On the 24th of october in 1975, approximately 90% of Icelandic women struck for equality, not attending jobs or doing any domestic work. Iceland passed an equal pay law the following year, but the strike has been repeated on its anniversary several times since, such as in the years 2005, 2010, and 2016.

The strike was planned by "The Women's Congress", which had met on June 20th and 21st earlier that year. Among the reasons given for going on strike were pay inequality, lack of women in union leadership, and a general lack of recognition for the value and skill of domestic labor.

During the work stoppage, also known as "Women's Day Off", 25,000 people gathered in Reykjavik, Iceland's capital city, for a rally. There, women listened to speakers, sang, and talked to each other about what could be done to achieve gender equality in Iceland.

Women from many different backgrounds spoke, including a housewife, two members of parliament, and a worker. The last speech of the day was by Aðalheiður Bjarnfreðsdóttir, who "represented Sókn, the trade union for the lowest paid women in Iceland", according to The Guardian.

In 1976, the Icelandic government passed an equal pay law, and the country elected its first female President, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, five years later in 1980.

The 1975 Women's Strike also helped inspire the 2016 "Black Monday" anti-abortion ban protests in Poland, as well as the "International Women's Strike", single day work stoppages on March 8th, 2017 and 2018.

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  • LocalOaf [they/them, ze/hir]
    ·
    8 days ago
    spoiler

    it's just, always something else, and feels like it's gets old. since it feels like im not doing enough to handle these things on my own, and that I just need to somehow handle it. but on the opposite end, is I can't either at times. but besides that just another part just sort of tired of all of this. tired of being in this same spot, same point.

    Big same

    I've been getting better the last couple months getting my personal shit together more but my circumstances haven't really improved materially and the family shit for me is slowly getting worse if anything

    That obstacle of not wanting to be a bother vs needing to talk about stuff

    Completely understand, I've shut down about similar things to irl people for years at a time about stuff to the point where they've been shocked when something about how rough it's gotten at times slips out

    just sort of tired of all of this. tired of being in this same spot, same point. I need to sleep.

    yea

    Hope you get some well deserved quality sleep

    sleepi