Hello friends, happy women’s strike day!
Twenty-nine years ago, I had just moved back to Iceland after more than 20 years away. I was a 31-year-old single mother with a three-year old daughter. Her father was not in touch with her, hence she was my sole responsibility.
A few months after arriving I got my dream job, working as a journalist for an English-language publisher that put out material about Iceland. But because I was a single mom and had to pick up my daughter from preschool no later than 5 pm I was unable to put in a full workday. I negotiated a 90% position and felt incredibly lucky that I was given that grace.
I was one of four journalists at that place. The others, all male, were able to work whenever duty called—meaning evenings and weekends, if so required. I did not have that opportunity.
My salary at the time was ISK 90,000 a month. I later learned that my male colleagues were earning a fair bit more. Granted, they were working full-time, but their salaries were still disproportionately higher. When I asked my boss why I was not paid the same amount, he said it was because they had so much more flexibility and were available whenever.
I don’t know how I survived on that 90K a month. My rent was 35K. With the rest I had to pay for childcare, food, gas and other expenses relating to my car, buy clothes for a growing child, and a sundry of other unexpected costs. After I got home from work, usually picking up groceries on the way, I cooked dinner and then put my daughter to bed, after which I went back to work on other assignments that I had been lucky enough to pick up, usually freelance translating assignments. I was not very prolific in those hours, mostly because I was so exhausted that my brain refused to function.
Two years into this, the company decided to downsize and I was one of the first people to be let go. The reason? I couldn’t devote the same amount of time to the company as my male colleagues.
Sometimes our blessings come disguised, and that was definitely the case there. I managed to bootstrap my own freelance translating business, and soon had plenty of work that paid better than that other job. Also, I was able to work from home, so when my daughter came home from school, I was there.
Today, Icelandic women are on strike to call attention to the contribution we make to society that is sometimes overlooked and very often undervalued. We want to call attention to sexual violence we are subjected to, and the ineptitude of the judicial system when it comes to investigations, prosecutions and fair trials. We want to call attention to the emotional labour that is carried almost solely by women, what the Icelanders call þriðja vaktin, “the third shift”—after the workday and the household chores are done. And many more things.
An assembly is scheduled for 2 pm at Arnarhóll in downtown Reykjavík, where women will take to the podium and make their voices heard. There will be two presenters. One of them is the daughter I raised as a single mom with very limited resources.
I am proud and grateful for the women who have paved the way before me. I am proud of all the women and non-binary folks (who are also on strike today) who have fought everyday battles and have made it through. And I am proud of my daughter, who alongside many others is blazing a trail. ✊
Áfram konur og kvár!
For more about why Icelandic women are striking in the year 2023, click here.
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Maybe “disproportionately”?
I’m loving the reboot!
I wish I could be there. I've been looking at some of the pictures from Akureyri and Reykjavik.
You are so strong to have survived sexism and other things, Alda, but I look forward to a world where this kind of struggle isn't necessary, although I don't think I'll ever see it.