted due to the passing of similar laws in Norway and Sweden.[49] In 2000, Iceland passed a law for a father's quota; three months of paid leave were reserved for the father, three for the mother, and the remaining three could be used by either parent.[49] This was enacted in stages, with the amount of leave increased each year, being fully implemented in 2003.[49]
After the law was brought in, more than 90% of fathers used their paternal leave.[50] Research found that this put men and women on a more equal footing in the workplace, but did not seem to affect the pay gap.[47] In 2012, there were plans to gradually increase the leave to be five months for each parent, plus two months of transferable leave, by 2016.[46] In 2021, the quota for each parent is 5 months of paid leave, and there are 2 months of shareable paid leave; in addition there is also unpaid leave (13 weeks per parent, non-transferable).[8] Parental leave may start up to one month before the expected date of delivery.[51]
The Icelandic labour market is strongly gender-segregated, with substantial differences in gender ratios in different sectors.[46] Women in Iceland are more likely to get university degrees than men, up to the PhD level. They made up forty percent of tertiary graduates in science, mathematics and computing, and 35% of graduates in engineering, manufacturing, and construction, in 2012/2013. Over 80% of health graduates, and over 70% of veterinary, agricultural, and education graduates, are women. Less than a quarter of those working as plant and machine operators and in crafts and trades, agriculture, fisheries, and management are women[48] (although, against this trend, 60% of managers in the civil society sector are women[47]). Women are more likely to work in the public sector, men in the private sector, which means women's employment is not as strongly affected by economic fluctuations.[46] Women are less likely to get trade and vocational qualifications. Journalists are slightly less likely to be women than men, but less than one in three interviewees in news programs is a woman.[48]
In the wake of the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis, there was a swing towards female leadership. Women had been all but absent from pre-crisis banking boards; after the crisis, they were appointed to the new boards, and two-thirds of the bank managers appointed after nationalization were female. Women were also more successful in running for political office, with the proportion of women in parliament rising to a record 43%.[46]
Gender pay gap
Women working in fish factory in Reykjavík around 1910
Iceland is arguably one of the world's most gender-equal countries.[52] It is listed as number one in the 2016 best places to work by The Economist's women index.[53] It has been named the most feminist country in the world,[54][55] and has been listed number one on the World Economic Forumgender pay gap index since 2009.[9] For the past eight years "Iceland has finished first of more than a hundred countries in the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Gender Gap ranking, which quantifies disparities between men and women in health, politics, education, and employment (the higher a country’s ranking, the smaller its gender disparities)."[52]
In Iceland women are paid about 18% less than their male counterparts, if working in the same job with the same level of experience; for comparison, the average European wage gap is 16.2%.[12] Excluding ranking, position, and hours worked, the average annual income for women is 28% less than men.[52] In rural areas, the pay gap is generally larger.[47] At the current rate,[56] women will not experience equal pay until 2068.[56] The Icelandic government has said it aims to close the gender pay gap in Iceland by 2022.[57]
In 2018, Iceland made unequal pay for equal work illegal; companies and government agencies with over 25 employees face heavy fines.[58]
Government
Iceland became the third modern democratic country in which women gained the vote in 1915. However, by 1975, there were only three parliamentarians (5% of all parliamentarians), and there had only been nine female parliamentarians in total. Other Nordic countries had 16–23%. After the 1975 Icelandic women's strike, more women were elected. In 2015, 28 parliamentarians (44%) were female.[59]
Iceland has had a woman as either president or prime minister for 20 of the last 36 years.[52] In the 2016 parliamentary election covering 63 seats, 30 women were elected,[60] increasing the number of females in the Alþingi to over 47%.[61] Compared to the United States which sits at twenty percent,[60] Iceland was said to have the "most equal parliament" in the world when women won 48% of the seats in 2016.[62]
On June 29, 1980 Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was voted in as the first female president of Iceland, and just the third president of the republic.[63] She was the first woman to be elected head of state in a national election,[64] and the world's first democratically elected female president.[65] After becoming president without opposition in 1984, 1988, and 1992, she retired from the presidency in 1996. Vigdis also was an artistic Director of the Reykjavík Theatre Company, she was a teacher of French at the University of Iceland, and was the press officer at the National Theatre of Iceland (1954-1957 and 1961–1964).[citation needed] She broadcast lectures on local television, and trained local tour guides.[66]
