In the snow the footprints
are so quickly filled.
Its very Icelandic.
And if you say that, it is a
symbol for remembering.
Take care that the snow
doesnt fill the footsteps.
For some reason, this day I was alone.
And I remember -
I remember the clothes I was wearing.
And I don't have a clue
what is waiting for me there.
I have no idea how many women will show up
or what will happen.
I just knew I had to be there.
And this is one of those
frozen moments in your life.
Oh, I get the shivers
when I think back about this.
It was probably the biggest event
in my life
apart from having my babies.
That day I was just totally nervous
from here to the toes.
We are going to show them
that we can stop this society
by walking out.
THE DAY ICELAND STOOD STILL
Today my country, Iceland
is celebrated as one of the best places
in the world to be a woman.
But it wasn't always that way.
This is the story of one day
that changed everything.
I always knew that I
would like to see the world.
I was asked, What are you going
to do when you grow up?
And I said, I want to
be a captain of a ship.
They said very sweetly to me
No, no dearest you cannot.
Because you are a girl.
From the time I was 12
I said that I wanted to be a lawyer.
Everybody said
Oh no, you will be
married before you're 18.
In the 1970s
we had this growing middle class
and the image of the housewife
happy about her new home.
Every woman wants to be
in her own home, of course
with her own laundry and
her own washing machine.
Taking pride in her beautiful children
and her successful husband.
You were told you have
to wake up before him
and put on your makeup
because he is not supposed to see you
not at your best.
The man wasn't supposed
to know how to make a coffee.
Those were the happy days for men!
I remember being
small, hiding under a table
and listening to my mother
and her friends smoking
and talking about what kind of
world they would like to live in.
At this time, women didn't have
education they didn't have their own money
their salaries were much lower than
the salaries of men, if they had any work.
My mom raised six children.
She made all our clothes herself.
She didn't like it, but she did it.
I remember her once say that
she would like to be locked up in jail
for about three months with a good book
just to be able to read.
I grew up on a farm. A very
isolated one in the mountains.
To collect the sheep we had to
go horse riding almost a whole day.
I learned to milk the cows and fetch
them and ride horses and collect the hay.
The farm I was brought up on there
was very much equality between the sexes.
But I discovered that the world
wasn't like that everywhere.
On the farms around it wasn't the same.
Girls were not supposed to be
as good as boys in many ways.
I remember one day, on another farm
all the men were building a stable...
I was helping, serving food.
They were talking about politics and
everything and I started to participate.
Then I suddenly saw
nobody heard what I said.
It was like
I hadn't said anything.
It was strange.
I wanted to be more like a man
working outdoors on the farm
using the machinery, and being with the
sheeps and collecting them from the mountains.
But in 1970
a woman on the farm
she was a housewife!
My husband he was in the farmers society.
And I find out
that a woman cant be there.
It was not a place for them.
Sometimes you had a woman
among the farmers
but they had to be widows.
I got a point there to tell them
do I have to k*ll my husband
to be recognized as a farmer?
And I wanted not to be Mrs. Plsson.
I wanted to be myself.
I was married to him
but I was not a part of him.
I was working in Landsbankinn.
It was a national bank.
So we were all working
for the state, really.
Everything was done manually -
no computers.
So the bank was full with women
but the men were upstairs.
They were running the bank. We were not.
Young guys they come in very young
like 10 or 15 years younger than you
and you show them the ropes
and before you know it, they are my boss
after I taught them everything I know.
It's always been like that.
People would say - You
don't need more money.
Your husband is earning the money you need
and what you are earning is just for you
to spend on makeup and clothes.
So why should we make your wages higher?
It was like that.
I mean, we had lower pay than men
all over.
I was working at a very
big newspaper in Iceland.
Morgunbladid. The conservative paper.
Of course they had to have a lot of
girls that were very good in typing.
It was only women that did this.
The journalists were all mostly men.
One woman, she corrected everything.
We were very good friends
and we wanted better pay.
But some of them were like -
No, I think it's okay.
It's just like that.
It was the favorite.
It is just like that.
But there were so many women
in Iceland that wanted something.
They wanted to change the society!
We were not isolated here in Iceland.
We had sisters all over the place -
strong women wanting to
change the world, just like us.
We knew about the Dutch women
influences from America,
Norway, Sweden
and Red Stockings in Denmark.
We could feel it.
