October 23, 2023 – 10:12 pm
Tens of thousands of women in Iceland went on strike on Tuesday over the gender pay gap, including Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir. BBC writes. This type of strike is called “Kvinavri”, meaning a women’s day off, and its purpose is to draw attention to gender discrimination.
The strike will mostly affect professions in which women are overrepresented, such as teachers and health workers. However, women’s poverty doesn’t just impact the workplace: it also means that the women involved don’t do the housework as well. The last time a similar all-day women’s festival was held was in 1975.
Jakobsdottir said her government is doing a lot of research to find out how important professions dominated by women are compared to those where more men work. According to plans, neither the Prime Minister nor his cabinet members will work on Tuesday.
According to data from the Icelandic Teachers Union, most teachers in the country are women, as are 94 percent of kindergarten teachers. 80 percent of the staff at the country’s largest hospital are also women.
In a strike in 1975, 90% of women residing in the island nation participated, as they wanted to point out the important role they played in the country’s economy. The campaign was successful, and a year later Parliament passed a law on equal pay. Based on a World Economic Forum survey, Iceland has been first in terms of gender equality for 14 years at 91.2 percent.
