Gender Pay Gap: Iceland Gears Up For First Full-Day Women’s Strike Since 1975

 

Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdóttir is among the thousands of Icelandic women who choose not to go to work on Tuesday in protest of the gender wage gap and gender-based violence.

The women’s day off (also known as “kvennafri”) is the first full-day women’s strike since 1975. It has been suggested that women and non-binary people decline jobs, including household duties.

A historic protest by around 90% of Iceland’s female workers in 1975 forced the country’s parliament to enact an equal pay law the following year.

According to Jakobsdóttir, her government is investigating how female-dominated fields are valued in compared to others that have historically been controlled by males.

The walkout on Tuesday would particularly impact industries like healthcare where women make up the bulk of workers. At Iceland’s National University Hospital, women make up about 80% of the workforce.

Additionally, women dominate the teaching profession in Iceland at all levels of the educational system, including a startling 94% of kindergarten instructors.