There were waves in the air.
The earth was all ready.
Everything was prepared
for doing something.
It only needed this to start.
INTERNATIONAL WORKER'S DAY, MAY 1, 1970
On the 1st of May, the radical
people had a parade for worker's rights.
I went down to speak on the radio
and I just said
Women in red stockings
let's meet at the square in the morning.
They were all ready.
I just said, Yes!
We started making slogans straightaway,
Wake Up Woman!
Women want to have the same rights as men.
And we decided to wear red stockings.
The Red Stockings movement
came in with a lot of noise.
It was a revolt.
You had to kick-start things.
I heard that women were
gathering to change the world
and I jumped at it!
SOKKHOLT RED STOCKINGS HQ
There were not only we, the troublemakers -
there were fantastic young women
gathering together so we
had a very broad scope.
We decided that we would not dress
like our mothers and grandmothers
and we would not use makeup
and we would not do
anything about our looks.
That was not important.
We did not want to enter
the power structure that
was we wanted to change it.
No leader.
We were all leaders.
You could be a Red Stocking
one time in your life
or just in the afternoon
or when your husband was not there.
There was no telling who
was a Red Stocking or not
because there was no formal society.
We wanted equality, equality with men.
We thought that what we were
doing was very positive for everyone.
For the society, for the individuals
for the world.
When I joined I was the
sole man in the movement.
I was 18 and I was a revolutionary.
I found it very strange that
women were not allowed
to do the same things as men.
So I chose to go over
to the Red Stockings -
the movement with the greatest
chance of changing the society radically.
The state radio opened up its door to us
which was very brave of them.
And we did a very popular program.
Popular?
I don't know if I should use that word.
We were saying things
that had never been said.
RED STOCKINGS RADIO PROGRAM
I asked my 15-year-old students
to write about their parents jobs.
"Why didnt you write about what
your mother does?" I asked them.
"What? My mother? Shes just at home.
She doesnt do anything," they said -
meaning its not work being
a housewife, not even a job.
This is partly our own
fault, mine and yours.
We swallow this theory
of the dream housewife
who lives for her family
and has no hobbies outside the home.
Why does a woman feel like she should
repress her sexuality and libido?
They would really say
things that ordinary people
would just go Woooo...
Menstruation, ab*rtion
horrid sex life.
Not getting paid for your work
not getting a promotion at work.
There were so many women in
Iceland that didn't like the Red Socks.
But if you hear these things and you're
shocked, you'll never forget.
And you go to sleep in the evening
and youre thinking
What did I see?
What were they doing? Why?
They were controversial because
they were thought to be destroying
the role of the housewife and
putting, really, society on its head.
Radio, good afternoon.
Just a minute.
Radio, good afternoon.
Some of the women felt
that we were attacking
them for how they were living.
What we wanted was
that women would have a choice -
but we didn't say it in the right way.
In those days
we were just looking forward.
We had to gain something.
We had to reach the peak, you know.
It was
like that.
Christmas is a very big thing in Iceland.
And I think one of the
reasons is that it is very dark
and we like to light up the village.
And that is what Christmas is about.
It's about the sun rising up again.
During Christmas
Icelandic women, they
were just cleaning all the time.
All closets, everything.
And baking maybe 13
sorts of these little cakes.
I think my mother probably made
five kinds of cookies.
Yes, five to seven.
Making the clothes
because everybody had to get
something new for Christmas.
My mother was so dead tired
that she hardly could eat.
And this was something we wanted to change.
So we made this doll.
I think even she got some of my clothes on.
And she had rollers in her hair
or something like that
because she wanted to be beautiful.
The doll was a very, very tired housewife.
She was exhausted.
And we brought her down to
the main street in Reykjavik.
IS NOTHING SACRED?
IS THIS OUR CHRISTMAS?
Crucifying the housewife
on a Christmas tree.
It was hilarious
and that is what made
me see things clearer.
And this was so provocative
for some people.
Well, it didn't come to blows
but we got very harsh words
mostly from men.
We said, You don't have to do that.
You know, just relax.
We were spreading the gospel everywhere.
We went to meetings all over the country
to talk with women in the labor movement.
So we went up to Akranes -
this infamous journey
which will never be forgotten.
Then it was brought to our attention
that there was a beauty pageant
scheduled there in the evening.
We found this terribly humiliating -
putting young women on stage
to judge whether they had the right waist
or breast measurement.
