A video report from the day
Summary of the day
Tens of thousands of women and non-binary people across Iceland, including the prime minister, stopped work today in the first strike of its kind in nearly half a century.
Large crowds gathered in Reykjavík and other towns across Iceland.
Schools, kindergartens and swimming pools were among the public services closed because of women striking, while some hospitals are on limited Christmas staffing.
Freyja Steingrímsdóttir, one of the organisers of the strike, said “there was a noticeable difference in traffic this morning, public services are very limited, a lot of stores are closed etc so the women’s strike is definitely widespread.”
Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, the president of Iceland, said that women’s “activism for equality has changed Icelandic society for the better and continues to do so today”.
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Tens of thousands gather in Reykjavík
Tens of thousands of women gathered at 2pm on Arnarhóll, a hill in Reykjavík city centre, held near the site of the first full-day women’s strike in 1975 on its 48-year anniversary, which had the energy and crowds of a huge music festival. Crowds attended with friends, family and colleagues, many carrying placards, cheered speakers and sung along to performers.
The crowd sung along enthusiastically to Áfram Stelpur (Onward Girls), an anthem of the 1975 strike, originally sung by radical women’s movement the Redstockings, and listened attentively to speeches and performances.
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Diplomats have joined the protest.
🇮🇸 women are on strike today - 🇳🇴 👩🏻👩🦳👱🏻♀️🧕🏽embassy staff as well.#Kvennaverkfall2023 #Kvennaverkfall pic.twitter.com/M3hxoooWG7
— NorwayinIceland (@NorwayinIceland) October 24, 2023
Magnús Þór Jónsson, chair of the Icelandic Teachers’ Union, posted a photo from today’s strike.
Icelandic women are powerful and demand equality!!! #Kvennaverkfall pic.twitter.com/eqAOJ3KJpo
— Magnús Þór Jónsson (@maggimark) October 24, 2023
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Outside the prime minister’s office, a group is performing a Chilean protest song in Icelandic – “A Rapist in your Path”.
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In Reykjavík, women from the Icelandic Women’s Association are holding placards that say: “Women’s income is still 21% lower than men! You call this equality?” and “Fuck inequality go girls”.
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Anticipation across Reykjavík city centre is building as the start of the big meeting at 2pm approaches.
Women are congregating in groups big and small around the city, and sound checks are under way on the big stage.
I’m at a warm-up gathering at the Women’s Alliance HQ where hundreds are eating pastries and drinking coffees inside and outside the building, some carrying hand-painted placards.
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Freyja Steingrímsdóttir, one of the organisers of the strike, says: “There was a noticeable difference in traffic this morning, public services are very limited, a lot of stores are closed etc so the women’s strike is definitely widespread.
“We also had a huge manifestation in Akureyri in the north of Iceland at 11am. So we’re definitely expecting a record number to show up at Arnarhóll later today,”
Here are photos from Akureyri.
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Eliza Reid, an author who is married to Iceland’s president, shared her out of office message today.
My out of office today. #kvennaverkfall #womensstrike #iceland pic.twitter.com/diJks0G7rG
— Eliza Reid (@elizajreid) October 24, 2023
Women's activism continues to change society, Iceland's president says
Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, the president of Iceland, said today that women’s “activism for equality has changed Icelandic society for the better and continues to do so today”.
Women in Iceland are striking today, for the 7th time since the famous #womensdayoff in 1975. Their activism for equality has changed Icelandic society for the better and continues to do so today. #Kvennaverkfall pic.twitter.com/prCZrqP3EJ
— President of Iceland (@PresidentISL) October 24, 2023
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The impact of the strike can be felt on the streets in Iceland: traffic at 66 measuring points in Reykjavík earlier today was about 28% lower compared with the same time last week, Icelandic news outlet Morgunblaðið reports, citing the local authorities.
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As women strike, Iceland’s government has announced grant funding for six projects promoting equality. These will include a new HeForShe campaign, a project on the life and work of female and queer artists, and raising awareness of endometriosis.
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From the archive
The first one-day strike called by Iceland’s women got a brief mention on the front page of the Guardian in 1975.
A short report told readers that “90 per cent of women employed in shops and offices did not report for work” and that “men were trying to fill the female jobs in some cases.”
The coverage of the strike appeared as a postscript to a longer piece about the finances of UK families where the woman stayed at home to look after children.
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Will everyone interested be able to strike today?
There are concerns about whether everybody who wants to strike will be able to.
Tatjana Latinovic, president of the Icelandic women’s rights association (IWRA), set up in 1907 to fight for the right to vote, said at this morning’s walk: “What we are concerned about is we hope that everybody who wants to participate will participate – including female foreign workers. We have put pressure on employers not to penalise staff for striking and to encourage women to strike.”
There are 39,000 foreign women living in Iceland, she said, around 18% of the overall female population of Iceland.
“You have so-called women’s jobs now being filled by foreign women – cleaning, taking care of the elderly, working in kindergartens – because it’s difficult to find people to work in the [low] salaries they offer.”
The strike, she said, will impact services including hospitals, schools, swimming pools and all workplaces, where fathers will either have to stay at home to take care of children or take them to work.
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Businesses are feeling the impact of today’s women’s strike.
