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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff Mom Never told You. From House topports

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Speaker 1: dot com. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Kristen,

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Speaker 1: I'm Caroline, and for today's episode, we're traveling to Iceland, Iceland,

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Speaker 1: sunny warm paradise, Iceland. Yeah wait, I might be thinking

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Speaker 1: of somewhere else, like the Bahama. Are you thinking of Cancoon? Cabo?

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Speaker 1: I always get Cabo and Iceland mixed up. Yeah, it's

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Speaker 1: real weird, but I mean we're Americans, so it's easy

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Speaker 1: for that to happen. I gotta say I was real jealous.

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Speaker 1: I got some travel jealousy last year, I believe when

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Speaker 1: Stuff to blow your mind. Co host Joe went over

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Speaker 1: to Iceland for a trip, Yeah, me too. And also

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Speaker 1: I had some friends on Facebook that I was so like,

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Speaker 1: I feel like I'm out of a study like the

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Speaker 1: jel see that you feel like I'm out of one

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Speaker 1: of our sminty studies that we've cited about, like seeing

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Speaker 1: friends pictures from Iceland, and and these these particular friends

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Speaker 1: are like very well dressed, like well traveled people are

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Speaker 1: they're really hashtag blessed. Oh my god, They're the epitome

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Speaker 1: of hashtag blessed. And they were just all over this

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Speaker 1: gorgeous landscape. And I just I so badly want to

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Speaker 1: go to Iceland. So if anybody wants to let C

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Speaker 1: and C couch there, Yeah, get us, get CNC to Iceland.

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Speaker 1: Because we've mentioned Iceland so many times on the podcast,

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Speaker 1: because it's routinely sided as one of, if not the

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Speaker 1: best countries in the world for women. And we're going

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Speaker 1: to get into why that is and why, as some

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Speaker 1: women in Iceland have responded to us on Facebook very helpfully,

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Speaker 1: why that glosses over a lot of details about what

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Speaker 1: it's really like to be a woman in Iceland. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and and we will discuss some of those things that

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Speaker 1: are glossed over, but I think it is worth noting.

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Speaker 1: I mean, we are speaking from the perspective of two

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Speaker 1: American women, and so even though there are a lot

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Speaker 1: of butts when it comes to icelandic gender equality, it

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Speaker 1: still looks pretty darn good to us. Now, is that

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Speaker 1: butts with one tea or two? Um? If I'm speaking

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Speaker 1: as my alter ego Tina from Bob's Burger's, it's too um.

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Speaker 1: But but right now it's Caroline. It's I think it's

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Speaker 1: just one. But Tina's always under the surface. That's good

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Speaker 1: to clarify. Also, I feel like we should go ahead

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Speaker 1: and clarify how we are going to try our best

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Speaker 1: to pronounce some Icelandic names that are so considant happy.

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Speaker 1: I literally, do you hear this? This is a piece

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Speaker 1: of paper that has pronunciations written on it, and yeah,

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Speaker 1: we're going to do our best. Yeah, and listeners in Iceland,

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Speaker 1: we are relying on you to gently correct us on

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Speaker 1: all of them. His pronunciation, And I would like to

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Speaker 1: to also say that we didn't just pull these pronunciations

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Speaker 1: out of nowhere. I researched on the Internet, So this

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Speaker 1: isn't just us being like, this is how you pronounced

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Speaker 1: those letters that look different. You googled it. I googled,

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Speaker 1: I used the Google. So with that, why don't we

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Speaker 1: go back to a time Caroline long before the Google

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Speaker 1: That for a segue into history, I think it's perfect.

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Speaker 1: So before we get into what the title of the

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Speaker 1: episode is all about, in terms of the day that

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Speaker 1: women in Iceland went on strike, we need to lay

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Speaker 1: a little bit of a historical foundation because politics and

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Speaker 1: feminism have been alive and well in Iceland for quite

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Speaker 1: some time. Yeah, and very ingrained very enmeshed. Seeah, let's

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Speaker 1: give you a brief riend down. In nineteen oh seven

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Speaker 1: you get the Icelandic Women's Rights Association, founded by a

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Speaker 1: leading suffrages in the country, and this is Iceland's first

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Speaker 1: formal women's organization and it was focused specifically on gender

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Speaker 1: equality and equal access to things like education, political appointments

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Speaker 1: and jobs. And seven years later, in nineteen fourteen you

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Speaker 1: get the first Women Workers Association founded, and in nineteen twenty,

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Speaker 1: same year as suffrage happened here in the United States,

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Speaker 1: in Iceland, all women gained the right to vote and

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Speaker 1: hold office. And leading up to this point, voting rights

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Speaker 1: had been granted incrementally, starting off with widows and single women.

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Speaker 1: I thought that was interesting too, because historically in our

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Speaker 1: country widows and single women have not been trusted the

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Speaker 1: spies in fact, perhaps and burned at the stake at

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Speaker 1: one point in our history. And then from there I

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Speaker 1: think i've married women over forty again again, well married

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Speaker 1: or single women over forty not historically trusted in our

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Speaker 1: country exactly. Um, But in nineteen twenty everyone gets to vote,

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Speaker 1: and it's notable how quickly the first woman is then

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Speaker 1: elected to parliament in nineteen two. Yeah, and in ninety

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Speaker 1: a male member of Parliament presents this draft law on

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Speaker 1: gender equality that ends up getting thrown out based on

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Speaker 1: the assumption that the research had not been fully completed

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Speaker 1: as to whether men and women were discriminated against at all.

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Speaker 1: That reminds me so much of just YouTube comments, angry

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Speaker 1: YouTube comments, so saying like feminism is a myth, there's

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Speaker 1: no discrimination. If feminism is a myth? Are we unicorns

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Speaker 1: are like Greek goddesses? I'll take unicorn? Okay, can we

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Speaker 1: Greek goddess unicorns? Let me just want pure unicorns with

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Speaker 1: feminist emblazoned across off flanks. Is it getting weird anyway?

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Speaker 1: I'm really going to enjoy this because I think we

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Speaker 1: just got branded. I'm a ended feminist unicorn. In nine

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Speaker 1: sixty one, those things look up after you know, it

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Speaker 1: hadn't really been proved whether women were discriminated against, and

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Speaker 1: Parliament approved Equal Pay Act with the goal of closing

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Speaker 1: that gap by nine six which was it was a

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Speaker 1: super good try, super good but the fact that they

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Speaker 1: were unsuccessful would then directly lead to strikes plural later

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Speaker 1: in history, because when the seventies roll around, icelandic women

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Speaker 1: are fed up and they're starting to get radical. So

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Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy the first female Cabinet minister is appointed,

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Speaker 1: and also that year the radical feminist group the Red

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Speaker 1: Stockings is founded, and the Red Stockings served as a

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Speaker 1: key force in raising awareness around gender equality issues. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and so there's this growing power in Iceland that's really

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Speaker 1: part of this larger movement around women's rights globally. And

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Speaker 1: so the u WIN proclaims in nineteen seventy five to

