Liberators in Action: The Women of Iceland
Fifty years ago, the women of Iceland decided they’d had enough—enough of being paid less, represented less, and valued less. So on October 24, 1975, they took "a day off" since strikes were illegal unless organized by trade unions or employer associations.
Ninety percent of Icelandic women left their jobs, schools, and homes to let men fend for themselves and show the world what it looks like when women stop holding it together. By the end of the day, the message was undeniable: their work was essential and indispensable.
Life in Iceland came to a standstill. Shops shuttered, classrooms closed, and fathers flooded parks and offices with children in tow. By evening, sausages had sold out of stores as fathers took to cooking what was easiest.
The women, meanwhile, filled the streets—tens of thousands strong—holding signs that read, “Equality at once.” Their strike was about wages, and more than that, it was about worth. They were demanding to be seen as full and equal participants in their country’s life.
That one day changed Iceland’s direction. It paved the way for equal rights laws, family leave policies, and the world’s first democratically elected woman president, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir. And more than laws, it changed how Icelanders thought about fairness, and who deserved it.
Now, the percentage of women in Iceland’s parliament has risen to 46 percent, up from 5 percent in 1983. And, ranking top in the world, the gender pay gap has closed to 92.6 percent.
Today, October 24, 2025, Iceland again marked the Women’s Day Off anniversary with another nationwide strike, renewing their call for equality and safety. Because even now, full equality isn’t finished work.
Their courage half a century ago remains a lesson for us today, especially here in the U.S., where some are pushing to drag women back into narrow roles and further strip away their freedoms.
The women of Iceland remind us that liberation isn’t about one group’s advancement. It’s about every person who is differently labeled being free to live with dignity and respect.
What those women did in 1975 was a protest and an act of liberation. By standing together, they freed an entire nation from the myth that equality could wait. And they’ve kept at it, generation after generation, refusing to let progress slip backward.
The women of Iceland are liberators in every sense: for themselves, and for all who’ve been told to stay small, silent, or grateful for less. Their courage still calls to us today—to rise, to act, and to build a world where equality isn’t a privilege, but a shared guarantee.
Photo: 10th anniversary protest held on October 24, 1985. Photographer: Gunnar V. Andrésson, City History Museum