Fifty years ago today, a strike of women rocked Iceland and it was so successful that it had repercussions and results that have stood the test of time. This is a republication of a post on social media by Working Class History
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On 24 October 1975 90% of women in Iceland went on general strike for equality with men. At the time, women in the country earned over 40% less than men on average.
A radical feminist group called the Red Stockings initially proposed the idea of a strike against low pay and to show the centrality of women’s paid and unpaid labour to the capitalist economy. A committee of feminist organisations then decided to call for a “day off” for women, which was then supported by key trade unions.
One woman, Annadis Rudolfsdottir later recalled to the Guardian:
“In the days preceding the 24th it seemed that women everywhere were grouping together, drinking coffee, smoking incessantly but doing a lot of agitated talking. My granny, who was working incredibly hard in a fish factory, was not going to take the day off. But the questions raised by the women’s movements whirred around her mind. Why were young men taking home higher wages than her when her job was no less physically strenuous?”
The “day off” was hugely successful: the vast majority of Iceland’s wage-earning women stayed home, and house workers refused to cook, clean and look after children. Newspapers were not printed, telephone calls weren’t connected, and many schools were closed. Flights were cancelled, fish factories closed, and many other businesses disrupted. 25,000 women then rallied in the capitol, Reykjavík, bringing traffic to a standstill.
The year after the strike, the Icelandic government passed the Gender Equality Act outlawing sex discrimination and formed a Gender Equality Council. Today Iceland has the lowest gender inequality in the world, although women still earn only 80% of men’s wages, so discrimination and the struggle against it continue.
Reproduced from the website of Working Class History, the original here
[Feature picture shows a rally in Reykyavik on October 24, 2005, commemorating the strike. From Wikimedia Commons, here]
