1975 Icelandic women's strike

On October 24, 1975, Icelandic women went on strike for the day to “demonstrate the indispensable work of women for Iceland’s economy and society” and to “protest wage discrepancy and unfair employment practices.” Ninety percent of Iceland’s female population, led by women’s organizations, did not go to their paid jobs and did not do any housework or child-rearing for the whole day.

History

Icelandic women who worked outside of the home before 1975 earned less than sixty percent of what men earned. Many other women were not able to acquire jobs since they did most of all of the housework and childrearing in the home.

The United Nations announced that 1975 was going to be International Women’s Year. Five major Icelandic women’s rights organizations sent representatives to form a committee that planned events for the year. A representative from a women’s group called the Redstockings put forward the idea of a strike as one of the events. The committee decided to call the strike a “day off” since they thought that this term was more pleasant and would be more effective in engaging the masses. As well, some women could have gotten fired for going on strike but could not be denied a day off.

Women’s organizations spread the word about the Day Off throughout the country. The Day Off event organizers got radio stations, television, and newspapers to run stories about sex-based discrimination and lower wages for women. The event garnered international attention.

Women’s Day Off

On October 24, 1975, Icelandic women did not go to their paid jobs nor did they do any housework or child-rearing at home. Ninety percent of women took part, including women in rural communities. Many industries shut down for the day as a result. There was no telephone service and newspapers were not printed since the typesetters were all women. Theatres shut down for the day as actresses refused to work. The majority of teachers were women so schools either closed or “operated at limited capacity.” Flights got cancelled since the flight attendants did not come into work and bank executives had to work as tellers to keep the banks open on this day. Fish factories were closed since the factory workers were primarily women.

During the Day Off, twenty-five thousand women out of two hundred twenty thousand people in Iceland gathered in the center of Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital, for a rally. At the rally, women listened to speakers, sang, and talked to each other about what could be done to achieve gender equality in Iceland. There were many speakers, including a housewife, two members of parliament, a representative of the women’s movement, and a female worker. The last speech of the day was by Adalheidur Bjarnfredsdottir, who “represented Sokn, the trade union for the lowest paid women in Iceland.”

Employers prepared for the day without women by buying sweets, pencils, and paper to entertain the kids who would be brought into work by their fathers. Men were forced to take their children to work and feed them since all of the daycares were closed. As a result, sausages, a popular meal, sold out in many stores that day.

The strike lasted until midnight that night, at which time the typesetters went back to work to put out the newspaper. It was not as long as usual and only consisted of articles related to the strike.

Aftermath

The women achieved their goal of showing Iceland their value by essentially shutting down the country for a day. The Day Off “opened the eyes of many men” who referred to the it as “the long Friday.” The 1975 demonstration can be watched to on this link 1975 demonstration.

The next year, “Iceland’s parliament passed a law guaranteeing equal rights for women and men.” Although this 1976 law “did little to change wage inequality and disparity in wages and employment for women.” It was a large political step towards true equality. The strikers had clearly achieved their goal and demonstrated the undeniable importance of women and their hard work in Iceland. The strike also paved the way for the election of the first democratically elected female president in the world five years later in 1980. Also, every ten years on the anniversary of the Day Off, women stop work early to “demonstrate their important positions and continue the struggle for equality.”

In 1975 the women strikers left work at 2:05pm, in 2005 they left at 2:08pm, reflecting the tiny progress made in 30 years. Increasing the frequency of strikes, in 2010 they left work at 2:25pm and in 2016 at 2:38pm, many women taking part in the Viking Clap outside the Althing.