But of course this was
actually the mens idea,
that they could make
money off of these pageants.
But we thought a beauty pageant
is like a display of livestock.
And then we have this idea
to bring along a cow!
So we called someone we knew and he said
Well fine, I can do that.
I have this young cow and - good idea.
And she was totally white.
So beautiful.
Perfect.
I remember when we were
trying to get the cow up on the bus.
It's not the easiest way
to get a cow into a bus -
we all had to push!
Nobody wanted to go inside, not while
we were there with the cow.
Yes, we were spoiling everything.
The head of the police got a complaint.
Someone said that animals
were being treated cruelly.
Not that they were mistreating girls!
Legally, we didn't do anything wrong
and they saw that
the cow was having a great time.
RED SOCK HEIFER IN A
BEAUTY CONTEST IN AKRANES
Im afraid we destroyed
this beauty contest.
That was effectively
k*lling off beauty contests
for more than 10 years in Iceland.
And we liked that. Oh, how we loved it.
And we were told that we did this
only because we were so ugly
and no man would ever look at us.
It was thrown around in an a*usive tone -
Red Stockings, puh!
We got attention.
Not positive, but negative
attention is better than nothing.
In the papers they said
that the Red Stockings
were women with stone
children in their belly
and they will never have
children they hate children.
They were supposed to be dangerous women -
ugly and hairy.
They were depicted as trolls.
Giant women.
Trolls - they lived in the mountains
they were coming down to farmhouses
taking the man and boiling the
man and making a soup out of him.
They said, Trolls are terrible
but they are nothing
compared to the Red Stockings!
We just laughed at it.
I think it made me stronger.
Everything was only fun in those days
but reading it now
I can't understand
how we managed to laugh.
Today I wouldn't be able, I wouldn't
I couldn't
because it was so terrible.
It's just nonsense.
I think the women who are fighting
for more rights
don't realize that it was
because men respected women
that they wanted to keep them at home.
I detest the man-hatred
they spread at their missionary gatherings.
Deep down
the woman wants the man to be strong
and to be able to lean on him.
It's a law of nature.
Pollution of the mind is one of the
most devious things in existence.
Women are made to believe
that it's better to work at an office
than to be a housewife.
And this is exactly what the Red Stockings
are spreading in our society.
THESE RED STOCKINGS ARE GETTING UNBEARABLE!
Did you hate men?
No.
We loved our male chauvinist pigs.
We loved them
and just wanted to change them a little!
In many cases men are a little bit worried
that women could overpower them.
Women are used to being overpowered
but men of this world
are not used to that.
They thought that we would take over.
But we wanted just the same rights
and the same opportunities.
And that idea I don't
think was in their minds.
So there was fear.
Youre just walking down the street.
It's a very small community
so everybody knows each other
and they said to you
What the hell do you think you're doing?
I would say,
I'm sad that you feel that way
but think about your daughter
your sons... its very important.
You will see in a few years.
VOICE OF HELVI SIPIL, U.N. ASSISTANSECRETARY-GENERAL, 1975 - If ever the world sees a time
when women shall come together
for the benefit and good of mankind
it will be a power
such as the world has never known.
The United Nations decided to make
1975 an International Women's Year.
The Icelandic government
planned this conference late in June.
And that was the turning point.
ICELAND, 1975 WOMEN'S CONGRESS
That conference was the first
time women from all classes,
all ages, all the political parties,
came together.
Womens clubs from all over the country
the women from the trade unions
the Women's Rights Association
and us - the Red Stockings.
There were about 300 women there.
Some of us started thinking
how can we tell everybody in Iceland
that if women don't work
everything collapses?
The fishery industry
the hospitals, the schools -
everything will collapse.
And then we made this proposal.
It was just handed on
a small piece of paper -
different kinds of women signing it.
There we said, In order to show womens
contribution to the economy of Iceland
we should go on strike one day.
To show that you can't live without us.
The problem was with women on the right.
They said, We can never,
never go on strike.
That is against our beliefs.
Communists do that.
Something like that.
It was a terrible word to go on strike.
It was something they could not
and would never accept.
And then, this older
nice, little curly-haired woman
came up and said
Oh, is it strike that you don't like?
We could call it a 'day off.'
And women on the right said, Yes, why not?
That's fine.
Okay, a day off.
We were rather sad that the
strike went out and day off came in.