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Speaker 1: be International Women's Year, and that almost directly sparked the

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Speaker 1: strike of nineteen seventy five in Iceland when women took

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Speaker 1: the day off so to speak. Yeah, and quick side

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Speaker 1: note that I love how that bit of history went

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Speaker 1: viral a few months ago on the internet. Everyone like

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Speaker 1: remembered that it happened, and women were really fist pumping

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Speaker 1: across social media and such. But the way this happened

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Speaker 1: was that after the u N proclaimed nineteen seventy five

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Speaker 1: to be International Women's Year, representatives from five of Iceland's

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Speaker 1: biggest women's organizations get together a form a committee and

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Speaker 1: are trying to figure out, Okay, how can we commemorate

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Speaker 1: International Women's Day what can we do to kind of

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Speaker 1: highlight the gender disparities that still exist. So the Radical

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Speaker 1: Red Stockings are like, listen, let's just go on strike

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Speaker 1: because rabble rousers, says rabble Rouser, radical red Stocking feminists,

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Speaker 1: I love it. Yeah, And I also argued how a

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Speaker 1: strike would be a really powerful way to highlight how

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Speaker 1: valuable and undervalued women's roles in the country were. And

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Speaker 1: so they also wanted to highlight things specifically like low

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Speaker 1: pay in the low value that was placed not only

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Speaker 1: on work outside the home, but inside as well. They

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Speaker 1: did not, and at any point want to limit this

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Speaker 1: to just working women or just women at home. This

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Speaker 1: was meant to be completely inclusive. Yeah, and call attention

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Speaker 1: to the whole second shift. I mean, Icelandic women were

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Speaker 1: and still are dealing with that as well. And the

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Speaker 1: Feminist committee agreed on one condition though. They were like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: Red Stockings, we like this idea, but the words strike

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Speaker 1: is going to freak out too many employers, and we

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Speaker 1: don't want to risk women losing their job because they're

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Speaker 1: technically going on strike. So they replaced strike with day off.

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Speaker 1: And this is not the first time that we're going

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Speaker 1: to talk about how how particular Icelandic feminists have been

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Speaker 1: with language, um and how effective that's been. So with

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Speaker 1: day off, employers were a lot more amenable to letting

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Speaker 1: the ladies go for a day. Yeah, and so on October,

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Speaker 1: in the largest rally in Iceland's history up to that point,

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Speaker 1: nine of the country's women walked off the job. They

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Speaker 1: refused to cook, they refused to work, and they refused

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Speaker 1: to look after the kiddos. Yeah, I mean, and they

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Speaker 1: talk about how then obviously we're kind of freaking out.

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Speaker 1: And there was apparently a run on sausages because guys

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Speaker 1: are like, no, I know who's gonna do the cooking.

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Speaker 1: Let's just get the kids some sausages. I feel like

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Speaker 1: it's when you know dad makes you the hot dogs. No, well,

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Speaker 1: actually it reminds me of in my house and my

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Speaker 1: mom would go on a trip. My dad heated up

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Speaker 1: kid cuisine meals, which were basically like Lin cuisine for children.

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Speaker 1: But it was always so disheartening because while they always

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Speaker 1: provided a dessert in the meals, where the dessert was

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Speaker 1: like putting, it would come out hot and kind of

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Speaker 1: congealed in the oven. And I'm so sorry you had

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Speaker 1: to experience, that Caroline caught pudding. I know, I should

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Speaker 1: have gone on strike, should you? And that penguin on

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Speaker 1: the cover of kid Cuisine meals um well. And they

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Speaker 1: also noted how, in addition to all the kids eating

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Speaker 1: hot pudding and sausages, so sad schools, uh, nurseries, any

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Speaker 1: kind of female dominated workplace kind of fell apart for

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Speaker 1: the day or just had to run on a half

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Speaker 1: day schedule. And even women who worked at the newspaper

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Speaker 1: walked off, didn't you know, didn't show up until midnight.

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Speaker 1: They all came back and oomed working. But apparently the

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Speaker 1: newspaper the next day was half its usual size and

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Speaker 1: all the coverage was about the strike. Yeah, there was

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Speaker 1: nothing else. And lady bank tellers to whose positions had

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Speaker 1: to be filled by male superiors in their absence, were

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Speaker 1: totally stoked to be able to like pop into the

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Speaker 1: bank and keep them busy, which I love. I love it.

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Speaker 1: It's like this gentle teasing of like, oh, hey, boss,

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Speaker 1: like what are you doing. I'm on I'm on a

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Speaker 1: day off, so I'm coming in to do my banking.

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Speaker 1: And the impact was felt so significantly that the day

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Speaker 1: became nicknamed the Long Friday, and I just picture I

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Speaker 1: know you've seen them, Kristen, and I'm sure some of

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Speaker 1: our listeners have too. But those postcards and um, like

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Speaker 1: propaganda imagery that came out in this country but also

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Speaker 1: abroad around the time that women were trying to earn

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Speaker 1: suffrage rights, All of these postcards and propaganda about like

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Speaker 1: these exhausted men like being left behind in the home

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Speaker 1: and with a crying baby, with that rying baby, and

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Speaker 1: they've got like a halo around their head because clearly

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Speaker 1: they're like holy in their oppression by women having the

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Speaker 1: right to vote. But it's kind of like that's what

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Speaker 1: I picture. I picture these Icelandic dads just like baby

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Speaker 1: in one hand, towel over the shoulder, like ready to

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Speaker 1: eat sausage, predamange sausage in the other hand. Um, but

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Speaker 1: I mean think about it, like this was in Reikiavik alone,

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Speaker 1: twenty five thousand women from all walks of life gathered

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Speaker 1: to listen to speeches, to sing, to discuss issues. In

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Speaker 1: twenty thousand. That's significant in and of itself, but it's

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Speaker 1: especially significant when you consider that this was out of

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Speaker 1: a total national population at the time of about two

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Speaker 1: and twenty thousand. I also really enjoyed reading about how

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Speaker 1: women dressed for the event. Some of them were like,

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Speaker 1: you know, I'm just gonna come with myself ill where

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Speaker 1: my regular work does, no big deal, and some let

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Speaker 1: you so dressed up for it, were like, listen, it's

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Speaker 1: a big day. Better put on a nice absoute women's

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Speaker 1: day off more like women's big day out. Oh yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's true. Well, and the question then is why was

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Speaker 1: it so successful. They didn't even have Twitter, you know,

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Speaker 1: to let everybody know what was going on. There was

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Speaker 1: no hashtag activism going on. There wasn't Yeah, this is

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Speaker 1: like you said at the top of the podcast, this

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Speaker 1: is before Google. And so a lot of the success

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Speaker 1: was attributed to number one activists successfully persuading labor unions

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Speaker 1: and the Federation of Employees not to punish women for

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Speaker 1: walking out. It's a huge deal. But secondly, women from

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Speaker 1: all political parties and unions really felt tied together and

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Speaker 1: able to work together to make this happen again. The

