The Fight Against Gender-Based Violence – Breaking the Silence
Public discussion about violence against women did not truly begin in Iceland until around 1979, inspired by a growing feminist awakening across the Nordic countries. Before then, it was mostly writers and artists who dared to address the subject, even though historical records show that women have endured such violence for centuries.
The first educational material on the issue, titled A Letter of Reflection on Violence, was published in 1980. It urged people to break the silence around men’s violence against women, to understand its causes, and to place it in the broader context of gender inequality.
The conversation gained momentum, and in 1982, following a Danish example, the Women’s Shelter Organization (Kvennaathvarf) was founded in Reykjavík. Throughout the 1980s, numerous volunteer groups formed to support survivors of sexual violence, including the Children’s Group of the Women’s Shelter, the Advisory Group on Rape Cases, Women’s Counseling, and the Working Group Against Incest.
Recognizing the urgent need for comprehensive support, activists went on to establish a counseling and information center for women and children who had survived sexual violence — an initiative that eventually led to the founding of Stígamót in 1990, now one of Iceland’s leading centers for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.
In the decades that followed, more organizations joined the movement. The 21st century brought new waves of activism through social media revolutions:
- In 2011, Iceland’s first SlutWalk (Druslugangan) marched through Reykjavík.
- In 2015, hundreds of women shared their stories of harassment, assault, and rape in a private Facebook group under the hashtag #höfumhátt (“speak up”).
- The same year saw the #FreeTheNipple movement take Iceland by storm.
- In 2017, the global #MeToo movement sparked a massive outpouring of testimonies in Iceland, leading to the founding of Öfgar (“Extremes”) and several other survivor-led organizations.
2015: #freethenipple, #konurtala, #beautytips
2017: #höfumhátt #metoo