It was so mild we thought,
and we were not mild.
I thought it was completely fake.
It wasn't a day off.
It was a strike.
I wasn't taking a day off. No.
No, no, no, no. I was striking.
I personally was on strike.
I wanted to show my sisters
that I was standing with them, showing our
solidarity or whatever its
called in English.
To make a
compromise because
we had to come together.
If not, it would just finish.
When you have a group around
you like this
and after having had this
agreement it's a kind of euphoria.
And you just sail on it.
8 WEEKS TO THE DAY OFF
We began by writing letters
to all the women's organizations
asking them: Were they interested
in taking part in this?
There were 50 organizations ready to go.
We formed an executive committee
that brought women with different
political perspectives together.
And we divided the tasks between us.
This was my official photo at this time.
I was in charge of
information or propaganda.
The women's clubs in Iceland, out in
the countryside and in the smaller villages
they are very strong there.
So it was contacting these groups
and associations
and getting them to work with us.
That is how
files and documents looked at that time.
This flier was called
Why a Womens Day Off?
WHY A DAY OFF ON OCTOBER 24?
We posted them to these contacts
that we had all over the country
and they photocopied
them and distributed them.
3 WEEKS TO THE DAY OFF
This was taken to almost
every house in Iceland.
I saw these leaflets in the
local store, in the cinema
many places in the town.
This shows us what could be
done before, in the old days.
I just used the telephone.
Everybody knows somebody, somewhere.
I have an aunt in Akureyri
I'll call her and tell her to tell her friends.
Thats very Icelandic.
Totally Icelandic.
As small as we are, its very
easy for us to create a network
because most people are
related to each other or knowing
somebody that knows
the other person somehow.
And we use that
to get the message out.
The unions they were, of course, great.
They held meetings all over.
Spread the word, spread the word
like preachers!
All kinds of women met in
both formal and informal ways.
There were sewing clubs
where women didn't sew.
It was kind of an excuse to meet.
Women started to talk about it was time
to change Iceland and the lives of women.
I was leading the mass media group.
WOMEN WILL BE VICTORIOUS IF WE ARE UNITED
We had contact with all the papers -
PREPARATIONS IN FULL SWING
the radio, television.
People would listen to the radio
because we had one radio station.
You put in an announcement
and it would go all over.
Weeks before, we
walked into all of the stores.
Sports shops, the food
shops - and talked to the ladies.
And what would you say?
I'd say, Remember, remember
to close the shop on that day.
Its just for a few hours.
We believed in it
and if you believe in something
then you have a different
way to talk about things
and your heart goes with it.
You had no time to be asking somebody
What shall I do next?
Everyone formed a group, one two three
and they went and did the job that
they saw that had to be done.
Everybody knew that this had to be done
before the 24th of October
so we will do it properly.
Were not going to let anybody
be able to say
that we just f*cked this up.
1 WEEK TO THE DAY OFF
What is the position of the women working
in the fish factory to the Womens Day Off?
All the women Ive talked to agree
we should take the day off.
Theres a man standing right
next to you filleting the fish.
Youre filleting the fish as well
but he gets a higher salary
for the exact same job.
Its about time to start
thinking about the future.
What is the position of the women
working at the long-distance phone company
to the Womens Day Off?
Well, the long-distance line
workers seem to be on board
but we dont know about the
other departments. Theyre mixed.
We agreed at our last Daycare Workers meeting
that all of us would participate in this.
We want to draw attention to a womans
status in society, how important she is.
And shes not born into this
world just to make more men.
VOPNAFJRDUR
603 KM FROM REYKJAVK
I wanted to do something on the day.
Nobody listened to me
except two of my friends
there in Vopnafjrdur.
They said we will be together
the three of us.
Well leave our jobs
and don't do anything.
I was 11.
I remember groups of women everywhere
huddled together talking
about this Women's Day Off
and also at home.
And you were all smoking -
smoking like chimneys.
Everyone was talking, Ah, were going
to take the day off.
Maybe not.
No, I'm not going to quit.
Im not going to do it.
Yes, I am.
I'm not sure I really
believed it would happen.
But I thought it was a great idea.
- You were working in a dairy.
- Yeah.
We were three women selling the milk
and bread, cream and things like that.
I wanted to get the day off.
My boss was not very keen on that.
And your boss was a woman.
Yes, she was a woman.
