CSW69 Side Event Women’s Strike 50 years on – the Icelandic quest for equality

This joint side event of the Icelandic Government and The Women´s Year 2025 in Iceland will take place 11th March at 4:45-18:00 pm in Conference Room 2, Conference Building UN HQ. At the event we will discuss the milestones in the quest for equality and how the collaboration between the Icelandic government and the women’s movement has been a transformative force in progressing gender equality. We will contemplate on how the magic of women’s solidarity accelerates the goal towards equal rights for all, the challenges that face women, girls and LGBTI+ people today, and the most important next steps.

Participants are Þorbjörg Sigríður Gunnlaugsdóttir, Minister of Justice, Sonja Ýr Þorbergsdóttir and Tatjana Latinović organizers of the Women´s Strike 2023 and the Women´s year 2025. The event will be moderated by Þórunn Sveinbjarnardóttir, Speaker of Alþingi – the Icelandic Parliament.

Background

The collective power of women is one of the strongest characteristics of Icelandic women’s struggle. Women in Iceland have stood together and formed formal and informal alliances and organizations, both long-term and short-term, which have brought about many of the most significant reforms in Icelandic history. Through various progressive actions women have filled gaps in the male-dominated system and laid down foundation for fundamental rights and services that are considered essential and taken for granted today. With women´s solidarity extraordinary wins can and have been achieved.

Inspired by UN’s International Women’s Year 1975, 90% of women in Iceland stopped their paid and unpaid jobs and brought the country to a standstill on 24. October that year, known as Women’s Day Off.  The solidarity amongst women brought forward huge milestones in achieving gender equality in Iceland.

Since the first women’s strike in 1975, women in Iceland have organized protests 7 times, because despite of a tireless struggle for half a century, they still have to endure inequality and gender-based violence.

Record participation in the Women’s Strike on October 24th 2023, when estimated 100.000 women and non-binary people marched downtown Reykjavík to protest these inequalities, along with mass gatherings and protests in over seventeen places all over the country, showed that there is still huge demand to continue the fight against injustices, such as gender-based violence, gender wage gap, and discrimination in the labor market. The gender pay gap was at the forefront of the Women’s strike 2023, as well as the fight against gender-based violence.

In order to follow up on the demands put forward in Women’s Strike 2023, around 50 organizations of feminists, women, workers, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people are joining hands again and have proclaimed that 2025 will be the Year of the Women in Iceland. The first task was to present demands for changes in legislation and action plans needed to eradicate gender-based violence, gender-pay gap and women’s unpaid work.

The interaction between the women’s struggle and the government is vital for advancing women’s rights. Grassroots movements amplify women’s voices, while government policies provide the framework for systemic change. Collaboration ensures that advocacy efforts translate into tangible progress, fostering equality and justice for all.