Tens of 1000’s of ladies throughout Iceland — together with the prime minister — are anticipated to take part in a one-day strike Tuesday in protest of the continued gender pay gap and gender-based violence.
The “Kvennafri,” or “Women’s Day Off,” marks the seventh time that ladies in Iceland stopped working to name consideration to gender inequality. It is anticipated to be the biggest walkout by Icelandic girls in nearly 50 years, in accordance to the strike’s official website.
Close to 90% of Iceland’s feminine inhabitants went on strike on October 24, 1975, to demand gender equality. The unique “Kvennafri” prompted Iceland’s parliament to move a legislation guaranteeing equal pay the next yr.
Tuesday’s demonstration is being deliberate by about 40 organizations, together with the Federation of the Public Workers Union in Iceland (BSRB), the nation’s largest affiliation of public employee unions.
Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir advised the Icelandic information web site Iceland Monitor that she’s going to refuse to work on the strike day and expects different girls in authorities to be a part of her “in solidarity with Icelandic girls.”
“As you understand, we have now not but reached our targets of full gender equality and we’re nonetheless tackling the gender-based wage gap, which is unacceptable in 2023,” Jakobsdóttir mentioned. “We are nonetheless tackling gender-based violence, which has been a precedence for my authorities to deal with.”
Organizers urge girls and non-binary folks in Iceland not to take on any paid or unpaid labor on Tuesday, together with childcare and family chores, to “display the significance of their contribution to society,” the strike’s website notes.
Men are inspired to present their help by “taking on extra tasks” at residence and at work, to allow their companions and colleagues to be a part of the strike.
Ahead of Tuesday’s demonstration, colleges are anticipated to shorten their hours or shut, as girls make up the vast majority of lecturers in Iceland. Landspitali hospital, Iceland’s largest healthcare employer, mentioned it could run at lowered companies, in accordance to the New York Times and Iceland’s nationwide broadcaster RÚV.
Iceland has been ranked the best country in the world for women by the World Economic Forum (WEF) 14 years in a row. Despite Iceland’s achievement, organizers mentioned important points persist.
“We’re talked about, Iceland is talked about, prefer it’s an equality paradise,” Freyja Steingrímsdóttir, one of many strike organizers and communications director for BSRB, advised the New York Times. “But an equality paradise mustn’t have a 21% wage gap and 40% of ladies experiencing gender-based or sexual violence in their lifetime. That’s not what girls world wide are striving for.”
While the World Economic Forum pegs the wage gap between males and girls in the nation at 21%, different sources, together with the OECD, put the gap at nearer to 10%.
In 2018, a University of Iceland study discovered that 40% of Icelandic girls expertise gender-based and sexual violence in their lifetime.
The gender wage gap in Iceland is wider than in some of its neighboring countries, together with Belgium and Italy, the OECD reviews.
That gap has not closed, in half, due to the extremely segregated job market Icelandic girls face: They are overrepresented in low-paid public service jobs, in accordance to research revealed by the European Parliament in 2021.
Given its international repute as a chief in gender equality, Steingrímsdóttir advised the Times that Iceland has a duty to “be sure we dwell up to these expectations.”
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