During her time as president she used her position to focus on youth and to support forestry, while promoting Icelandic language and culture.[66] After her retirement as president in 1996, Vigdis went on to become "founding chair of the Council of Women World Leaders at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University".[63] Two years later, in 1998, she was appointed president of the Unesco World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology.[63]
In 2003 Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was elected as the first female Prime Minister of Iceland as well as the world's first openly lesbian head of government. She held that position for 16 years and used her leadership to attempt to ban strip clubs "explaining it as a necessary measure to bring about justice, which is impossible, as she concluded, when women are treated like commodities".[67] Before this Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was already a very active member of government. In 1978 she was elected into the Althing as a member of the Social Democratic Party. She became minister of social affairs in 1987, a position she held until 1994. She started her own party in 1994 called National Movement, which joined with the Social Democratic Party, Women’s Alliance and the People’s Alliance in 1999, and in 2000 merged to become the Social Democratic Alliance. On June 27, 2010, Iceland declared same-sex marriage legal, and Jóhanna and her partner Jónína Leósdóttir were officially married.[68]
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir is an Icelandic politician who served as the fourth president of Iceland from 1980 to 1996. Vigdís is the first woman in the world to be democratically elected as president. Having served as president of Iceland for 16 years, she is the longest-serving elected female head of state in history. She is the only female president in Icelandic history, until the inauguration of the current president-elect, Halla Tómasdóttir. Vigdís is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and a member of the Club of Madrid.
Liberal feminism, also called mainstream feminism, is a main branch of feminism defined by its focus on achieving gender equality through political and legal reform within the framework of liberal democracy and informed by a human rights perspective. It is often considered culturally progressive and economically center-right to center-left. As the oldest of the "Big Three" schools of feminist thought, liberal feminism has its roots in 19th century first-wave feminism seeking recognition of women as equal citizens, focusing particularly on women's suffrage and access to education, the effort associated with 19th century liberalism and progressivism. Liberal feminism "works within the structure of mainstream society to integrate women into that structure." Liberal feminism places great emphasis on the public world, especially laws, political institutions, education and working life, and considers the denial of equal legal and political rights as the main obstacle to equality. As such liberal feminists have worked to bring women into the political mainstream. Liberal feminism is inclusive and socially progressive, while broadly supporting existing institutions of power in liberal democratic societies, and is associated with centrism and reformism. Liberal feminism tends to be adopted by white middle-class women who do not disagree with the current social structure; Zhang and Rios found that liberal feminism with its focus on equality is viewed as the dominant and "default" form of feminism. Liberal feminism actively supports men's involvement in feminism and both women and men have always been active participants in the movement; progressive men had an important role alongside women in the struggle for equal political rights since the movement was launched in the 19th century.
The history of feminism comprises the narratives of the movements and ideologies which have aimed at equal rights for women. While feminists around the world have differed in causes, goals, and intentions depending on time, culture, and country, most Western feminist historians assert that all movements that work to obtain women's rights should be considered feminist movements, even when they did not apply the term to themselves. Some other historians limit the term "feminist" to the modern feminist movement and its progeny, and use the label "protofeminist" to describe earlier movements.
First-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity and thought that occurred during the 19th and early 20th century throughout the Western world. It focused on legal issues, primarily on securing women's right to vote. The term is often used synonymously with the kind of feminism espoused by the liberal women's rights movement with roots in the first wave, with organizations such as the International Alliance of Women and its affiliates. This feminist movement still focuses on equality from a mainly legal perspective.
