Iceland review - 2016, Page 82

80 ICELAND REVIEW
H I S T O R Y
impoverished society to a modern society connected to the
world.” Willson reports that the number of women working
at sea dropped dramatically at the turn of the 20th century
with better technology, larger vessels and a rapid process of
urbanization. Women were expected to process the fish on
land, rather than catch the fish.
Willson points out that this is when previously-unknown
superstitions about women being bad luck on boats gained
a foothold, possibly under foreign influence. The female
image was also changing: a woman should be feminine
and, if possible, stay at home. “The image of the wife of
a fisherman, waiting for her husband to return home in
bad weather. That’s a really strong image,” says Willson.
“The difference is that before 1900, those boats also often
included women.” Before 1900 when most people lived on
farms they didn’t have communities in the sense that other
countries did. There, the gendered boundaries between the
tasks men and women did were less rigid.
Women working at sea, even in command roles, was a
common enough occurrence that it was rarely mentioned—
unless the seawomen were known for something else as well.
“Everyone was expected to do it. There was a woman who
was formaður for thirty years. And the only reason we know
about her is because she was found drunk by the beach!”
Foreman Þórunn Þorsteinsdóttir (1795-1872) was one of
many women who were in command of boats.
ONLY THE BEGINNING
Moving on to the recent past, the number of women at sea
increased with the women’s rights campaign in the 1970s and
80s. But since 2000, the development has reversed. According
to Statistics Iceland, the number of female fishermen dropped
from 800 in 2000 to 300 in 2015, now comprising 7 percent
of the profession. Most of the seawomen Willson interviewed
felt this was in part because of concentration of fishing rights.
The smaller ships have been replaced by larger vessels, where
the fish is processed and frozen on board, run by big compa-
nies in Reykjavík, Akureyri and a few other towns, which have
acquired the fishing rights from the smaller communities.
Women with children also find the often-four-to-six-week
tour lengths for these ships difficult.
However, the tides may be changing. Legislation allowing
small boat owners to fish commercially outside the main
quota fishing system has provided an opportunity taken up
by both men and women. Also, with the increased demand
of markets for fresh fish instead of frozen, the trawlers can’t
stay out as long anymore. More women are seeking higher
education in seafaring and taking command positions. “The
percentage of women in officer positions is higher than it
used to be; there are more women in command positions on
the large vessels,” says Willson. Only one woman is known to
have captained a large vessel as a temporary position, though.
Foreman Halldóra Ólafsdóttir with her
all-female crew. She was successful in
catching fish in the Breiðafjörður area
in the mid-1700s, preferring to work
only with other women.
PAINTING BY BJARNI JÓNSSON (1934-2008). PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ICELAND.