She said: What about all the
people who are coming to buy
and everything is closed up?
Just stay and work.
You get paid for that.
So I said to her: If I cant get the day off
I will be sick.
At Morgunbladid, the newspaper house
this girlfriend of mine,
we worked there together -
we were really into taking the day off.
We have to take the day off.
We have to be there.
But some of the women weren't so sure.
We didn't all agree.
Back then all the
typesetters were downstairs
working in the printing
and you went upstairs to talk to
the head of the paper, the editor.
There were two of them
and they were just like in suits and
sitting like this over you
and you got a little scared.
Some of the girls were
like standing a little back.
But we were very hard.
We wanted to do this.
And we wanted the Morgunbladid
not to be able
to come out.
80% of the nation read it, bought it.
So that would have been
a victory.
We found the idea
both curious
and interesting to see how
many women would turn out.
But we were, of course, the editors of
the paper, occupied with the thought.
How the hell are we going
to publish the next day?
So we had some very tough
negotiating rounds with the women.
They were very tough.
One of the editors he was
very fatherly and saying:
We stand with you all the way, but we
really want to have the newspaper out.
We said to them -
It's important that this paper comes out
and tells the story of this day.
We will have a big picture of it.
We'll maybe take the whole front page.
So they made these promises -
We want to do so many things for you.
That was, of course, a selling point
towards the women of the paper.
But in return
we had to work late in the evening.
They would come at midnight
and set the paper for the next day.
Me and my girlfriend
we were going to say, No
that's not winning.
But the other girls would
say, Yes, that's a great thing.
That's very good
we'll do that, yes.
So that was how it ended.
I was working with many
many women in the bank
when this idea came for
women to take a day off.
That was the only thing
we talked about, us women.
One woman in my bank,
she was a little bit older than us.
She was so anxious, afraid for her job
and of what the men would
say about her performance.
Well, I thought it was a great idea
and I would say, Why not for a week?
The men thought it was ridiculous.
They laughed.
They made fun of us.
Oh, you are so silly!
So they didn't believe us.
But two or three days before,
they realized this was serious
and then they started to panic.
They knew that they couldn't keep the
bank open for a whole day without us.
So they were getting a little freaked out.
WOMEN'S DAY OFF OCTOBER 24, 1975
We were headed for Russia.
There were just three
of us women on the ship
surrounded by 23 men.
We announced the night before that today
was a Womens Day Off
and that we would take the day off,
like all other women in Iceland.
And then we hear noise and banging.
Okay, enough already, ladies!
Alright lets get to it. Your chores
are waiting. Theres dishes to be done!
We had to clean the rooms
and make the beds every day.
Then we mopped the hallway floors.
We shined their shoes.
It was actually quite a lot of work.
I said, Listen, ladies -
were not going to respond.
This is our day off. We have to do this.
They were terrified, and I was nervous too.
This could be considered mutiny at sea.
The captain could ask for new
chambermaids at our next port.
The captain and petty
officer came downstairs.
They were very angry.
What the captain says is law, I was told.
The captain is almighty
once you leave the shore.
The girls stood their ground.
They came and asked me
to send a telegram for them.
He was really scared.
He said, Are you nuts?
Im going to get in a lot
of trouble if I send this.
We pressured him.
Were not leaving until you send it.
I was a little hesitant about the address.
'Outdoor meeting in Reykjavik.'
Sending our best wishes on this great day.
We stand together, at sea and on land.
Kristin, Gyda, Regina. M.S. Fjallfoss.
We sent that telegram crossing
our fingers that it gets there.
None of us had any idea
what would happen that day.
But of course I wanted to take part in it.
I had a one-year-old daughter.
I was studying biology at
the University of Iceland.
I decided that I would not
take care of my daughter or
fulfill any of the things women usually do.
I took my daughter to my husband's work
and left her there
but she was not very welcome.
The boss of my husband got angry.
He said this was not suitable
to have children at work.
But I didn't feel any need
to explain to anybody.
This was his daughter and I
was going to change the world.
AKRANES 106 KM FROM REYKJAVK
There was this fire starting within me,
this quest for the fight
for womens rights.
This photo is from around the same time
when I was a nurse here.
By 1975 I had two sons...
and one husband.
That morning I said, Dear, you have
to stay home and take care of the boys.
He says, Are you insane?
Today I have to do
this and this and that...
You cant leave me here!
