Let’s Go, Girls: The Women’s Strike 2023

Translation: Colin Fisher

It did not escape anyone’s attention when on October 24th around a hundred thousand women came together at Arnarhóll to protest against gendered violence and the wage gap for women and nonbinary people. Similar gatherings took place in eighteen other places, among them Akureyri, Egilsstaðir, Stykkishólmur and the Westman Islands. Women from all around the country refused to go to work, take care of housework, or look after children.

This day has also been called the women’s holiday, as women originally took only part of the day off, but this year Icelandic women repeated the strike for the sixth time since 1975. The strike did not only attract attention in Iceland but also in the rest of the world, not least after our prime minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir took part in the strike herself let her duties fall by the wayside. News organisations such as the BBC in England, Berlingske in Denmark and The New York Times in America are some of the newsrooms that discussed the strike and Katrín’s participation in it. All women and nonbinary people here in Iceland, whether they were immigrants or Icelanders, were encouraged to take part in the strike, and it was expected that men, husbands, grandfathers, brothers, and other relatives should take the work on themselves in the meantime.

The strike’s agenda

Participants were invited to come together on Grettisgata on the evening of October 23rd and paint signs to have and walk with for the next day. The strike began at 9:00 and the started marching around Tjörnin, and all gathered at Arnarhóll at 14:00, when Ólafía Hrönn and Aldís Amah Hamilton set off the strike with inspirational speeches and music. Among the speakers were Alice Olivia Clarke and Guðbjörg Ólafsdóttir, the president of the nurse’s association. Ragga Gísla, musician in the feminist band Grýlurnar who have released the famous song “Ekkert mál,” among others, and Una Torfadottir led the singing of “Áfram stelpur.” The song came out in 1975 and is now known as a kind of anthem for women’s resistance.

The story of women’s rights

Women have fought for equal rights for at least 43 years. The first women’s strike was held on October 24th, 1975, when around 90% of women abandoned their workplace to protest against unequal rights. Another such strike was held in the year 1985, although participation in that year was rather less extensive (around 25,000 women). In 2005, women decided to take action one more time, only this time they calculated how many hours their wages equaled compared to men’s wages, and then walked out of their workplace when their wages didn’t justify their working hours any more, at 14:08. In the years 2010 and 2016, the protest was held in the same way. By the year 2018, only 16% of the wage gap had been bridged, according to kvennafri.is.

Who supported the strike

Many took part in the preparations for the 2023 women’s strike. Among them were Aflið, a community organisation advocating against gendered and domestic violence, the Alliance of Women in Reykjavík (BKR), young businesswomen who promote equal rights between women and men by creating a space where women can learn and support each other, Samtökin 78, which is an interest and advocacy group for queer people in Iceland, as well as 33 other associations, including Öfgar, Stígamót, the Icelandic Women’s Rights Association, and others.

What now?

The gender wage gap was still around 9.1% by 2022, according to Statistics Iceland. There was a slight improvement, however, as it was recorded at 10.2% in 2021. The women's strike is intended among others to continue applying pressure on employers and the government to reduce inequality. The strike also draws attention to Iceland’s status abroad and can therefore lead to more countries demanding wage equality, which is already happening to some extent. However, it is paramount that we continue to fight for equal rights.