Women's Day off in Iceland

Since 1970 a women's strike had been contemplated by the feminist group called Rauðsokkahreyfingin or Redstockings in Iceland. Previously, Icelandic women had already joined forces to demand the State for the construction of a Gynaecological Hospital in 1969.

It was 1975, which was named by the UN as the International Year of Women. For this same reason, women from different women's organisations formed a committee together with a UN representative in order to organise the Women's Congress in Reykjavik in June of the same year. In this congress, women from different socio-economic and political contexts of the island gathered to discuss those issues that affected them all equally, reaching a great conclusion: On the United Nations day (October 24), the women would take the day off in order to highlight the importance of their work.

47,000 leaflets were distributed to both women and the general public throughout the media of the time. The caption read "Why a day off for women?" Among the various points, the salary disparity between men and women, the lack of opportunities for women in union representation, the recognition of domestic work as a job, the need for day-care centres as a fundamental part of modern society and the preference of male over women employees, despite their abilities or skills, except for those low-paid jobs, in which, as they stated, female staff were hired.

This is the part that surprised me the most of everything I found. Icelandic women cautiously chose the representative members of the congress, who belonged to different sectors of society. In other words, a fundamental piece of this puzzle was inclusion. Various meetings were held, where they invited feminist organisations and Redstockings, as well as representatives of unions and other related groups, to join forces in the decision-making. A survey was carried out that indicated that the support was enormous, between 80 to 100% of the women of various companies supported the initiative. Thereafter, they established a public relations group, a media group, a finance group, a group for the protest day program, and a group to contact women outside the central area of ​​the country.

The organisation was beginning to bear fruits, everyone seemed very happy and willing to support women in this cause. It is reported that they had stickers and various accessories with captions in support of women that were distributed among the population. But there was one last detail to refine. Calling a strike was a gruesome matter, since it was illegal. And a lot of women wouldn't agree with it (uhm sounds familiar?). Here the point was that they all would unite, regardless of their political preference or social status. They were all welcome. ALL. Therefore, other routes and considerations had to be taken. What was actually legal was taking a day off, for resting, and that's why it was called like this: Women's day off.

They considered that it was necessary to make an impact, to leave a trace. For this reason they decided that the cessation of work would be all day, including domestic and care work.

Finally, the long awaited day arrived. I am not going to tell you about that, because you surely already know that 90% of Icelandic women left work, that men found it very difficult to manage their children, that pre-made meals ran out in establishments, that children were taken to the workplaces because nurseries and schools were closed and that for the first time, many children got to know Dad's workplace and that is why it was called “The long Friday”. Nor will I tell you that approximately 30,000 women gathered in downtown Reykjavik where various events took place over two hours, between singing and public speeches. That, I suppose, surely you can find elsewhere.

Here I want to highlight what was the spirit of the event preserved on three speeches that are available on internet.

Ásthildur Ólafsdóttir:

“The first and most important thing for us, the housewives and the mothers, is to bring these genuine issues with reason and determination until victory. We will make a great impact if we take it to ourselves. We can change parenting. We can compel authorities to change textbooks and the education system as a whole so that gender equality can be a priority. We can teach our children to appreciate their housework and to do it bluntly. And we can encourage our daughters to educate and train themselves in various industries in exactly the same way as our sons. ”

Aðalheiður Bjarnfreðsdóttir:

“To Icelandic women, we were fortunate to be the first women in the world to reach consensus on this day. I am proud of it. But more will follow. Women are waking up. We know that men have ruled the world since the stories began. And how has that world been? He has been in the blood suffering torments. I believe this world will change as women begin to control it equally with men. ”

Björg Einarsdóttir:

"If we understand these simple points, we will realise that there is no need to wait for social change from the outside, with our own conscience, in the upbringing, and while being true participants in all areas of society, it will automatically develop in equality of ways. ”

It is considered that this was one of the reasons why Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was elected in 1980, due to a movement of conscience. In addition to that, the 1975 march left a trace not only in Iceland but in the world. And just clarifying, Icelandic women had marched on the same date in 1985, 2005, 2010, 2016 and 2018. In particular, in the 2018 march, women stopped working at 2:55 p.m., because it is the exact hour when they get paid, regarding the pay gap, since from 2:56 they work for free.

Besides the fact that some media don’t even take the time to make a simple Google search for their information, I would like to emphasise that the key elements for the success of the 1975 march in Iceland was in their organisation and in the participation of ALL WOMEN ( yes, this time, men not included ). Yes, stopping Iceland was nothing compared to stopping all Mexico, but there are more than enough reasons for the March 9th Women’s Day off and the different mobilisations that have emerged in recent weeks, and it’s pertinent to learn from other similar movements around the world to achieve a change in society, which is urgent. I want you to succeed!