Prostitution in Iceland is thriving despite paying for sex being illegal.
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Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is an Icelandic politician, who served as prime minister of Iceland from 2009 to 2013.
Katrín Jakobsdóttir is an Icelandic politician who served as the prime minister of Iceland from 2017 to 2024 and was a member of the Althing for the Reykjavík North constituency from 2007 to 2024.
The feminist movement in Norway has made significant progress in reforming laws and social customs in the nation, advancing the rights of the women of Norway.
In the Netherlands, feminism began as part of the first-wave feminism movement during the 19th century. Later, the struggles of second-wave feminism in the Netherlands mirrored developments in the women's rights movement in other Western countries. Women in the Netherlands still have an open discussion about how to improve remaining imbalances and injustices they face as women.
In South Korea, gender inequality is derived from deeply rooted patriarchal ideologies with specifically defined gender-roles. While it remains especially prevalent in South Korea's economy and politics, gender inequality has decreased in healthcare and education.
The gender pay gap or gender wage gap is the average difference between the remuneration for men and women who are working. Women are generally found to be paid less than men. There are two distinct numbers regarding the pay gap: non-adjusted versus adjusted pay gap. The latter typically takes into account differences in hours worked, occupations chosen, education and job experience. In other words, the adjusted values represent how much women and men make for the same work, while the non-adjusted values represent how much the average man and woman make in total. In the United States, for example, the non-adjusted average woman's annual salary is 79–83% of the average man's salary, compared to 95–99% for the adjusted average salary.
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Finnish women are much more outgoing and approachable than the men and often command three or four languages. Their position in society and business is well-respected and superior to that of women in most other cultures.
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Feminism in South Korea is the origin and history of feminism or women's rights in South Korea.
Women Political Leaders (WPL) is a non-profit foundation that operates as a global network of female political leaders at national level, including the European Parliament, of whom there are currently around 9,000. WPL provides a platform for the exchange of ideas, experiences and best practices between female political leaders who push for positive change for the world.
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On 24 October 1975, Icelandic women went on strike for the day to "demonstrate the indispensable work of women for Iceland’s economy and society" and to "protest wage discrepancy and unfair employment practices". It was publicized domestically as Women's Day Off. Participants, led by women's organizations, did not go to their paid jobs and did not do any housework or child-rearing for the whole day. Ninety percent of Iceland's female population participated in the strike. Iceland's parliament passed a law guaranteeing equal rights to women and men the following year.
The Wages of Men and Women: Should They be Equal? is a book written by English sociologist, economist, socialist and social reformer Beatrice Webb. It deals with equal pay for equal work and the basic principles that should apply to men's and women's wages. First published by the Fabian Society in 1919, the book is a minority report in which Webb criticizes the main purpose and findings of the War Cabinet Committee on Women in Industry. Webb was herself a member of the Committee, which was to investigate whether women who worked in occupations that had been considered men's work before the war were in fact receiving equal pay, and also to establish the principles that would determine the relationship between men's and women's wages.
↑ "BBC – History – Viking Women". Retrieved 16 September 2018. Both farming and trading were family businesses, and women were often left in charge when their husbands were away or dead. There is also evidence that women could make a living in commerce in the Viking Age. Merchants' scales and weights found in female graves in Scandinavia suggest an association between women and trade.
↑ Raffield, Ben; Price, Neil; Collard, Mark (2017). Polygyny, Concubinage, and the Social Lives of Women in Viking-Age Scandinavia. Brepols Publishers. p.5.
↑ "Women Doctors In The Viking Age". The British Medical Journal. 1 (2925): 95. 1917. ISSN0007-1447. JSTOR20306280.
1 2 3 4 Haas, Linda; Rostgaard, Tine (May 2011). "Fathers' rights to paid parental leave in the Nordic countries: consequences for the gendered division of leave". Community, Work & Family. 14 (2): 177–195. doi:10.1080/13668803.2011.571398. S2CID144047514.
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