The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.1994, Qupperneq 7

SPRING, 1994
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
1 17
FEATURE
fflargref
Benediefsson,
Freyja
and the struggle
for Woman’s Equality

The Icelanders who began emigrating to North
America during the 1870’s were a people
hardened by a life of deprivation and hardship,
but with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.
Iceland did not, as yet, have an organized school
system, but almost every person could read and write.
Most received a basic education in the home or were
tutored by the local church minister. A winter’s
evening entertainment in an Icelandic household
typically consisted of a person reading aloud from the
Bible, the sagas or the local press.
The Icelanders were an island people,
but they followed world affairs with
great interest. Since master and
servants, men and women, adults
and children, alike gathered together
in the evenings, all benefited by the
reading.
Women in Iceland had long enjoyed
a prominent position in home and
society. Prominent roles were played
by women in the old Icelandic sagas.
The existing Icelandic tradition of
respect for women was unusual in
nineteenth century Europe and not
commonly accorded their sisters on
the Continent. Icelandic women had
Margret Benedictsson, her husband Sigfus
and children, Ingi and Helen
Photo from The Icelandic Collection
University of Manitoba