Saga - 2006, Page 49

Abstract
k r i s t í n á s t g e i r s d ó t t i r
„ T H E R E A R E N O W O M E N W H E R E T H E P O W E R I S “
Influence on Iceland during 1975 to 2005 of the
UN World Conferences on Women and the Decade for Women
During the past few decades the United Nations has undertaken a great deal of
work to further gender equality. Between 1975 and 1995, the UN organised four
World Conferences on Women. In 2000, a special session of the United Nations
General Assembly was held to evaluate the results achieved and to clarify
priorities. A 2005 special summit held on behalf of the UN Commission on the
Status of Women commemorated ten years having passed since the 1995 World
Conference on Women in Beijing. The article discusses the effects that the World
Conferences on Women and the 1976–1985 Decade for Women had on Iceland
during the period of 1975 to 2005. The conclusion is that the impact varied
depending on what aspect of society is considered, and was greatest with respect
to women’s organisations and government.
The country’s women’s organisations took measures which attracted world-
wide attention, among them the womens’ general strike on 24 October 1975, the
campaign and election of Vigdís Finnbogadóttir as President in 1980, and the
Women’s List as a political party from 1982 to 1995. Issues hitherto taboo,
unknown, or rarely discussed, such as violence against women, the sexual abuse
of children, and disempowerment of women, were placed on the nation’s agenda
following attention they had received abroad. All of this demanded increased
research, information, and action. The broad solidarity of women’s organisations
during this period shows that they stayed constantly aware; they were conscious
of their need to utilise every opportunity to exert pressure on the government
and to bring about a change in attitudes and an increase in support for women
demanding what is now called gender justice. After repeated reviews, the
Icelandic government passed the Gender Equality Act in 1976, partly due to new
resolutions and emphases on the part of the UN. Though for a long time the
equality focus was almost exclusively on the public sphere, the labour market,
education, and advertising, equality perspectives evolved and now extend to
more areas. However, the private sphere remains for the most part outside the
legal frameworks applying to equal rights. International Women’s Year (1975),
the UN Decade for Women, and World Conferences on Women above all served
to initiate steps in Iceland towards increasing knowledge, intensifying demands
for equal rights, and making women more visible and active.
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