International women´s day
Today is the 8th of March, International Women’s Day
When I was growing up in the 80’s and until 1996 Iceland had the first woman president in the world, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir. Vigdis was – and remains – the role model of my generation, for both men and women in Iceland. Here is more on Vigdís
Vigdis had a huge impact on how the Icelandic people see the power of women. A single mother who had adopted her daughter, survived breast cancer and then fought the old fashioned thinking about how women were not worthy of power and influence in the world.
Vigdís Finnbogadottir
The picture in Iceland is much different than it was in the 1980s.
Just to put things in perspective:
The president of Iceland today is a woman – Halla Tómasdóttir
The prime minister is a woman – Kristrún Frostadóttir
The leaders of both of the other parties in her coalition are women
The minister of foreign affairs is a woman – Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir
The bishop of Iceland is a woman – Iceland’s New Bishop Advocates for a More Visible Church
The mayor of the only city in Iceland, Reykjavik is a woman – Heiða Björg Hilmisdóttir
An overview of Reykjavik from Hallgrims church – Photo by Frida
Why is this important?
Some might say that women should not have power simply because they are women. That is the beauty of this. The women in power now in Iceland are certainly qualified and hard working women that have come to power due to their resilience, education and hard work.
The story of People’s Party leader is particularly interesting. Inga Sæland is a woman who started a political movement in her kitchen when she got fed up with the way many people in Iceland are still living in poverty (that is hard for us to acknowledge), managed to get elected into leading the country along with her two women partners in different parties. Inga is now the minster of social affairs and housing
Here is more on the focus of the new government.
Land of fire and ice and uncountable waterfalls
The power of people
Some have mentioned the fact that in order to gain full equality, we need women in control for a period of time until we equalize the diversity of those in power. The men have been in control for long enough some would say and it is time for softer politics and priorities beneficial for us all, not only power greedy middle aged men..and older.
It’s worth noting that many men in Iceland voted for this. Gender equality will never be successful unless we have them on board as well.
Knitting is a popular thing to do in Iceland, for men and women. Knitting in the middle of the street is not recommended but Petur the knitter is a local so he took the change. – Photo by Sebastian Storgaard
Women strike
In the past, we have had women leave their workplaces to strike for more wages and influence- starting in 1975 to show how society doesn’t manage without them and the ridiculousness of lower income for women for the same type of work. . This has been done regularly through the years to show how the salary gap is getting smaller, even though we still have a gap. The Icelandic law, recently ratified by the Parliament, prohibits workplaces to pay women less than men for the same type of work. Here is more on this important day in Iceland´s history
Women strike in Reykjavik in 1975
Interested?
So stay put for seeing how a country gets managed by powerful women. It´s time in 2025.
Happy International Women’s day to men, women and all genders. Iceland is proud to be leading in gender equality in the world. It’s not a new role for us.
Get in touch if you want to get inspired in meeting in Iceland and to connect with inspirational leaders in Iceland.
Greetings – Helga Stína – Founder and owner of Iceland Unwrapped