Women’s earnings are still around 21% lower than men’s. The main reason for the gender wage gap is the gendered labor market, and the underestimation of traditional women’s jobs. The working days of women of foreign origin are longer and more irregular than in general among women in Iceland, and their wages are lower. Women who work in cleaning and childcare receive the lowest wages in Icelandic society. Financial independence is a prerequisite for ensuring the safety and freedom of women and children. The government needs to stand with women and nonbinary people and take action to:

Women more often have to reduce their paid work in order to do unpaid work within the home. More than half of all children do not get a preschool placement until after 18 months of age.

The care gap affects the income, opportunities and pension rights of mothers more than fathers. The income of mothers drops by 30-50% when a child is born, and in the third year it is still significantly lower than before. The income of fathers drops by 3-5% when a child is born, but has become the same as before after one year. Single mothers have a very hard time making ends meet.

About 40% of women have experienced violence in their lifetime, but trans people, including nonbinary and other genderfluid people, disabled women and women of foreign origin are more likely to experience violence than others. 15% of girls in the 10th grade and 6% of boys have been sexually abused by another teenager. Cyber violence can be just as serious as violence in the real world, and 58% of girls and 35% of boys have experienced digital sexual violence. Those who care for young victims of sexual violence increasingly see a strong connection between pornography and the victims’ descriptions of the violence.

The consumption of pornography among children and teenagers has become so common that this has become their main means of getting information, much more so than actual sex education. People who work with children and teenagers see the tangible effects of pornography on their relationships – lack of boundaries, disrespect, unwelcome touching and crude language. In addition, we must respond to hate speech and prejudice against queer youth with appropriate education in schools.

A restraining order is severely lacking when it comes to having the desired effect, since a violation against it does not have immediate consequences. A violation should incur fines that would be imposed when the violation is committed. It is common that when women and nonbinary people expose the violence they are subjected to and demand that the perpetrators be held accountable in some way, they are hit back hard, including with defamation lawsuits that endanger their financial future no less than the mental well-being of the whistleblower.

Hate speech based on gender and sexuality has become prominent and widespread. In the latest report of the International Monitoring Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, it is emphasised that Iceland needs legislation that makes this type of hate speech a criminal offence.

The reasons why people, mainly women and nonbinary people, end up in prostitution are for the most part due to a lack of money, and therefore economic independence is a key factor in preventing this violence, no less than control over one’s own body. However people define prostitution, most consider it important to have a way out on social grounds.