Reykjavík Grapevine - 29.06.2007, Blaðsíða 6

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Women around the country took part in the annual
National Women’s Day celebration on June 19. The event
marks the day when women in Iceland were granted
the right to vote in 1915.
Each year the Feminist Association of Iceland, Femínis-
tinn, presents the Pink Stone award to an individual or
group who has made a significant contribution to the
area of women’s rights. This year’s winner was a group
of nine male parliamentarians from the Northwest ju-
risdiction in Iceland.
“They won the award because no woman got into
parliament in that area – it’s an encouragement award
to remind them to work towards equality issues,” said
Katrin Anna Gudmundsdóttir from Femínistinn.
In Reykjavík, women dressed in various items of pink
clothing gathered at Kvennaskólinn, a former women’s
school, to attend a history walk. Kristín Ástgeirsdóttir, a
historian and a former member of parliament, guided
the 70 to 100 mainly older women who attended the
walk past sites of importance in the women’s rights
movement.
“It’s important for us to safeguard the history of
women [...] even though it’s not in the history books,”
Elisabet Ronaldsdóttir, who attended the event, said.
“This day is important because it was the beginning
of something good. Of course, a lot still needs to be
done,” female singer/songwriter Lay Low agreed.
Political Scientist Einar Már Þorðarsson, who was
among the handful of males in the crowd, said that it
was important to show his support.
“It reminds us that even though women got the
right to vote in 1915, still after the election in 2007
there are only 34 percent of women in parliament. So,
the fight keeps going and [this day] reminds us to fight
for women’s rights,” he said.
The walk ended at Hallveigarstaðir where Ingibjörg
Sólrún Gísladóttir, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, gave
a speech. Gísladóttir argued that the independence of
women was more difficult to attain than the indepen-
dence of the nation. She went on to say that women
needed to be granted more power in society.
But Steinunn GyðuogGuðjónsdóttir (her last name
consists of both her mother and father’s first names,
rather than just her father’s as is traditional in Icelandic
patronymics) from Femínistinn pointed out that although
there are many areas of women’s rights that need to
be improved, National Women’s Day is about looking
at gender equality from a positive stance.
“It’s more about celebrating the things that women
have achieved instead of campaigning or marching or
demonstrating,” she said.
Iceland has led the way in several areas of women’s
rights and achievement. For example, in 1980 Vigdís
Finnbogadóttir became the first elected female president
in the world. And according to Femínistinn, Iceland has
the world’s highest rate of female participation in the
job market. But as Statistics Iceland (2005) confirms,
women only earn 72.75 percent of what men earn for
the same amount of hours worked.
“It is important for Iceland to be a role model and this
is an extremely important issue to be a role model in. I
want to see the government doing more,” Ronaldsdóttir
commented.
“There are many battles [to be won] yet. The sal-
ary gap for example. Women are in second place and
that doesn’t make any sense,” Guðbjörg Vilhjámsdóttir
agreed.
But despite these seemingly pressing issues, the
turnout to Tuesday’s celebration was poor compared to
the massive attendance to women’s rights events in past
years. In 2005, a Women’s Day Off was held to mark the
30-year anniversary of an event in which 25,000 women
in Iceland walked out of their workplaces and took the
day off. In 2005, women were earning just over 64
percent (this number does not take into consideration
the difference in hours that men and women work) of
the total of what men were earning. In protest, 60,000
women around the country stopped work at 2.08 pm
– 64 percent of a normal 9 to 5 working day. The idea
was to show the value of women’s contribution to the
Icelandic economy.
10_RVK_GV_09_007_ARTICLE/EQUALITY
“This day is important because
it was the beginning of some-
thing good. Of course, a lot still
needs to be done”
Women Paint the Town Pink
Text by Zoë Robert Photo by Leó Stefánsson