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Speaker 1: Red Stockings, while they were considered quote unquote radical, they

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Speaker 1: were part of this larger umbrella coalition of feminist women

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Speaker 1: who wanted to make this happen, and so they did

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Speaker 1: and the political and social effects of it would set

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Speaker 1: up an ever more empowered women's movement. And the thing

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Speaker 1: that kept resonating with me Caroline reading about the feminist movement,

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Speaker 1: particularly in Iceland, is how politically focused they were. Not

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Speaker 1: in the sense of second wave feminism in the United States,

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Speaker 1: focusing on legislation such as, um, you know, passing reproductive

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Speaker 1: rights bills and things like that, but political in the

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Speaker 1: sense of actually getting women in office, which will get

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Speaker 1: to you in just a second, but immediately the immediate

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Speaker 1: effect was really just a wake up call. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it engendered solidarity among the country's women. Yeah, and this

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Speaker 1: also paved the way for the election of Vegas fienbag

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Speaker 1: Dat here. How do I do guys? Okay, she was

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Speaker 1: the world's first democratically elected female president who served until

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Speaker 1: ninet And I love this quote. She says, after October

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Speaker 1: women thought it was time a woman became president. The

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Speaker 1: thing it was pointed at me and I accepted the challenge,

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Speaker 1: and shortly thereafter women's political participation really shot up. Women

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Speaker 1: went from six toent of council members and that number

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Speaker 1: would actually hit in two thousand nine and from five

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Speaker 1: to fift percent of members of Parliament and that would

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Speaker 1: go on to hit thirty in the nineties and forty

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Speaker 1: three percent in two thousand nine. Uh. And shortly after

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Speaker 1: we also get the first Superior Court judge and the

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Speaker 1: first woman's speaker in Parliament. And on top of that,

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Speaker 1: you have activists establishing the Center for Gender Equality, which

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Speaker 1: was a powerful government agency that can find companies and

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Speaker 1: governmental departments and agencies for refusing to reveal gender equality

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Speaker 1: data or for failing to file their required gender action plans.

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Speaker 1: So you start to have some accountability being built straight

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Speaker 1: into the government. And in one they launched the Women's

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Speaker 1: Alliance with the goal of fostering gender equality and more

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Speaker 1: consensus in politics. And as a result of that, they

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Speaker 1: successfully scored positions in municipal elections right out of the gate. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and then we get the Gender Equality Act shortly thereafter,

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Speaker 1: which prohibited gender discrimination. I mean, so right away, it's like, so,

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Speaker 1: I just love how rapidly all of this happens. It's

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Speaker 1: like they go on strike and within the next five, six,

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Speaker 1: seven years they've made such incredible strides. Well, if we

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Speaker 1: then hop forward to two thousand five, on the anniversary

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Speaker 1: of the five strike, women took another day off called

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Speaker 1: women Strike Back, and it was because though of a

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Speaker 1: lingering feeling of disillusionment, there was all this progress, like

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Speaker 1: you said, all these things happening almost like dominoes falling

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Speaker 1: so quickly. But in two thousand five they look around,

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Speaker 1: they're saying, we're still earning just sixty four of what

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Speaker 1: men are earning on average. And so for Women's Strike

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Speaker 1: Back in twenty five. In two thousand five, women were

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Speaker 1: encouraged to leave work at two oh eight pm, which

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Speaker 1: marked how long men would need to work to earn

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Speaker 1: pay equal to a woman. Yeah, they left, and they

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Speaker 1: were like, what, no, I'm leaving. This is the point

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Speaker 1: at which I would have earned all of my wages

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Speaker 1: for the day if I were paid equal to a man.

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Speaker 1: Boom dropped the mic, walk out, and walk out they did.

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Speaker 1: Fifty thousand women participated in Reikivik alone, and there were

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Speaker 1: sixty thousand nationally all together, plus supporters, of course, all

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Speaker 1: equating to a sixth of the country's population, with less

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Speaker 1: than two months of organizing. So again, what is going on?

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Speaker 1: Of course at this point do we have Twitter? No?

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Speaker 1: Still we don't. It's two thousand five. Still no hashtag activism. People. Um,

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Speaker 1: I know that I sound ridiculous saying that it's it's

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Speaker 1: in just um. So again, how were they so successful

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Speaker 1: so fast? Well? The Events project leader credit the coordination

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Speaker 1: to the large variety of organizations across the country and

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Speaker 1: how interconnected they all were. She even called it a

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Speaker 1: mafia because essentially all the women involved knew each other.

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Speaker 1: Ladies helping ladies, I mean, essentially is the answer to

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Speaker 1: gender equality. Like a good phone tree, Brenda will bring

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Speaker 1: the brownies. I love it. I love a feminist phone tree.

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Speaker 1: We need to start that. But then in two thousand

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Speaker 1: and ten, women in Iceland went on strike yet again,

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Speaker 1: but the country's landscape was a little different, and we're

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Speaker 1: going to talk about that and the situation today in

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Speaker 1: terms of whether Iceland is the feminist paradise that we

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Speaker 1: so often hear about. When we come right back from

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Speaker 1: a quick break, Caroline, I'm so happy to report that

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Speaker 1: has all sorts of gorgeous design templates and it's so

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Speaker 1: But a being boom launch at Christen Conker dot com

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Speaker 1: looks amazing. Yeah, I hate that Kristen Concer dot com

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00:19:26,359 --> 00:19:29,520
Speaker 1: has already taken. There are Christen's not getting There are

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Speaker 1: some amazingly beautiful templates. My problem is that I literally

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Speaker 1: can't decide between them. I know it's hard, But squarespace

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Speaker 1: And now back to the show. So, the gender, political,

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Speaker 1: and financial dynamics of what was going on in Iceland

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Speaker 1: leading up to strike are really fascinating and kind of

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Speaker 1: mind boggling, not because it was so different from what

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Speaker 1: happened in the financial collapse in the United States, but

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Speaker 1: because of how different the response to the collapse was.

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Speaker 1: So if you look back at two thousand five Icelanders,

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Speaker 1: they had a lot more money in their pockets than

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Speaker 1: did the Icelanders in post collapse, So there had been

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Speaker 1: lots of spending on luxury goods, buying mortgages in foreign currency,

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Speaker 1: and there was a boom in Iceland's currency itself. So basically,

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Speaker 1: if we're giving you the brief kind of glossed over rundown,

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Speaker 1: because the story gets a little complicated with all of

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Speaker 1: the we and dealing financial bros. Um, you've got the

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Speaker 1: privatized and overwhelmingly male dominated banking industry that's just booming.

