Iceland’s Women and Non-Binary Citizens Strike to Demand Pay Parity and Action to Tackle Gender-Based Violence

23-10-2023

Anouk Reilly 

Europe and Human Rights Researcher, 

Global Human Rights Defence 

Women and non-binary citizens are expected to participate in strike action both in the workplace and domestically across Iceland on Tuesday, October 24, including the country’s Prime Minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir. This strike is the first of its kind in 48 years, with the aim of bringing Icelandic society to a standstill to highlight the country’s existing gender pay gap and the gender-based and sexual violence faced by women and non-binary people (Bryant 2023). 

In 1975, 90 per cent of Icelandic women struck under “Kvennafri”, translating to ‘women’s day off’, which brought about monumental change including the election of the first female elected president of a State. However, organisers of Tuesday’s strike state that women’s work remains undervalued in Icelandic society, even 48 years on (Bryant 2023). Iceland has repeatedly topped the World Economic Forum’s global gender gap rankings 14 years running; however, the pay gap remains as high as 21 per cent less than their male counterparts, with reports that 40 per cent of women in Iceland will experience gender-based violence in some form in their lives (Bryant 2023). 

The demonstration is to take place in Reykjavík city centre and is expected to be attended by at least 25,000 people, with other events taking place in other parts of the country. Unlike the Kvennafri 48 years prior, the organisers are including non-binary people in their strike as “… we are all fighting the same system, we all our under the influence of patriarchy, so we thought we should combine our fight”, said Steingrímsdóttir, one of the strike’s organisers (Bryant 2023). To address these issues, the strike is advocating for the pay gap to be closed through the publishing of salaries in employment sectors which are predominantly female. Furthermore, the strike is calling for measures to tackle gender-based and sexual violence, focusing more on the offenders (Bryant 2023). Despite the advancement in women’s rights and the impact of movements such as the #MeToo movement, women and non-binary people cannot count on the legal system to serve justice, and thus, Tuesday’s strike is crucial to demonstrate the importance of universal rights and equality, regardless of gender, sexuality, or identity. 

Sources and Further Reading: 

Bryant, M. (23 October 2023), “Iceland’s first full-day women’s strike in 48 years aims to close pay gap”. The Guardian. Retrieved on the 23/10/2023 from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/23/icelands-first-full-day-womens-strike-in-48-years-aims-to-close-pay-gap