Thousands of women in Iceland to launch one-day strike over gender discrimination

Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Thousands of women in Iceland, including its prime minister, planned to walk off of the job for a one-day strike on Thursday.

The Women's Day Off, or Kvennafri, calls for women and non-binary people in the island nation to stop all paid and unpaid work for the entire day in protest of a gender pay gap and gender-based violence.

The strike's official website said the action would include striking at home and avoiding unpaid labor such as childcare housework and "the emotional labor of delegating tasks for the household."

"For this one day, we expect husbands, fathers, brothers and uncles to take on the responsibilities related to family and home, for example: preparing breakfast and lunch box, remembering the birthdays of relatives, buying a present for your mother-in-law, making a dentist appointment for your child, etc.," the strike's website said.

The strike marks the seventh time that Iceland's women have halted work to call attention to gender discrimination and the first full-day strike since 90% of the female population went on strike on Oct. 24, 1975.

Tuesday's demonstration is expected to be the largest since then, with a large demonstration planned downtown in the capital city of Reykjavik.

Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir said she would join the strike "to show solidarity with Icelandic women."

"As you know, we have not yet reached our goals of full gender equality and we are still tackling the gender-based wage gap, which is unacceptable in 2023," she said. "We are still tackling gender-based violence, which has been a priority for my government to tackle."

Some 40 organizations participated in the strike, including the Federation of the Public Workers Union, the country's largest coalition of public workers.

Schools were expected to shorten hours and Iceland's largest healthcare employer, Landspitali hospital, said it would run at reduced services as the Icelandic Teachers' Union said 94% of teachers are women along with 80% of those working at the National University Hospital of Iceland, the biggest union in the country.

The island nation, one of the most sparsely populated in the world, ranks 14th in the world for economic participation.

The gender wage gap in the country has been estimated to be as large as 21% by the World Economic forum, while closer to 10% by sources such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.