Politics and Society | Iceland Monitor | Wed 24 Oct 2018 | 9.37 GMT

Icelandic women to go on strike at 2:55 today

Áfram stelpur! The women's strike ten years ago. Iceland Monitor/ Þorkell Þorkelsson

Icelandic women are walking out of their respective workplaces at 2.55 pm today to protest gender income inequality and violence and harassment in the workplace.

Demonstrations will be held at Arnarhóll, the small park in the city centre on the corner of Laugavegur and Lækjargata where the statue of Viking settler Ingólfur Arnarson is located.

The women's strike day is a tradition begun on October 24th 1975 when Icelandic women went on strike for the day to demonstrate the indispensible work of women for Iceland's economy and society and to protest wage discrepancy. The day is known in Icelandic as Kvennafrídagurinn.

Many employers are simply shutting down their business today at 2:55 pm to support the cause, including the national post office.

The demonstration today is organised by several union's and feminist associations. In a statement it says:

DON'T CHANGE WOMEN, CHANGE THE WORLD!
We have had enough! Let’s walk out to protest gender income inequality and violence and harassment in the workplace at 2:55 p.m. on October 24th, 2018.

DEMONSTRATIONS AT ARNARHÓLL OCTOBER 24TH, 2018 AT 3:30 P.M.

Women work for free after kl. 2:55 p.m. in Iceland!

According to the latest figures from Iceland Statistics, the average wages of women in Iceland are only 74% of the average wages of men. Women are therefore paid 26% less on average than men. Therefore, women have earned their wages after only 5 hours and 55 minutes, in an average workday of from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Women stop being paid for their work at 2:55 p.m.