Kenneth Glad
On one October morning, workplaces and homes were drawn into the same experiment. Within hours, Iceland discovered how much of its economy and daily routines depended on work that was often undervalued.
In 1975, Iceland was marking the United Nations’ International Women’s Year, but political power in the country remained overwhelmingly male. BBC writes that only three of Iceland’s 63 parliamentarians were women.
The imbalance was not limited to politics. According to the Swarthmore Global Nonviolent Action Database, women in paid jobs earned less than 60% of men’s wages, while many also carried most of the unpaid work at home.
A strike became a day off
The idea came from women’s organizations, including the Red Stockings, which wanted to show how much Iceland relied on women’s labor. But the word “strike” risked narrowing support.
Organizers instead used the name Women’s Day Off, a change that helped bring together women across age, class, occupation and political background, BBC reports.
On October 24, 1975, about 90% of Icelandic women withdrew from paid work and domestic duties, according to Swarthmore.
They did not go to offices, factories, schools or shops. They also stepped away from childcare, cooking and housework.
Children arrived at offices
The absence was felt quickly. Schools and nurseries closed or operated with limited staff.
Factories slowed. Airline service was disrupted when flight attendants stayed away. Newspapers struggled because many typesetters were women.
Banks also had to improvise. Swarthmore states that some bank executives worked as tellers because female employees had taken the day off.
Many fathers brought children to work, changing the sound and rhythm of offices. The men arrived with sweets and coloring pencils to keep children occupied.
Food became another visible sign of disruption. Sausages sold out as men searched for easy meals for their children.
Thousands gathered in Reykjavik
While daily routines unraveled, women gathered in public spaces. Around 25,000 women filled central Reykjavik, in a country of about 220,000 people at the time.
The Reykjavik event included speeches from women with different roles in society, including workers, lawmakers, activists and homemakers.
The broad program reflected the organizers’ effort to make the day larger than one party or movement.
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, then director of the Reykjavik Theatre Company, was among those present. She later told BBC:
“There was a tremendous power in it all and a great feeling of solidarity and strength among all those women standing on the square in the sunshine.”
The vote followed
The action lasted one day, but it altered Iceland’s political conversation. The country passed an equal-rights law in 1976, though wage and employment gaps remained.
Styrmir Gunnarsson of the newspaper Morgunblaðið later told BBC: “I do not think that I have ever supported a strike but I did not see this action as a strike. It was a demand for equal rights… it was a positive event.”
He added: “Probably most people underestimated this day’s impact at that time – later both men and women began to realise that it was a watershed.”
In 1980, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir became the world’s first democratically elected female head of state.
Looking back, she said: “Things went back to normal the next day, but with the knowledge that women are as well as men the pillars of society.”
Sources: BBC, Swarthmore Global Nonviolent Action Database
