Women’s Day Off in Iceland
Women in Iceland have gone on a strike six times to protest gender inequality and the gender pay gap.
On October 24th, 1975, 90% of women in Iceland left work, to demonstrate the importance of women‘s contribution to society. This day was popularly called “kvennafrí”, or Women’s Day Off. In 1985, 25.000 women left their work again, to protest income inequality.
In 2005, Icelandic women celebrated Women’s Day Off for the third time, and tens of thousands of women left work the minute they stopped getting paid, at 2:08 p.m. In 2010 women in Iceland again left work, this time at 2:25 p.m. In 2016, Icelandic women left work at 2.38 p.m., and in 2018, women left work at 2:55 p.m.
- www.kvennafri.is
The official website of Kvennafrí, the women’s day off protests in Iceland. Information in English, including a link to raw video footage taken during the protests of 2016, free to use with attribution.
Income Equality Now! Women in Iceland Walk Out. #Kvennafrí 2016. Kvenréttindafélag Íslands. 2016. A short film by Lea Ævarsdóttir depicting a mass demonstration for gender equality in Iceland in 2016.
