Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir

The Icelandic Women’s Rights Association (IWRA) was founded on January 27th 1907, at the home of Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir. IWRA was the first formal organization of Icelandic women focusing its efforts on the struggle for political equality between men and women, as well as equal opportunities in education and profession.

For more than a century, the women and men of IWRA have fought for gender equality at home and abroad. It seems preposterous that now, well into the second decade of the twenty-first century, women still face challenges in all areas of our society.

21 thousand women and men came together in Malmö, Sweden in the summer of 2014 and articulated their demands for a more just and equal future. In celebration of our 108th anniversary, we reiterate these demands.