Lögberg-Heimskringla - 02.10.1981, Síða 6

6-WINNIPEG, FÖSTUDAGUR 2. OKTÓBER 1981
Svava Jakobsdóttir as Member of Parliament
Continued from page 5
equality I do not, even though I'm a
socialist, go along with the ex-
tremists who say that we can't press
the point of having more women in
Parliament because then we'll have
more conservative women in Parlia-
ment.
E.S.F.: What kind of a silly argu-
ment is that?
S.J.: That's what I say, but that's
what happened last year. We can't
fight for every women, they say,
because if we do we'll be fighting
for conservative women too. But my
point was, for God's sake if you are
going to have a democracy, you
have to have both kinds. What they
really meant was, I think, from the
point of view of equality between
men and women we cannot expect
anything from the conservatives, so
why should we help them to be in
Parliament.
E.S.F.: Why did you decide to
become a Member of Parliament?
As a woman and as a writer?
SJ .: There is a tradition here in
Iceland for writers to take part in
politics, perhaps especially since the
war, since 1949 when Iceland went
into NATO. That's part of the
reason why so many of our writers
have been politically active.
Besides, there is also an older tradi-
tion; our writers were traditionally
involved politically.
E.S.F.: Were there any Women
Members of Parliament who were
also writers before you?
SJ .: Not that I can remember, no.
E.S.F.: Did you become a can-
didate because you were asked or
because you volunteered?
S.J.: Well, I was asked to do it. I
wasn' even a member of the Party
when I first ran. It was perhaps a
result of the trends of the time. It
was in 1971 and I heard some peo-
ple say that my play was so political.
I was also known as an opponent of
the US base through my novel, so
that if one adds to these views also
the fact that there was a strong
egalitarian thrust through the Red
Stocking movement, then I think
you can see that my own writings
and the trend in society dovetailed
at that point.
E.S.F.: Were you actively involv-
ed in these women's groups at the
time?
SJ .: Oh, yes, but the Red Stocking
movement was not built up as a pro-
per organization. There were groups
that worked at different things,
there were no precedents — it was
more a movement than an organiza-
tion.
E.S.F.: Did you take an active
part in it as a Member of Parlia-
ment?
S.J.: It all started at about the
same time and I had a great deal of
support from them. I remember
there was supposed to be a beauty
queen competition in Borgarnes, so a
group of us went and we borrowed a
little calf from a local farmer, and
we just stood there with our
beautiful calf.
E.S.F.: What was the reaction?
S.J.: Well, I think people rather
enjoyed this; they thought it was a
good spectacle. Of course some
were very, very disgusted at grown
women behaving in this way. But
for several years we managed to
keep it going and people turned up
their noses at beauty queen com-
petitions for a time, but now I think
they're returning.
E.S.F.: Was your success a func-
tion of the times or do you think you
could have done anything like this
on your own, let's say ten or twenty
years earlier?
S.J.: I don't think so. Perhaps if I
had been a member of the Party.
I've always been politically in-
terested and have read literature,
but I think the idea of actually being
in Parliament was remote to me.
E.S.F.: If you had known ahead of
time how much politics would take
out of your life, would you have
done it?
S.J.: I think I can answer it like
that, I don't regret these years I was
there.
E.S.F.: So you've learnt
something from them?
S.J.:I hope so. The only thing I
regret — well perhaps regret is too
strong a word — is that I feel that it
takes quite a lot of time to get in
touch with literature again. I mean a
writer not only writes, he has to
read, and I feel that there is a gap
there which it will take me quite a
time to fill. But I really don't regret
these years.
E.S.F.: Do you think you ac-
complished something politically?
S.J.: Yes, I think so, though of
course not all by myself. Especially
in the first years when it was easier
to work for equality than it is now.
We passed new laws about day-care
centers and I had a law passed to en-
force equal pay, which meant that a
council was set up and women
could go to it and seek legal and
moral redress.
E.S.F.: Is it still in existence?
S.J.: It is still in existence, only it
has more functions now and we call
it the 'Equal Rights Council,' but it
started as an equal pay council. That
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E.S.F.: In general you seem to
have been happier with the results
in the first years of your parliamen-
tary work. Why was that?
SJ .: Well, we had a government
then which could accomplish things
that were more to my liking. Since
then the economic problems have
been overwhelming, and we have
had difficult governments — even
when my Party has been in power
there have been difficult coalitions
and we, have been unable to ac-
complish what we wished.
E.S.F.: But you still think it has
been worth it to stay for eight years.
Why did you then decide to quit?
S.J.: I had decided to sit for three
terms, that is twelve years, which
would have meant that at the close I
would have been fifty-two. That
would have allowed me to do
something else with my life if I
wanted to. Suddenly the Social
Democrats just cut off so I thought I
can't change, there's no need for me
to change my decision because that
would have perhaps meant four
more years and I would have been
fifty so-and-so. At that point one
either decides to become a politician
and nothing else ...
E.S.F.: Or one goes back to
writing. Are you happy with your
decision?
SJ .: Yes. But I am not actually out
of politics altogether. I am on a Nor-
dic committee concerned with the
equality of men and women. In all
the Nordic countries we have a
special committee working together
on the matter of sexual equality,
working on projects which we feel
that all of our five countries would
benefit from and I am sitting on that
committee now, so I am still doing
some political work.
E.S.F.: But you are not doing
much on the local Ievel any more?
SJ .: No, except that this last year
I've been in the central committee
of the Party and I'm a vice-president
in the executive committee.
E.S.F.: Has politics mixed well
with literature in your case, do you*
think?
SJ .: This is really a question that I
have pondered myself. Certainly I
must have learned something from
politics, but whether I can build it
into my own writing is yet to be
seen. One thing I must avoid is to
use it in a chiché sort of way. I feel a
responsibility if I now start writing
about political issues — which I in-
evitably do in one way or another —
a responsibility not to take clichés
from the older literary tradition but
to use my own experience. That's
what I'm trying to do.
E.S.F.: Has political involvement
been at the expense of literary
achievement?
S.J .: Yes, I think so. Being a politi-
cian is a full time job and I've often
envied the men, my colleagues who
have their wives at home to take
care of things for them. What for ex-
ample can a young women with
three small children do if she is ac-
tive in politics? The men decide,
because they are in the majority,
we'll have a Parliamentary meeting
till seven and then come back at
eight-thirty. They can decide this
because they have a woman at
home and dinner is waiting and they
just have to sit down and eat. And
this is so unfair . . . I'm very sorry, I
have to run to my meeting now.
E.S.F.: I know. It's not the Parlia-
ment or dinner, but the Party is
waiting!
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