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Speaker 1: So tiny Iceland all alone was home to three of

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Speaker 1: the world's biggest banks, and so a basic rundown from

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Speaker 1: a paper in the Journal Gender, Sexuality and Feminism from

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Speaker 1: pointed out male ministers privatized the banks, sold them to

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Speaker 1: other men who put yet another man in charge, praising

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Speaker 1: the masculine values of aggressiveness, competition, and risk taking. Basically,

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Speaker 1: you've got lots of machismo, lots of guys reveling in

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Speaker 1: their being descendants of Vikings, and they basically were saying

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Speaker 1: we are the only ones, us macho Viking men who

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Speaker 1: have what it takes to take the giant financial risks,

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Speaker 1: and based on their giant financial risk taking, they also

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Speaker 1: raked in equally giant paychecks. And by the way, Caroline,

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Speaker 1: I at first thought that the Viking reference in one

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Speaker 1: of our sources was a joke, but then it came

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Speaker 1: up again in this paper, and and listeners in Iceland

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Speaker 1: please confirm or deny this, because apparently these bankers and

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Speaker 1: finance men were publicly touting this kind of Viking heritage,

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Speaker 1: saying like, yes, yes, it's it's the Viking in our blood.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure if the men in the financial sector in

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Speaker 1: America felt more of a connection to the Vikings, they

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Speaker 1: would too have claimed such heritage. Well. And with those

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Speaker 1: initial giant paychecks rolling in, that actually sent more women

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Speaker 1: back home. Um, they were taking on nearly all the

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Speaker 1: domestic duties as their husbands were working long hours and

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Speaker 1: making lots of money, and women hadn't previously had to

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Speaker 1: justify working outside the home. It was just kind of

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Speaker 1: a given that they would do that, But suddenly many

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Speaker 1: of them were kind of playing second fiddle to their

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Speaker 1: extremely wealthy, risk taking Viking husbands. I mean, why go

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Speaker 1: to work and put your kid in daycare, if your

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Speaker 1: husband is bringing home enough money for the both of you,

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Speaker 1: if he's buying luxury goods, and what's nuts. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: of course we should again specify that we are incredibly

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Speaker 1: condensing a lot of information to basically give you a

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Speaker 1: little backdrop of what's going on. Because in spring two

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Speaker 1: thousand nine, the government collapses. The wage gap had shrunk somewhat,

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Speaker 1: but it was more because so many highly paid men

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Speaker 1: lost their jobs or had their wages cut during the collapse,

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Speaker 1: rather than like, oh, in the midst of all of

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Speaker 1: this Viking chaos, let's make women completely equal to men.

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Speaker 1: And here is where to me it gets really interesting because, uh,

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Speaker 1: not being a banker, but being an American and watching

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Speaker 1: the recession happen in our country. Uh, it seemed like

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Speaker 1: a lot of people tried to clean it up, but

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Speaker 1: it still seems to be business as usual. However, in Iceland,

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Speaker 1: people actively started calling for a return to feminine values.

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Speaker 1: When in the world have you ever heard that they

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Speaker 1: wanted actively wanted aspects like balance, risk awareness, and profit

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Speaker 1: with principles in order to counter that whole Viking masculinity complex.

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Speaker 1: And what's so interesting The reason that this was top

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Speaker 1: of mind is because during all of the privatization frenzy

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Speaker 1: of the nineties and two thousands that created this unstable industry,

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Speaker 1: it was the Women's Alliance that had been the one

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Speaker 1: calling for maintaining a national bank the whole time, like hey, guys, like,

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Speaker 1: let's not let's not do all of this that you're doing,

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Speaker 1: Like can we can we like maintain one national bank.

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Speaker 1: So in the wake of this collapse, there was a

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Speaker 1: sharp turn to the left after eighteen years of right

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Speaker 1: wing power. They elected beloved Prime Minister Johanna seguradt Here.

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Speaker 1: She was the country's first female prime minister and the

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Speaker 1: world's first openly gay top leader, and hers was the

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Speaker 1: first government to actually have a gender balance at cabinet level. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean and and quickly going back to the promotion

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Speaker 1: of the quote unquote feminine values in the wake of

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Speaker 1: the economic fallout, which, by the way, Caroline, you asked, like,

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Speaker 1: when was the last time you've ever heard that promoted.

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Speaker 1: I think I've really only heard that promoted like on

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Speaker 1: like body wash and shampoo commercials. Um. But I remember

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Speaker 1: in the United States obviously because that's where I am.

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Speaker 1: But there were a number of sort of trend and

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Speaker 1: think pieces on the role of gender in the Wall

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Speaker 1: Street meltdown in the United States, but so much of

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Speaker 1: it seems so theoretical. I mean, we even talked about

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Speaker 1: it on the podcast, you know, the whole risk taking

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Speaker 1: issue and how all of that, all of those Viking,

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Speaker 1: that Viking masculinity complex, um lad to the banking collapse.

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Speaker 1: But it really just stopped there right exactly. And that's

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Speaker 1: what I think is so fascinating that, yes, you did

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Speaker 1: have this think pieces, absolutely, and you had academics, and

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Speaker 1: you had all sorts of people saying, like, we need

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Speaker 1: to get away from this whole risk taking endeavor, this

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Speaker 1: whole like you know, big shot, big risk, big paycheck thing,

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Speaker 1: and approach things more cautiously, maybe with more quote unquote

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Speaker 1: feminine mindsets. But it certainly wasn't at a national level

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Speaker 1: really in terms of especially the quote unquote feminine part.

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Speaker 1: And usually in this country, when you hear a return

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Speaker 1: to feminine values, it's typically things specifically focusing on motherhood

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Speaker 1: or childbirth or being in the home. Not that there's

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Speaker 1: anything wrong with that, but I just think it's fascinating

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Speaker 1: that on a national level people were calling for that.

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Speaker 1: In the banking industry. Yeah, I mean, and this this

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Speaker 1: leads us up to that strike. And it might seem

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Speaker 1: strange that that would happen again because we just talked

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Speaker 1: about how you know, there was this major political shift

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Speaker 1: after eighteen years of a right wing rule, you have

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Speaker 1: a feminist coming into office. Um, but despite all of

428
00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:22,720
Speaker 1: these kinds of changes, there still wasn't enough being done

429
00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:26,080
Speaker 1: to close that pay gap, which still stood at sixty

430
00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:29,720
Speaker 1: five percent. And also this was when you really start

431
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:34,920
Speaker 1: seeing feminist campaigning for what they called freedom from male violence. Yeah.

432
00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:38,400
Speaker 1: Activists for instance, stretched a red scarf from the High

433
00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:40,639
Speaker 1: Court all the way down to the Low Court to

434
00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:44,560
Speaker 1: draw attention to that gap between the two hundred and

435
00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:47,800
Speaker 1: seventy rapes that were reported to activists in two thousand

436
00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:52,680
Speaker 1: nine and only seven convictions. So here, you know, we

437
00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:54,800
Speaker 1: start to see the first glimmer of like, Iceland is

438
00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:59,639
Speaker 1: not perfect. No, no place is perfect, obviously, and just

439
00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:04,280
Speaker 1: like in two thousand five or as I apparently call it,

440
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:08,760
Speaker 1: but women walked out at her jobs at two pm,

441
00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:10,840
Speaker 1: marking the end of their day when if they were

442
00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:13,520
Speaker 1: dudes they would have earned the same amount of money.

