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But what made Iceland’s day of protest on 24 October 1975 so efficient was the variety of girls who participated. It was not simply the impact of 25,000 women – which, on the time, was a fifth of the female population – that gathered on the streets of Reykjavik, however the ninety% of Iceland’s female inhabitants who went on all-out professional and domestic strike. Teachers, nurses, office workers, housewives put down instruments and didn’t go to work, provide childcare and even cook in their kitchens.

As a single mom and divorcee, Vigdís stood for women’s independence and did so unashamed. That her lifestyle contrasted with what was customary on the time not solely shocked the world however introduced Iceland to new ideas of womanhood and freedom. As a president, Vigdís was vastly in style — she was reelected 3 times and served in office for sixteen years. In office, she promoted the training and empowerment of girls, the funding and celebration of the humanities, and the safety of Icelandic nature.

To answer this, we will first have to attract the line between feminism and fanaticism. Indeed, Iceland women are robust, good, and independent — however when you consider it, there is nothing mistaken with that. At the identical time, any beautiful Iceland lady is smart enough not to flip into a fanatic — and why would she?

Take care of the animals, do repairs, deal with the children, clear, cook and so forth – and very often their husbands and/or sons would die at sea, so that they’d be left to proceed on their very own. (This means that if you start dating an Icelandic man and you’re out driving and the tyre goes flat, he’ll probably count on you to know tips on how to change it yourself. It’s also very uncommon for Icelandic men to go out of their way to maintain doorways open for ladies, and even to supply to pay for drinks – they normally count on girls to be able to hold their very own doors open, and pay for their own drinks. There are, of course, exceptions to the rule). The Icelandic men are supportive and respectful. If something wants doing, they expect girls to have the ability to do it simply in addition to them. Most men I know do not think about duties as being male tasks and/or female duties.

first Icelandic girl sheep shearer; environmentalist, model; inside her barn feeding sheep

She grew up on a farm within the south of Iceland with an enormous waterfall just outside her doorstep (Gullfoss). At the flip of the nineteenth century, Sigríður’s father was approached by foreign investors who wished to dam the waterfall for hydroelectric production.

• Women are actually 38% of elected members of the Althingi and forty four% of local government members but their share in many other positions of influence is decrease.
• When movies like the one posted below are made, they all make Iceland look like some kind of a fairyland where women have already gained equality in Iceland.
• Because whereas there’s a important distinction in ladies’s place in various corners of the world, the nature of the discrimination women endure is similar.
• Today, every year in the heart of Reykjavik you’ll be able to stumble upon a “March of whores” – an illustration of feminists against harassment and for the right to wear any garments without condemnation of others.
• No damaged plates, no hysterics, no cries.

four. Women of Iceland are family-oriented

Iceland is not the country the place women plan their weddings since an early age. Religion also plays little half in this nation’s lifestyle, so church marriages are quite rare. Couples can actually reside collectively for decades and even raise a few youngsters before they do get married formally. Normally, they achieve this when inheritance questions are concerned.

The share of ladies on boards of administrators was 26–39% by size of enterprise. Anyone who’s ever spent an afternoon Googling why the gender pay hole still exists (no? simply us?) will know that a huge part of the inequality that still exists within the UK and lots of ‘developed’ countries comes all the way down to parental depart. Yep – till maternity and paternity come into play, there isn’t actually all that a lot distinction between the female and male career trajectories – within the UK, or in Iceland. Which is why Iceland have handled parental leave actually cleverly, by implementing a non-negotiable system where women get three months leave at eighty per cent of their pay, males get three months go away at 80 per cent of their pay, after which there are three months left over for the parents to squabble over and divide up as they need to. And as a result of every single household is given this – and because ladies can’t get all 9 months, even when they ask properly – most fathers take it.

She also oversaw a handful of legislation that made these objectives attainable. After her presidency, Vigdís fashioned the Council of Women World Leaders in 1996, and it remains right now one of many UN’s main foundations promoting feminine empowerment and gender equality around the globe. Iceland is also the one country on the earth to require companies to show that they don’t seem to be paying girls less than males, via a landmark equal pay regulation that went into effect in 2018.

Meaning childcare is rather more equal from the word ‘go’. The solidarity that the Icelandic girls’s movement built within the Seventies and the 1980s laid the foundation for welfare insurance policies that have liberated ladies within the nation in many ways. My technology was born into an environment of women’s liberation. As kids we were surrounded by position models, where girls took up more space in society than that they had ever done earlier than. Women had been marching on the street and the first feminine president, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, was elected.

The Nordic nation’s progressive attitudes toward girls have given it a lot to boast about. It was the first nation to democratically elect a female president, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, who came to energy in 1980. The current prime minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, who was elected in 2017, is the second lady in that position in Iceland’s history. Iceland has also passed a raft of legislation aimed at lowering pay inequality, ensuring ladies are better represented on the highest levels in business and guaranteeing shared paid parental leave. No listing of Icelandic women who changed the best way we see the world would be complete with out its most up-to-date mover and shaker, Katrín Jakobsdóttir.