Female President Joins Strike : Frosted Iceland Women Protest Male Privilege
Iceland’s female president joined tens of thousands of female employees and housewives who walked off the job today in a mass 24-hour protest against male privilege on this island skirting the Arctic Circle.
Groups of disconsolate men crowded into hotels in the early morning after their wives refused to cook breakfast for them and most of Iceland’s telephone switchboards were left unstaffed.
President Vigdis Finnbogadottir said she would stay away from her office in solidarity with her protesting sisters.
Supermarkets broadcast on radio telling their employees to take the day off after thousands of female workers failed to go to show up.
Most nursery and primary schools were closed, and the offices of major Icelandic companies appeared deserted.
Today’s stoppage was a replica of a one-day strike called by Icelandic women 10 years ago when the United Nations decreed an International Women’s Decade.
The male reaction has this time been far stronger and angrier. Men working at banks voted to keep them open at all costs to show they could do without women--at least for a day.
About 80% of Iceland’s women work outside the home, and they generally earn 40% less than men.
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