At a Reykjavík convenience store, only men are working. Usually they have five or six women working there, say staff, but today “it’s just men”.
One restaurant has tried to make light of the situation by bringing in male celebrities to work as waiters.
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Iceland’s foreign ministry shared images today from the historic women’s strike in 1975.
Today we repeat the event of the first full day women’s strike since 1975, marking the day when 90% of Icelandic women took the day off from both work and domestic duties, leading to pivotal change including the world’s first female elected president of a country #kvennaverkfall pic.twitter.com/hBnSPSfahG
— MFA Iceland 🇮🇸 (@MFAIceland) October 24, 2023
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Women's strike kicks off in Iceland
Dozens of women joined an extremely brisk walk around Tjörnin lake in Reykjavík to kick off a day of action.
I met pre-school teachers, students, municipal workers, activists and women who took part in the first strike of 1975.
Also there was a flight attendant and union rep from Arizona who is here especially for the strike to get tips and inspiration for their own wage negotiations.
There is a lot a relief about the weather which is sunny and relatively mild as previous strikes have been hit by freezing conditions.
Sigridur Björg Tomasdottir, 52, (pictured in a bird-print coat and mittens), is a public relations worker for a municipality near Reykjavík. She said most women she knows are striking and her teenage children are both off school because their schools are closed and are participating in the strike.
She said: “To participate in this great day that’s about equality of the genders and also we are fighting against violence against women. It’s important to participate so I decided to join this as well and I’m going to the big meeting.”
Lots of warm up events are being planned across the city before the big meeting at 2pm. Across Iceland, 10 cities are holding events.
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Why strike? The concerns on women’s minds in Iceland
According to Statistic Iceland, women in the labour market earn on average 21% less than men in 2022.
Working hours are not included in this comparison but women work on average fewer paid hours than men because they carry out the main share of the unpaid workload in the home. This affects women’s lifelong income and limits their economic freedom.
A study from Statistics Iceland shows the gender pay gap with three different measurements. In 2019 the gender pay gap was 25.5%, 13.9% or 4.3% depending on measurement.
40% of women in Iceland have experienced violence in their lifetimes, according a nationwide study on the impact of trauma on women’s health.
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Impact of the 1975 women’s strike
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was elected Iceland’s president in 1980, becoming the world’s first democratically elected female head of state.
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Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir, who joined Iceland’s 1975 women’s strike in Reykjavík, said she still remembers the songs performed on the day by the Redstockings, a radical women’s movement.
Giving a rendition of Áfram stelpur (Onward Girls), a bouncy Nordic folk tune, Kolbrún said she and her friends had all bought the vinyl afterwards and learned the songs by heart, which they would sing at parties together.
“These were the songs of my youth,” she says. “These songs have been a uniting element. When we get together as feminists because of this struggle we sing these songs still today.”
Listen here to the song and read the full story.
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‘Power of the masses’: the day Iceland’s women went on strike and changed history
When, as a 20-year-old drama student, Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir joined the 1975 women’s strike in Reykjavík, she says she didn’t consider herself a feminist. But it proved to be a day that would change her life for ever.
It marked the moment that Kolbrún, who went on to become part of Iceland’s first gender-equal government as climate minister, became an activist.
“It really influences you when you experience the power of the masses,” she says. “You saw women that you hardly ever see. There were all kinds of women from all walks of life, they were dressed up, you can see in the pictures that it’s a colourful bunch of people even though most of the pictures were black and white.”
Although a lot has changed in women’s rights since 1975 – particularly in Iceland, which is consistently viewed as a world leader in the fight for gender equality – Kolbrún says her feelings on the subject are in many ways much the same as they were then.
Read the full story here.
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Here is a photo from last night, as people gathered to make signs for today’s strike.
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Preparations underway for women's strike meeting
Good morning from Reykjavík!
Preparations are under way at Arnarhóll, the hill in the city centre, where the women’s strike meeting will begin at 2pm local time. Tens of thousands of people are expected to descend on the area, as they did in 1975.
Schools, kindergartens and swimming pools are among the public services closed because of women striking, while some hospitals will be on limited Christmas staffing.
I’m about to join strikers for a “brisk walk” around a nearby lake to get the day started.
Will bring you updates throughout the day.
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Iceland’s first full-day women’s strike in 48 years aims to close pay gap
Tens of thousands of women and non-binary people across Iceland, including the prime minister, are expected to stop work – paid and unpaid – today in the first strike of its kind in nearly half a century.
Organisers hope the women’s strike – whose confirmed participants include fishing industry workers, teachers, nurses and the PM, Katrín Jakobsdóttir – will bring society to a standstill to draw attention to the country’s gender pay gap and widespread gender-based and sexual violence.
Despite being considered a global leader on gender equality, topping the 2023 World Economic Forum’s global gender gap rankings for the 14th consecutive year, in some professions Icelandic women are still paid 21% less than men, and more than 40% of women have experienced gender-based or sexual violence.
Read the full story here.
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Welcome to the blog
Good morning and welcome back to the Europe live blog.
Today we will be looking at the women’s strike in Iceland. The Guardian’s Miranda Bryant is on the ground.
Send your comments to lili.bayer@theguardian.com.
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A sign outside a swimming pool in Reykjavík ahead of today’s strike.
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