Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, the former president of Iceland and an honorary member of the Icelandic Women’s Rights Association, celebrates her 90th birthday today.
This year also marks the 40th anniversary of Vigdís’s election to the presidency. Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was elected president in 1980, the first woman in the world to be democratically elected as head of state. Vigdís served as president until 1996.
The candidacy and election of Vigdís Finnbogadóttir to the presidency of Iceland would have been impossible without the work of the feminist movement in the 1970s. Vigdís has been and continues to be an inspiration to women all over the world and a driving force in the continuing struggle for gender equality.
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, Sigríður Th. Erlendsdóttir and Björg Einarsdóttir were named honorary members of the Icelandic Women’s Rights Association, during a celebration of its 90th anniversary on January 27th, 1997.
Sigríður Th. Erlendsdóttir, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir and Björg Einarsdóttir, honorary members of the Icelandic Women’s Rights Association, attended the 113th anniversary of the associationon January 27th 2020. Photo: Juliette Rowland
Photo: Li Grebäck
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir addressed the opening ceremony of the Nordic Forum, a feminist convention convened held by the feminist movement of Nordic countries, in Malmö, on June 12th, 2014.
