Women strike against wage gaps and gender-based violence
In Iceland, citizens will cross their arms at work and at home for 24 hours to protest discrimination and abuse. Prime Minister Jakobsdottir is also joining the initiative.
A strike by women only, who will cross their arms across the country, both in paid work and at home, to demand an end to gender discrimination and pay inequality. It will happen tomorrow in Iceland, where tens of thousands of islanders and non-binary people are expected to stop working in the first strike of its kind in almost half a century, united under the slogan “Kallarðu þetta jafnrétti?” (You call this equality?). Among them will be Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, who has decided to join the initiative.
As he explains The keeper Organizers hope the women’s strike will draw attention to the country’s pay gap with men and widespread sexual and gender-based violence. This type of event had already happened in 1975 when 90% of Icelandic women refused to work as part of “kvennafri” (women’s weekend), leading to a movement that even led to the election of Iceland’s first female president. country in the world. 48 years later, many of the demands of this protest still remain unanswered. Although Icelanders are considered world leaders in gender equality and top the World Economic Forum’s 2023 global gender inequality rankings for the 14th year in a row, there are still many challenges.
“They talk about us, they talk about Iceland as if it’s a paradise for equality,” said Freya Steingrímsdóttir, one of the strike organizers and communications director for BSRB, the Icelandic Federation of Civil Servants. “But in an equality haven there shouldn’t be a 21% wage gap and 40% of women experiencing sexual or gender-based violence in their lifetime. This is not what women around the world are fighting for,” he added, arguing that Considering global reputation it has, Iceland has a responsibility to “ensure that we live up to those expectations,” Steingrímsdóttir said.
Women and non-binary people across the country were urged on Tuesday not to undertake any paid or unpaid work, including housework, “to demonstrate the importance of their contribution to society”. At least 25,000 people are expected to attend the event in central Reykjavik, and many more will attend 10 other events across the country, making this likely the largest women’s strike in Iceland. In announcing his participation, Jakobsdottir said he expected the Prime Minister’s Office to shut down. “Above all, with this strike I am showing solidarity with Icelandic women,” she told mbl.is.
Source: Today
