World

Women in Iceland leave work 14% early to protest against the 14% gender pay gap

THOUSANDS of women workers in Iceland left their jobs early to protest against the country's gender pay gap.

They took to the streets to demonstrate against the inequality. 

When women in Iceland work past the time of 2.38pm, they are effectively working for free. Why? Because the gender pay gap shows that women are making 14% to 18% less than men.

So, on Monday, thousands of women in Iceland left their offices at 2:38pm sharp and took to the streets.

Women gathered in Reykjavik’s Austurvöllur square and other locations around the country to protest the inequality.

Even though the World Economic Forum named Iceland number one in its 2015 gender gap index, it is clear that there is still a way to go.

Things might be improving, but at a cripplingly slow pace. This isn’t the first time such a walk-out has been staged: in 2005 women left work at 2.08, and in 2010 it was 2.25.

A mere three minutes are being added each year and Icelandic paper the Grapevine worked out that at this rate the gender pay gap would be closed in 2068. Yikes.

Gender discrimination has been illegal in Iceland for 60 years yet inequalities still persist. This is why Monday’s protest was so important.

This type of protest isn’t a new one – in 1975 women of Iceland took a day off to take a stand for women’s rights. Apparently, a whopping 90% of the country’s women participated in the protest.

While it’s clear that there’s still a long way to go, we applaud the women of Iceland for taking a stand.