443
00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:20,080
Speaker 1: And again its success was attributed to the relationships built

444
00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:24,320
Speaker 1: between all of these organizations. You have around twenty Icelandic

445
00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:28,800
Speaker 1: women's groups that formed an umbrella coalition, and you also

446
00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:33,639
Speaker 1: have the participation of different types of women. You have

447
00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:37,800
Speaker 1: Native women in immigrant women, self identified feminists, and people

448
00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:40,680
Speaker 1: who are not so keen on calling themselves feminists. All

449
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:44,240
Speaker 1: of these women, we're showing up. I mean they talked

450
00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:46,240
Speaker 1: to what was it, I think it was an article

451
00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:51,160
Speaker 1: in the Nation was covering this strike, and the reporter

452
00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:53,760
Speaker 1: talked to a woman who wouldn't call herself a feminist,

453
00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:57,680
Speaker 1: but she said that she came anyway to quote show

454
00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:01,080
Speaker 1: that we women stand together and that this is ridiculous,

455
00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:05,280
Speaker 1: this difference in wages. Yeah, and amazingly they had a

456
00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:08,440
Speaker 1: lot of support from those in power. The reiky Vicmayer,

457
00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:11,680
Speaker 1: for instance, sent a letter to city employees encouraging women

458
00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:15,880
Speaker 1: to participate. Former President ve disc came, as did Johanna,

459
00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:19,680
Speaker 1: who published a letter in the paper asking women to join.

460
00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:23,400
Speaker 1: And I love this. It's like a party. It's absolutely

461
00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:26,680
Speaker 1: a party. She bought all of her ministers pink and

462
00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:30,400
Speaker 1: blue lens gender glasses. I wonder if those would work

463
00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:35,000
Speaker 1: at a three D movie too. Is that all they

464
00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:36,800
Speaker 1: were Yeah, well, I mean you put them on and

465
00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:39,880
Speaker 1: suddenly there's more women in the movie and they're all

466
00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:42,600
Speaker 1: being paid the same as the male actors. Oh so suddenly,

467
00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:45,840
Speaker 1: like all films passed the Beck deltas. Yeah, suddenly everything

468
00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:49,800
Speaker 1: becomes Jessica Jones wonderful. Well, speaking of Jessica Jones, which

469
00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:54,160
Speaker 1: is media about that transition? There was so much media

470
00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:58,760
Speaker 1: attention on it. Television news focused on it all weekend,

471
00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:03,000
Speaker 1: and the ray video even played early women's liberation music,

472
00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:05,520
Speaker 1: which I'm just imagining is a lot of Joan bias

473
00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:08,680
Speaker 1: that's gonna say the same thing in Icelanders, Please tell

474
00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:10,920
Speaker 1: us if you have your own version of joan bias.

475
00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:12,760
Speaker 1: I'm sure you do. We we don't want to project

476
00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:15,840
Speaker 1: our American folk singers onto you. Well, and at this

477
00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:20,320
Speaker 1: point too in the director of the Icelandic Women's History

478
00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:24,400
Speaker 1: Archives said, now it's the thing that Icelandic women do,

479
00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:27,240
Speaker 1: referring to the going on strike. Yeah, you just put

480
00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:30,920
Speaker 1: on those gender glasses and get your your red scarf

481
00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:34,560
Speaker 1: to protest sexual assaults. Pump up the Joan bias, get

482
00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:37,440
Speaker 1: your Icelandic Joan bias in your in your earbuds, and

483
00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:40,960
Speaker 1: and walk out at approximately to twenty or two thirty

484
00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:43,000
Speaker 1: in the afternoon, depending on what the wage gap is

485
00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:47,080
Speaker 1: that day. I mean, and all these things are yes,

486
00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:51,800
Speaker 1: delightful to read about, and it seems so otherworldly to

487
00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:56,880
Speaker 1: us sitting here in this podcast studio in the United States,

488
00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:00,160
Speaker 1: particularly as we're recording this in the midst of a

489
00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:04,040
Speaker 1: heated political season, where things like the phrase of the

490
00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:07,480
Speaker 1: gender card gets thrown around a lot um. So it's

491
00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:12,280
Speaker 1: easy from just this perspective to say, of course Iceland

492
00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:14,880
Speaker 1: is a feminist paradise. And then we have all these statistics,

493
00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:17,400
Speaker 1: like every year, they're always the reports of like, of course,

494
00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:19,880
Speaker 1: this is the best place in the world for women.

495
00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:21,920
Speaker 1: How could it not be. It's like if Obama was

496
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:25,680
Speaker 1: handing out gender glasses to everybody, you know, I mean,

497
00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:27,400
Speaker 1: people would be mad about it, you know, they'd be

498
00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:29,720
Speaker 1: like thanks Obama, and like throw the glasses in the

499
00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:34,840
Speaker 1: trash probably, But there are you know, some there, there's

500
00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:38,920
Speaker 1: some decent statistics to back up you know why we

501
00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:41,640
Speaker 1: might all want to pack up and move to Iceland. Sure, no,

502
00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:44,240
Speaker 1: I've already I've already told my boyfriends where we're going.

503
00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:47,080
Speaker 1: He's he's down, He's like, sure, I'm like, well, get

504
00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:49,600
Speaker 1: your passport renewed. We'll go for a visit and we'll

505
00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:52,280
Speaker 1: see how we like it. I like volcanoes. I love

506
00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:57,160
Speaker 1: them too. And they have a penis museum, Yes they do. Um.

507
00:31:57,320 --> 00:32:00,600
Speaker 1: And also, Caroline, that was me just in fiding myself

508
00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:04,120
Speaker 1: on an international trip with you and your boyfriends. Yeah. No,

509
00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:07,479
Speaker 1: I mean I assume and your professor fiance has invited

510
00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:10,840
Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, he'll just sund let's take care of

511
00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:12,920
Speaker 1: the dog. Yeah. Well, you know what, maybe we can

512
00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:14,920
Speaker 1: even drop my boyfriend off in Scotland where he has

513
00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:16,560
Speaker 1: some friends, and you and I will just keep going. No,

514
00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:19,240
Speaker 1: I really prefer the third wheel it, you know, make

515
00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:24,200
Speaker 1: things dinners as awkward as possible. Perfect. Um. Well, that

516
00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:28,680
Speaker 1: sounds almost as amazing as the fact that Iceland, for

517
00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:31,720
Speaker 1: the past couple of years has topped the World Economic

518
00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:36,760
Speaker 1: Forums Global Gender Gap Index. And this report evaluates gender

519
00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:42,520
Speaker 1: equality based on the gender balance that's in politics, education, employment,

520
00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:46,080
Speaker 1: and health. In fact, the people, the good people. The

521
00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:50,200
Speaker 1: World Economic Forum recently predicted that Iceland will be the

522
00:32:50,280 --> 00:32:52,840
Speaker 1: first to close that gap. But the thing is, we

523
00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:56,280
Speaker 1: gotta keep in mind that the Gig Index, not to

524
00:32:56,360 --> 00:33:03,800
Speaker 1: be confused with Dan savages measures gaps rather than true