But I think to myself, Im still going to go.
So I put the kids in the car
and drive to his company.
And I say, The boys are in the car outside
and you are not to ask any
woman to help you out today.
Promise me that!
He said, Are you serious?
Yes, I said. Dead serious.
I think it was between eight
or nine o'clock in the morning,
I said goodbye
to my three boys
and my husband and my brother-in-law.
You have to find something to eat.
Im coming back before midnight.
Goodbye!
It was a lot of first things for
many, many men in Iceland that day.
Many of the men had to do the dishes
or change diapers for the first time.
I was seven years old.
My mom announced that today
she'd be on strike
and my father would be doing the cooking.
We were overjoyed because Dad announced
that we'd be having hotdogs for supper.
My late father was a wonderful
father but this was just not his forte.
I guess the fathers
of Iceland thought that
this was their easy way out.
Well, not in my case.
My father was working as a
newscaster at Icelandic State Television.
THE TV NETWORK WAS TURNED INTO A NURSERY
I was four years old.
They stuffed all the children into
the roomand then they took turns at
keeping an eye on us.
They could turn on
cartoons by a flick of a switch.
The men at state television
realized, that day, the power of cartoons
as a way of taking care of children.
The men, they called it The Long Friday.
Before the meeting downtown
we went to this fancy restaurant
and we ordered the best breakfast ever
and mimosas.
We were talking
and having fun and we
were singing all of these
old fighting songs.
The bank never thought
that it would be 99.9 percent
who were going to take the day off.
So, of course they were surprised.
They thought we were more loyal
than that for the National Bank of Iceland.
About 12:00
I went to my boss's home.
And she was baking.
So I said to her, Please
come, come with me.
She said, No, I'm baking!
I said, You can just do
it when you get home.
And she went with me.
The boss who wouldnt
let you take the day off?
You made her a feminist.
Yeah.
At least for a day.
I was a theatre director at the time
and we had a dress rehearsal that day.
The ladies in the theatre they came
and knocked at my door and asked,
Can we go to the meeting?
And I made a theatrical pause, of course
and made them wait a little bit.
And I said,
You have to decide that for
yourselves... but I am going.
So we all marched out to the square.
I went light-footed down to the harbor.
I got such a feeling of liberation.
I could feel this very special atmosphere.
We started singing
like we were intoxicated.
We were like one soul, one person.
I was in such a good mood when a few men,
friends of my husband
look at me with such contempt and say:
Ingibjorg! What are you doing?
Have you also gone stark raving mad?
But it didnt ruin my good mood
and we headed downtown
where it was all happening.
I was working in the radio,
as a secretary.
The women decided well do this together
and we'll go out together.
Some of us took the
stairs, others the elevator.
You were with a group you worked with
and that was very strong.
And we walked together.
And said, Here come
the ladies from the radio.
Women came from all directions like rivers
and united in the square.
They were starting and I came running up.
And there's a slope there, a hill.
And it was beautiful.
I saw the flags coming up
over the hill.
Ill never forget how the women
flowed down Bankastraeti -
it was like flowing lava
coming down Bankastraeti.
Something tremendous is
about to happen in this society.
All together now!
Oh, oh, oh, girls!
Oh, oh, oh, girls!
We raise our voice and it
will resound around the world.
I was almost paralyzed.
I just stood there and
I said, I don't believe.
Is it true?
As long as you could see there were women.
Its a picture you will never forget.
You get quiet because it's so amazing.
You just get quiet.
Standing there on that stage
and seeing all those people,
it was a little scary
and it was almost unimaginable.
The reason for this meeting is that
at a Womens Conference
in Reykjavik this past summer
a motion was passed that
women should take the day off
to emphasize the importance of their work.
I was the introducer.
I said a few words in between
and I read all those telegrams
we had got from all over, standing with us.
You saw how women can
do, if they stand together.
This was an enormous event.
All those foreign
journalists came and, I felt
we were doing something for the nation
and maybe for other nations.
We had to do something real -
put down work
and see what happened.
90% OF ICELAND'S WOMEN TOOK THE DAY OFF
HOLDING DEMONSTRATIONS IN VILLAGES
AND TOWNS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY
Almost all the women in
Iceland are on strike today.
Its National Women's Day there
and the women are refusing to work
in factories, stores,
communications offices
and even their own homes.
