Prime Minister of Iceland, Katrin Jakobsdottir, joined the women in the country for 'kvennafri' (women’s day off), which has been observed to protest the unequal pay for men and women and gender-based violence, on Tuesday.
In the first such strike in nearly 50 years, women from various sectors stopped work in a bid to attract the country's attention to the gender pay gap that still exists in the country.
There was a similar strike in 1975 as well. However, some of the women who took part in the 1975 strike say their core demand of women's work getting equal recognition has not yet been met after all these years.
Iceland had topped the World Economic Forum’s global gender gap rankings for the 14th time in a row in 2023. However, according to reports, women are paid 21 per cent lesser than men in the country.
We have not yet reached our goals of full gender equality and we are still tackling the gender-based wage gap, which is unacceptable in 2023, the prime minister had earlier told website mbl.is.
Besides, more than 40 per cent of women experienced gender-based or sexual violence in the country. We are still tackling gender-based violence, which has been a priority for my government to tackle, the prime minister had said.
Organisers of the strike had urged women and nonbinary people to refuse both paid and unpaid work, including household chores, during the one-day strike.
"We are seeking to bring attention to the fact that we're called an equality paradise, but there are still gender disparities and urgent need for action," Reuters had quoted Freyja Steingrimsdottir, one of the organisers of the strike, as saying.
The strike of 1975 had inspired similar protests in other countries including Poland, where women boycotted jobs and classes in 2016 to protest a proposed abortion ban.