Gender Equality in Iceland? History, strikes and politics | Tuesdays with Jiřina Šiklová Library
Channel: GenderStudiesPraha
Date: 2024-04-09

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03:36 Start

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How did the fast path to gender equality in Iceland begin? The panel discussion will focus on the stepping stones on the road to gender equality in Iceland in the 20th century, with a special focus on the Red Stockings (1970), the first Icelandic women's strike "Women's Day Off" (1975), the election of Vigdís Finnbogadóttir as Iceland's first female president (1980, before which she was a theatre director) and the formation of the Women's Alliance, which saw women's political participation in parliament jump from 5% to 15% (1983).

The speakers Rakel Adolphsdóttir and Sigríður Jónsdóttir (Women's History Archives, National and University Library of Iceland, Reykjavik) will also present unique documents from the Women's History Archive (Kvennasögusafn), a collection of various documents from the history of the Icelandic feminist movement and writings by key women figures in Icelandic history. They will also explore the intersection of the role of historian and activist from today's perspective (not only) in the context of the aforementioned archival collections.

SPEAKERS:
Rakel Adolphsdóttir (Women's History Archives, National and University Library of Iceland, Reykjavik)
Rakel Adolphsdóttir is the programme director of the Women‘s History Archives (Kvennasögusafn) at the National and University Library of Iceland. She graduated with MA in History from the University of Iceland specializing in women’s political participation in Iceland from 1915-1965, both within political parties and women’s associations. Rakel has held both academic and public lectures on variety of topics regarding women’s history in Iceland in the 20th century and the archives. A longtime feminist and activist she has been part of organizing the Women’s Strike in Iceland on 24th of October in 2005, 2018 and 2023.

Sigríður Jónsdóttir (Theatre Museum, National and University Library of Iceland, Reykjavik)
Sigríður Jónsdóttir is a Performing Arts Specialist at the Theatre Museum, an archive located at the National and University Library of Iceland. She has an MA in Social Anthropology and Development from the University of Edinburgh and a BA in Theatre and Performance Making from the Iceland University of the Arts. Sigridur has worked as a theatre critic since 2014. Over the past decade she has lectured on various performing arts issues at the University of Iceland and the Iceland University of the Arts. She is a regular contributor at The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service (RÚV) and in 2022 presented a three part radio series on the life and work of Stephen Sondheim.

HOST:
Markéta Kos Mottlová (Forum 50 %)
Markéta Kos Mottlová graduated from the master's program in Political Science at Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts, Charles University. She works as a gender expert, project manager and lecturer at the non-governmental organization Forum 50%, which strives for equal representation of women and men in politics. She is a member of the Government Council for Gender Equality and chairs the Committee for Balanced Representation of Women and Men in Politics and Decision-Making Positions. She represents Forum 50% in the Social Watch Coalition, focusing on the feminization of poverty. Previously, she served as the coordinator of the Czech Women's Lobby.

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The event was a part of an accompanying program of the exhibition "FEMINIST PRAGUE. Places, where history was written" (7. 3.-18. 4. 2024) within the project "KU-CH2-033 - From Eliška Krásnohorská to Jiřina Šiklová - In the Footsteps of Female Education", which is supported by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants (Culture Programme).