Income Equality Now!
Let‘s Walk Out on Monday, October 24th, at 2:38 p.m.!
Women are encouraged to leave their work at 2:38 p.m. on Monday, October 24th, and join us in demanding income equality on Austurvöllur, in front of Alþingi. The demonstrations will begin at 3:15 p.m.
The average wages of women in Iceland are only 70.3% of the average wages of men. Women are therefore paid 29.7% less on average than men. Therefore, women have earned their wages after only 5 hours and 38 minutes, in an average workday of 8 hours. This means that, if the workday begins at 9 a.m. and finishes at 5 p.m, women stop being paid for their work at 2:38 p.m.
On October 24th, 1975, women all over Iceland left work, to demonstrate the importance of women‘s contribution to society. This day was popularly called „kvennafrí“, or Women‘s Day Off. In 1985, 25,000 women left their work again, to protest income inequality. In 2005, we celebrated Women‘s Day Off for the third time, and tens of thousands of women left work the minute they stopped getting paid, at 2:08 p.m. In 2010 women in Iceland again left work, this time at 2:25 p.m.
Now, we leave work at 2:38 p.m. We have gained only half an hour in eleven years. Less than three minutes per year. If progress continues at the same pace, we will need to wait another 52 years before women have the same wages on average as men, in the year 2068! This is unacceptable!
Learn more at www.kvennafri.is and find us on facebook.com/kvennafri. Join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #kvennafrí and #jöfnkjör, and follow us at @kvennafri.
The demonstration is being called by the following workers‘ federations and women‘s organizations: Alþýðusamband Íslands, BSRB, Bandalag háskólamanna, Kennarasamband Íslands and Samtök starfsmanna fjármálafyrirtækja, Aflið, Bandalag kvenna í Reykjavík, Bríet – félag ungra feminista, Delta Kappa Gamma, Druslubækur og doðrantar, Druslugangan, Dziewuchy Dziewuchom Islandia – Konur konum Ísland, Í kjölfar Bríetar, Jafnréttisfélag Háskólans í Reykjavík, Femínistafélag Háskóla Íslands, Femínistafélag Íslands, Félag kvenna í atvinnulífinu, Félag kvenna í vísindum, Kítón – Konur í tónlist, Knúz.is, Kvenfélagasamband Íslands, Kvennahreyfing Samfylkingarinnar, Kvennahreyfing Viðreisnar, Kvennahreyfing ÖBÍ, Kvennaráðgjöfin, Kvenréttindafélag Íslands, Landssamband Framsóknarkvenna, Landssamband Sjálfstæðiskvenna, Rótin, W.O.M.E.N. in Iceland – Samtök kvenna af erlendum uppruna, Samtök um kvennaathvarf, Samtökin ’78, Soroptimistasamband Íslands, Sólstafir, Stígamót, Tabú, UNWomen, WIFT – Konur í kvikmyndum og sjónvarpi and Zontasamband Íslands.