525
00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:09,959
Speaker 1: equality between the sexes or empowerment, right, so there's nuance

526
00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:14,600
Speaker 1: underneath that number. But also, you know, on on the

527
00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:17,280
Speaker 1: bright side, we have to look at political participation and

528
00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:20,160
Speaker 1: this was something that we mentioned earlier, where from the

529
00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:24,160
Speaker 1: get go, the feminist movement in Iceland has been so

530
00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:27,640
Speaker 1: focused on getting women in office, which is something that

531
00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:31,800
Speaker 1: in the United States we still struggle with so much

532
00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:34,600
Speaker 1: so in Iceland though there have been female heads of

533
00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:38,720
Speaker 1: state for twenty of the past fifty years, along with

534
00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:43,720
Speaker 1: robust representation in politics, and that's tied to the left's

535
00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:48,320
Speaker 1: enthusiastically embraced quota systems, which are not all mandated. It's

536
00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:51,400
Speaker 1: like a voluntary quota system. Yeah. Again, this is another

537
00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:54,680
Speaker 1: thing that I feel like I would have a hard

538
00:33:54,680 --> 00:33:58,360
Speaker 1: time flying in our country. Um So, the women's movement

539
00:33:58,480 --> 00:34:01,760
Speaker 1: in general, but specifically the political left has fought for

540
00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:05,480
Speaker 1: the inclusion of these quota systems in selecting political candidates.

541
00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:07,840
Speaker 1: And again, like christ And said, they're not law, the

542
00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:11,160
Speaker 1: implementation is up to those individual parties, and so it

543
00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:15,280
Speaker 1: is worth noting that if and when those political leaning shift,

544
00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:17,160
Speaker 1: when if if and when they go back to right

545
00:34:17,200 --> 00:34:21,160
Speaker 1: wing rule, it's very possible that those quota systems might

546
00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:24,200
Speaker 1: fall by the wayside. Well, then, shifting away from politics,

547
00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:28,880
Speaker 1: if we look at labor force participation icelandic women have

548
00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:32,440
Speaker 1: been working outside the home for quite some time, and

549
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:35,080
Speaker 1: for a long time they have had and still do

550
00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:40,960
Speaker 1: the highest female workforce participation rate in the world at cent.

551
00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:44,080
Speaker 1: But and and this jumped out to me, is like, well,

552
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:47,359
Speaker 1: why is that necessarily a bad thing? Um, they still

553
00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:49,960
Speaker 1: managed to have two kids on average, which is actually

554
00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:53,840
Speaker 1: the highest fertility rate in Europe. Um, which some people

555
00:34:53,920 --> 00:34:56,680
Speaker 1: see as a strain on the whole system, like, well,

556
00:34:56,719 --> 00:34:59,560
Speaker 1: women are still having these kids that they still obligated

557
00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:04,520
Speaker 1: to motherhood too much. But the thing is, it's I

558
00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:08,160
Speaker 1: don't want to stay easier, but it's more feasible to

559
00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:12,040
Speaker 1: be a mom or a parent in Iceland, especially if

560
00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:15,360
Speaker 1: you have listened to our podcasts on maternity leave in

561
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:18,680
Speaker 1: the United States. Yikes. Yeah, So the whole reason why

562
00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:21,719
Speaker 1: it's such an important distinction to make that you've got

563
00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:25,040
Speaker 1: so much, such high labor force participation and also such

564
00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:28,320
Speaker 1: high fertility rates. It's all. The secret is all in

565
00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:32,759
Speaker 1: the childcare. So in Iceland, high quality, affordable daycares and

566
00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:37,239
Speaker 1: nurseries are heavily subsidized by the government, meaning that your

567
00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:40,560
Speaker 1: average Regubic couple would pay the equivalent of about a

568
00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:43,239
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty five U S dollars a month for

569
00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:47,120
Speaker 1: eight hours a day of childcare food included, and single

570
00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:49,440
Speaker 1: parents would pay about a hundred and eight dollars. And

571
00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:54,799
Speaker 1: you're like, okay, money, that's fine. In the US your

572
00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:57,960
Speaker 1: average couple and average meaning that some people pay a

573
00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:00,560
Speaker 1: lot more and some people pay less, but average couple

574
00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:03,040
Speaker 1: in the US will pay about nine hundred and seventy

575
00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:05,160
Speaker 1: two dollars a month. Yes, I mean you have so

576
00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:11,680
Speaker 1: many dual earner families, specifically dual earnings so that one

577
00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:15,640
Speaker 1: of those incomes can pay for daycare alone. Who don't

578
00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:18,880
Speaker 1: get me started on daycare. Also because I used to

579
00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:21,080
Speaker 1: be at a care worker back in high school, so

580
00:36:21,160 --> 00:36:25,320
Speaker 1: I got lots of stories. Um. But speaking of maternity

581
00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:30,040
Speaker 1: leave and parental leave, each parent in Iceland is entitled

582
00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:33,879
Speaker 1: to three months of parental leave, with an additional three

583
00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:37,560
Speaker 1: months the parents can decide how to divide between themselves,

584
00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:42,240
Speaker 1: and they also offer the world's longest paternal leave, although

585
00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:44,920
Speaker 1: they can't pass that along to the mom, but that

586
00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:49,120
Speaker 1: incentivizes dudes taking the time off to take care of

587
00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:52,560
Speaker 1: the kids, and in fact, in two thousand nine of

588
00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:56,680
Speaker 1: new fathers took paternity leave. And again though we get

589
00:36:56,719 --> 00:37:01,359
Speaker 1: to the issues of quotas helping workforce particip patient um.

590
00:37:01,680 --> 00:37:04,440
Speaker 1: There is a lot of concern over women's representation in

591
00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:07,560
Speaker 1: the workforce in general, maintaining those numbers and even improving them,

592
00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:12,560
Speaker 1: but also specifically in executive management spots. So the boards

593
00:37:12,719 --> 00:37:16,800
Speaker 1: of publicly owned companies and joint stock companies with fifty

594
00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:21,840
Speaker 1: or more employees were legally required by September to have

595
00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:25,000
Speaker 1: at least women or men. It's just as long as

596
00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:29,680
Speaker 1: that that almost half and half numbers maintained on their boards.

597
00:37:30,040 --> 00:37:34,920
Speaker 1: And side note, men at the moment are of CEOs

598
00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:39,239
Speaker 1: at those fifty plus employee companies, and when you look

599
00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:41,960
Speaker 1: at companies with twenty five or more employees, they also

600
00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:46,719
Speaker 1: have to report the gender balance in general employment and management.

601
00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:50,600
Speaker 1: And Saudiszahati, who's the head of the World Economic Forums

602
00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:54,719
Speaker 1: Gender Equality campaign, really highlighted a lot of the efforts

603
00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:59,239
Speaker 1: around recruiting and maintaining women's numbers in the workforce, but

604
00:37:59,360 --> 00:38:03,680
Speaker 1: also making sure that policies are in place to support

605
00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:06,879
Speaker 1: both men and women really families in general, making sure

606
00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:09,239
Speaker 1: that people feel free to be in the workforce and

607
00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:11,279
Speaker 1: have families at the same time if they want them.