In Iceland today the beds were
not made, dishes not washed,
the telephone system went dead,
newspapers did not
publish, theatres did not open,
the national airlines canceled flights,
and most of the schools were closed.
CLOSED TODAY OPEN TOMORROW
THE MILK SHOP WILL NOT BE OPEN ON FRIDAY
Society was paralyzed.
CLOSED WOMEN'S DAY FRIDAY
Everything was closed!
WOMEN ARE NEVER UNDERESTIMATED HERE
And we were just smiling at each other.
And you were standing amongst so many women
that were just ordinary women -
women that came out of their kitchens
or out from their fishing factory work.
There were so many nonpolitical
women that were not in the left wing
or even thinking about women's
rights until about that time.
And all these women want something.
It's like a revolution!
The first speaker was
Adalheidur Bjarnfredsdttir.
She was the chairwoman of
the women's labor movement.
She was very poor and an
incredibly hard-working woman.
And she did something
that was very unusual -
she took the same wages
as the ordinary women.
Dear sisters in struggle!
Here we are, so many!
She decided to do her
speech without any notes
to the largest meeting that
had ever been held in Iceland.
What causes such
great interest in this day?
It is the injustice women
face in the job market
and the underestimation
of their work in general.
I speak here as a working
woman and these are my views.
She made an impression on everyone there.
She was thick, strong -
she was fantastic when
she made that speech.
Ive noticed that some people think
that we women want to
strip men of all their power.
Nothing is further from the truth.
We want equality. Nothing more nor less.
I was listening to this
friend of my mother, Heidur,
and she was repeating what she
and my mother had been talking
about at my mothers
kitchen table 15 years earlier.
She just spoke from her heart.
The woman is waking up.
She knows that men have ruled the world
since the beginning of time.
And what has that world looked like?
The world has been covered
in blood and burning with agony.
I believe this world will change
when women start to rule it
equally with men.
Every heart in that crowd
beat in rhythm with hers
and you could feel it.
EQUALITY RIGHT NOW!
And later our children will say
Look at Mom! She cleaned up the mess!
Yes, later our children will say
This is precisely the world that I want!
But dare I? Will I? Can I?
Yes! I dare! I can! I will!
But dare I? Will I? Can I?
Yes! I dare! I can! I will!
The song was a battle cry.
fram Stelpur means, Go on, girls.
Just go, go, go girls. Here's my hand.
If every woman is active
our numbers become our strength
and well change the world.
A song asking people to think
new thoughts about men and women.
Every movement has their battle song
because it unites the souls.
And I think we were just
crying singing this, you know.
Let us tie our bonds of friendship
unafraid to take this dance.
Lets build a new world
with women everywhere
All those lyrics, like the
courage - the ability -
the will this is what had been
brewing within all of us.
And that was where it
got the permission to flow.
What had been a private matter earlier
suddenly became something big.
It was not only my life or my mother's life
but all of our lives needed to change.
It felt like a lot of pressure
had been building up -
like a volcano about to burst.
And all of a sudden the volcano
erupts in such a beautiful way.
Our anger was beautiful.
We werent angry in a
nasty way, it was just like...
the moment has arrived!
ICELANDIC WOMEN STAGE MASSIVE EQUALITY
STRIKE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
THEY WANT, DARE AND CAN POLITIKEN DENMARK
STRIKING WOMEN CHILL ICELAND'S MALE EGO
THE MONTREAL STAR
ICELAND: WOMEN STRIKE
THE NEW YORK TIMES
ARISTOPHANES REWRITTEN
THE ECONOMISICE MAIDENS GIVE THEIR MEN THE
FREEZE, WHY IT WON'T HAPPEN IN BRITAIN
ICELANDIC WOMEN PARALYZED
THE ENTIRE ISLAND WITH A STRIKE
"TO SHOW HOW INDISPENSABLE WE ARE"
ICELAND'S WOMEN HOLD A ONE-DAY STRIKE
WOMAN POWER TRIUMPHS
THE TIMES OF INDIA
ICELANDIC WOMEN STRIKE FOR A DAY
WOMEN PUT ICELAND IN A FREEZE
MEN STRUGGLE ON ICELANDIC
WOMEN UNITE MASSIVE STRIKE
WOMANPOWER GOES ON STRIKE
LOS ANGELES TIMES
MEN LAUGHED BUT WOMEN'S STRIKE NO JOKE
TODAY THE MAN GETS TO MAKE HIS OWN FOOD
WOMEN BRIG ICELAND TO A HALT,
HOUSEWIVES JOIN IN THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
ICELAND WOMEN'S STRIKE CRIPPLES NATION
THE BOSTON GLOBE
CHAOS REIGNS AS ICELAND'S WOMEN
GO ON STRIKE LEICESTER MERCURY
THE POSITIVE STRUGGLE OF THE WOMAN
MORGUNBLADID
He promised us the front page.
