Iceland’s prime minister is predicted to hitch tens of 1000’s of girls in a strike for equal pay on Tuesday, labour unions within the nation have stated.
Katrín Jakobsdóttir informed Icelandic media that she plans to participate within the industrial motion, organised below the slogan ‘Do you name this equality?’, and never come to work.
She informed the mbl.is web site: “I can’t work at the present time, as I anticipate all the ladies [in cabinet] will do as nicely.
“I’ve determined to not have a cupboard assembly tomorrow and in Alþingi [Iceland’s parliament] solely male ministers will reply impromptu questions. We present solidarity on this means.”
Organisers stated on the marketing campaign’s official web site: “On 24 October, all girls in Iceland, together with immigrant girls, are inspired to cease work, each paid and unpaid [including household chores].
“For the entire day, girls (and non-binary folks) will strike, to show the significance of their contribution to society.”
The strike, which is called the “Kvennafrí” or “Ladies’s Day Off”, hopes to lift consciousness about “systemic” pay discrimination and gender-based violence.
Iceland is seen as some of the progressive on the planet by way of gender equality and has topped the World Financial Discussion board’s gender hole index 14 years in a row.
No nation has achieved full gender equality, in keeping with the index, however Iceland has closed at the very least 91% of its hole and is the one nation to have handed 90%.
Nonetheless, girls in some jobs there earn at the very least 20% lower than their male colleagues, Statistics Iceland has stated.
And a research by the College of Iceland discovered 40% of Icelandic girls expertise gender-based and sexual violence of their lifetime.
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Strike organiser Freyja Steingrímsdóttir, of the Icelandic Federation for Public Employees, stated: “We’re searching for to convey consideration to the truth that we’re referred to as an equality paradise, however there are nonetheless gender disparities and pressing want for motion.
“Feminine-led professions equivalent to healthcare providers and childcare are nonetheless undervalued and far decrease paid.”
Industries the place girls make up the vast majority of employees, like healthcare and schooling, might be particularly affected.
The primary Ladies’s Day Off happened on 24 October, 1975 , when 90% of Icelandic girls stopped work to protest gender inequality and it has been repeated in 1985, 2005, 2010, 2016 and 2018.