608
00:38:11,360 --> 00:38:13,640
Speaker 1: And a term jumped out to me Caroline and researching

609
00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:17,080
Speaker 1: for this episode that I had never heard of before

610
00:38:17,800 --> 00:38:22,360
Speaker 1: called gender budgeting, And this is part of the coalition

611
00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:26,800
Speaker 1: platform of the Social Democratic Alliance and the Left Green Movement,

612
00:38:27,239 --> 00:38:30,920
Speaker 1: which requires the assessment of all government budgets and programs

613
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:33,919
Speaker 1: for their likely impact on women and gender equality, which

614
00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:38,839
Speaker 1: again building in those layers of accountability from the top down. Um,

615
00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:44,279
Speaker 1: and all of these government subsidies to that have afforded

616
00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:49,400
Speaker 1: child care and parental leave also stretches to higher education

617
00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:53,279
Speaker 1: as well. UM. The University of Iceland ratio is two

618
00:38:53,360 --> 00:38:56,680
Speaker 1: to one women to men graduating and a majority of

619
00:38:56,800 --> 00:38:59,880
Speaker 1: schools at every level our state run, which means that

620
00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:04,040
Speaker 1: there are no school fees. So most university students do

621
00:39:04,239 --> 00:39:06,520
Speaker 1: have access to loans to cover the cost of living,

622
00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:10,320
Speaker 1: but there's not that huge student loan debt burden that

623
00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:12,759
Speaker 1: is rapidly growing in the United States. I'm still I think,

624
00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:14,680
Speaker 1: just like building up an argument in my mind to

625
00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:18,160
Speaker 1: move to Iceland. Yeah, I know it's not perfect, but still,

626
00:39:18,239 --> 00:39:19,640
Speaker 1: I mean, you'll you'll got a lot of good things

627
00:39:19,719 --> 00:39:23,000
Speaker 1: going on. Yeah, exactly. And in terms of gender division

628
00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:26,800
Speaker 1: in educational attainment, women are the majority of master's grads,

629
00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:30,759
Speaker 1: but the PhD numbers are more equal. But uh, there's

630
00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:34,520
Speaker 1: always a but. Um, there are clear gender preferences in

631
00:39:34,640 --> 00:39:37,120
Speaker 1: terms of studies. And this isn't necessarily bad. It's just

632
00:39:37,239 --> 00:39:40,640
Speaker 1: interesting to note many women in Iceland do choose subjects

633
00:39:40,680 --> 00:39:43,080
Speaker 1: that lead them to jobs in the care sector, whereas

634
00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:45,279
Speaker 1: men are more likely to choose subjects leading them to

635
00:39:45,440 --> 00:39:48,720
Speaker 1: lucrative stem jobs. So no, it's not bad. Your choice

636
00:39:48,719 --> 00:39:51,680
Speaker 1: of profession is whatever you wanted to be. But the

637
00:39:51,800 --> 00:39:54,680
Speaker 1: stem jobs are paying more than some of the public

638
00:39:54,760 --> 00:40:00,160
Speaker 1: sector or service oriented positions, which, of course influence is

639
00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:04,800
Speaker 1: the gender wage gap. Um. You also have women friendly

640
00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:08,239
Speaker 1: laws that have been passed. I mean, if we look

641
00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:14,000
Speaker 1: to the nineteen nineties, in the Constitution was updated to

642
00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:20,120
Speaker 1: include men and women's equal rights being explicitly stated. Fast

643
00:40:20,200 --> 00:40:22,879
Speaker 1: forward to two thousand nine. Um, this has actually been

644
00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:27,000
Speaker 1: really interesting to me in terms of their approach to

645
00:40:27,440 --> 00:40:30,640
Speaker 1: sex work. So in two thousand nine, they passed the

646
00:40:30,719 --> 00:40:35,240
Speaker 1: law criminalizing the purchase of sex while still protecting sex

647
00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:39,200
Speaker 1: workers from being prosecuted. Strip clubs have also been shut

648
00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:43,839
Speaker 1: down and lap dancing eliminated. No dancing on laps, Yeah,

649
00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:47,520
Speaker 1: no dance on the caroline, I listen. I'm sorry. It

650
00:40:47,600 --> 00:40:51,520
Speaker 1: was an awkward day. Uh. In same sex marriage was

651
00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:55,160
Speaker 1: legalized and single women and same sex couples alike were

652
00:40:55,200 --> 00:40:58,800
Speaker 1: allowed access to donor eggs and sperm. Finally, and in

653
00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:01,680
Speaker 1: eleven there was a law authorizing the removal of a

654
00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:05,680
Speaker 1: perpetrator from a home when domestic violence is suspected. And

655
00:41:05,800 --> 00:41:08,239
Speaker 1: so in two thousand eight, for instance, the study found

656
00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:11,560
Speaker 1: that of women in Iceland said that they had experienced

657
00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:17,160
Speaker 1: intimate partner violence, and that rate increased during the financial downturn.

658
00:41:18,239 --> 00:41:21,640
Speaker 1: So all of these amazing achievements are being made, and

659
00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:24,719
Speaker 1: we've talked a lot about how, you know, it makes

660
00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:29,160
Speaker 1: sense because of the strong ties um and coalitions between

661
00:41:29,880 --> 00:41:34,560
Speaker 1: women's and feminist organizations. But there's also this thing called

662
00:41:34,920 --> 00:41:38,000
Speaker 1: the triangle of empowerment that one of the scholars we

663
00:41:38,080 --> 00:41:41,640
Speaker 1: were reading noted, like, that's kind of the secret sauce

664
00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:46,919
Speaker 1: of how this all has come together. So the three

665
00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:50,160
Speaker 1: points of a triangle of empowerment, which I feel like

666
00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:52,280
Speaker 1: there needs to be a badge. They had a Triangle

667
00:41:52,320 --> 00:41:57,520
Speaker 1: of Empowerment badge. He has strong activism, a critical contingent

668
00:41:57,640 --> 00:42:01,520
Speaker 1: of feminist politicians. Again, political office makes a big difference,

669
00:42:02,040 --> 00:42:06,320
Speaker 1: and feminist officials with legal authority to address inequality. So

670
00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:09,080
Speaker 1: there you have a platform. You know, you've got like

671
00:42:09,320 --> 00:42:13,759
Speaker 1: the consciousness raising, political engagement and the laform. Yeah, the

672
00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:15,360
Speaker 1: women making it happen. And I mean, this is what

673
00:42:15,520 --> 00:42:19,120
Speaker 1: you just talked about, Kristen, having the ability to affect

674
00:42:19,239 --> 00:42:22,560
Speaker 1: change from the top down. You need that grassroots support,

675
00:42:22,680 --> 00:42:25,200
Speaker 1: you need the political will, and then you need the

676
00:42:25,239 --> 00:42:27,440
Speaker 1: people who can actually put it into action. And I'm

677
00:42:27,520 --> 00:42:31,399
Speaker 1: just envisioning it. Like the triangle of empowerment is also

678
00:42:31,520 --> 00:42:34,840
Speaker 1: like the food pyramid. So the top you have like

679
00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:37,360
Speaker 1: the you know, the female presidents and prime ministers or

680
00:42:37,480 --> 00:42:41,400
Speaker 1: like the desserts, but we want more of them. Well

681
00:42:41,440 --> 00:42:45,920
Speaker 1: in Iceland, like you only need like one of each. Um.