So okay, they did a lot for us
at the Morgunbladid.
That's me here.
Oh, were so great.
I like us.
After the meeting at the center of town
we were driving home with Adalheidur.
I was in my car and my
11-year-old son was with us.
Adalheidur and me were discussing
how good the weather had been
and God must have been positive to us
by giving us such good weather.
And my son said,
Yes, now I know that God is a woman.
I don't think that we realized that
history was made until much later.
I think
you need time to go by
to realize that this moment
was an historic moment.
It was in 1977,
when we got
the right to be in the Farmers
Association and everywhere.
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 140 YEARS WOMEN DIDN'HAVE TO BE WIDOWS TO JOIN THE FARMERS ASSOCIATION
We dare, we can, we will!
UGSTA WAS ELECTED TO SERVE AS ONE OF THE
FARMERS ASSOCIATION'S FIRST FEMALE REPRESENTATIVES
Everybody said that I couldn't be a lawyer.
Well, I was the fifth woman
to finish law school in Iceland.
IN 1982, GUDRN ERLENDSDTTIR WAS THE FIRSWOMAN APPOINTED TO ICELAND'S SUPREME COURAND THE FIRST TO BECOME CHIEF JUSTICE
When I came to the Supreme Court
for the first time the clock
was just reading nine oclock
and they started to open the door.
I said, Just a minute.
I have to get my lipstick.
And Ill always remember
all those faces turning into me thinking:
What have we got into now?
TODAY 60% OF LAW SCHOOL
STUDENTS IN ICELAND ARE WOMEN
They said to me, No, you
cannot be a captain of a ship.
IN 1980, VIGDS FINNBOGADTTIR WAS THE WORLD'S
FIRST DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED FEMALE PRESIDENI stayed awake the whole night and then
when I knew that she had been elected,
I had my two daughters in my bed
with me and I looked at them sleeping
and said, Your life will be so much better
after this!
My two girls.
I get this really strong feeling,
and I'm so grateful for my mother
and her generation for having changed -
really made a big difference.
There are these lines in the song
where they sing, Later the children
they will look back and think -
look at Mother she really
cleared out the house.
VIGDS FINNBOGADTTIR SERVED
FOR 16 YEARS AS PRESIDENT OF ICELAND
IN TEH 1980'S, INCELAND'S NEW FEMINIST WOMEN'S
PARTY WON ITS FIRST SEATS IN PARLIAMENSPURRING THE OTHER PARTIES
TO RUN MORE FEMALE CANDIDATES
ADALHEIDUR BJARNFREDSDTTIR
WAS ONE OF THOSE ELECTED
TODAY WOMEN COMPRISE
48% OF ICELAND'S PARLIAMENONE OF THE HIGHESPERCENTAGES IN THE WORLD
Nowadays, when I fly
and I hear the captain of the airplane
saying, Good morning,
it's the captain speaking - and its a girl!
We have another hour
and a half to go to Seattle.
I smile.
Good for you!
FOR 14 YEARS, ICELAND HAS BEEN THE
WORLD'S MOST GENDER-EQUAL NATION
BUT THEY'RE STILL FIGHTING
TO REACH FULL EQUALITY
STILL FIGHTING
This song I think it talks to us still today.
Because women are still told that
they are not always good enough.
I dare, I can, I will.
And if I believe this, why am I
still not paid as much as a man?
1985 DAY OFF ANNIVERSARY
2005 DAY OFF ANNIVERSARY
2010 DAY OFF ANNIVERSARY
2018 DAY OFF ANNIVERSARY
2023 DAY OFF ANNIVERSARY
There is a classical formula
that first you are ignored
and then you are laughed at
and then they fight you, and then you win.
IN MEMORIAM
AND OUR MOTHERS, WHO INSPIRED US
Everyone is equal, you know.
Everyone.
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Day Iceland Stood Still, The (2024)
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