682
00:42:46,560 --> 00:42:49,760
Speaker 1: But also you know, Kristen hinted at this topic earlier,

683
00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:54,840
Speaker 1: UM which is the nuanced language choices of the women's

684
00:42:54,880 --> 00:42:58,320
Speaker 1: movement in Iceland, and really a lot of the articles

685
00:42:58,400 --> 00:43:02,320
Speaker 1: that we read credited the women's movements widespread support and

686
00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:08,200
Speaker 1: success to word choice. So activists made the tactical choice

687
00:43:08,400 --> 00:43:13,320
Speaker 1: to use the language of gender equality rather than necessarily

688
00:43:14,080 --> 00:43:17,759
Speaker 1: latching onto the word feminism. And they point out that, well, yeah,

689
00:43:17,840 --> 00:43:21,520
Speaker 1: this might be less radical, it's also less divisive, and

690
00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:24,520
Speaker 1: I know that concept might not sit well with a

691
00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:26,879
Speaker 1: lot of our listeners. But the whole thing that we're

692
00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:29,680
Speaker 1: reading about is that a lot of Icelanders, male and

693
00:43:29,719 --> 00:43:33,640
Speaker 1: female alike, have been able to embrace this ideal and

694
00:43:33,920 --> 00:43:37,560
Speaker 1: idea of gender equality. And so to a lot of

695
00:43:37,640 --> 00:43:40,239
Speaker 1: activists in the women's movement and outside of it, the

696
00:43:40,280 --> 00:43:44,719
Speaker 1: word feminism. Using the word feminism is not as important

697
00:43:45,080 --> 00:43:48,600
Speaker 1: as coming together across all sorts of political and social

698
00:43:48,719 --> 00:43:53,160
Speaker 1: lines to inspire change. So as a result, you have

699
00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:57,560
Speaker 1: one of the most active and politically integrated women's movements

700
00:43:58,080 --> 00:44:01,800
Speaker 1: in the world. I mean we went back to nineteen

701
00:44:01,880 --> 00:44:05,160
Speaker 1: oh seven, I mean it stretches even before that in Iceland,

702
00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:08,840
Speaker 1: where you have feminism and gender equality being ingrained in

703
00:44:08,960 --> 00:44:13,440
Speaker 1: the politics um so much so that female members of

704
00:44:13,560 --> 00:44:17,279
Speaker 1: Parliament performed the Vagina Monologues a couple of years ago.

705
00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:23,120
Speaker 1: Can you imagine, No, I cannot, no, I cannot, I

706
00:44:23,239 --> 00:44:26,160
Speaker 1: feel like Elizabeth Warren might do it. Elizabeth Warren could

707
00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:27,759
Speaker 1: do it, I don't know. She she'd find a way

708
00:44:27,800 --> 00:44:30,880
Speaker 1: to work Wall Street into uh into her vagina monologues.

709
00:44:31,520 --> 00:44:34,839
Speaker 1: And that Nation article that Kristen mentioned a little bit

710
00:44:34,880 --> 00:44:37,719
Speaker 1: ago said that a lot of this is quote in

711
00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:42,040
Speaker 1: striking contrast to the movement in countries like the United States,

712
00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:46,200
Speaker 1: where it has been professionalized into social service agencies and

713
00:44:46,360 --> 00:44:50,760
Speaker 1: the Academy, and writing for The Nation, Janet Alice Johnson

714
00:44:51,800 --> 00:44:56,520
Speaker 1: was wondering whether this broad based institution building, rather than

715
00:44:56,600 --> 00:45:00,040
Speaker 1: what she calls the intergenerational in fighting that seems to

716
00:45:00,200 --> 00:45:04,080
Speaker 1: characterize the American feminist movement, is more likely to be

717
00:45:04,160 --> 00:45:07,880
Speaker 1: successful in reducing gender inequality here in the United States.

718
00:45:08,320 --> 00:45:12,080
Speaker 1: So she's wondering if we can take this model, this

719
00:45:12,280 --> 00:45:15,440
Speaker 1: coalition building that we're seeing an Iceland and apply it

720
00:45:15,560 --> 00:45:18,680
Speaker 1: to our own feminist movement in this country. Yeah, I mean,

721
00:45:18,800 --> 00:45:22,960
Speaker 1: I the thing that comes to mind in comparing the two.

722
00:45:23,080 --> 00:45:26,720
Speaker 1: I mean, a, you have size, you know, Iceland people,

723
00:45:27,920 --> 00:45:32,480
Speaker 1: and also you don't have a history of slavery, you know,

724
00:45:32,680 --> 00:45:34,759
Speaker 1: I mean, like because that is really I mean, there's

725
00:45:34,880 --> 00:45:40,799
Speaker 1: the intergenerational disagreements among yes, like white middle class feminists,

726
00:45:41,360 --> 00:45:44,520
Speaker 1: but to me like the more deeply embedded problems that

727
00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:47,920
Speaker 1: have prevented a lot of coalition building have a lot

728
00:45:48,000 --> 00:45:52,000
Speaker 1: more to do with the marginalization of women of color

729
00:45:52,160 --> 00:45:56,719
Speaker 1: and class based divisions. So I don't know, I mean,

730
00:45:56,760 --> 00:46:00,680
Speaker 1: I think that I think it would be hard to say.

731
00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:03,920
Speaker 1: I think that's too simplistic of of a solution. And

732
00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:06,480
Speaker 1: also I feel like in general, the US is so

733
00:46:06,680 --> 00:46:11,560
Speaker 1: far behind in terms of getting more women into those

734
00:46:11,640 --> 00:46:15,839
Speaker 1: positions of power, Women who are willing and able, that's

735
00:46:15,920 --> 00:46:21,439
Speaker 1: the key able to make those sweeping political changes. Yeah,

736
00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:24,720
Speaker 1: and even at the local level. I mean, the women

737
00:46:24,800 --> 00:46:27,680
Speaker 1: friendly national shift that we saw in Iceland was also

738
00:46:27,800 --> 00:46:31,759
Speaker 1: reflected in local governments, which is super important as well.

739
00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:36,960
Speaker 1: Um As of instance, an unprecedented thirty nine eight percent

740
00:46:37,040 --> 00:46:41,680
Speaker 1: of those elected in municipal elections we're women. So this

741
00:46:41,840 --> 00:46:45,640
Speaker 1: leaves us to the final question of well Iceland's women

742
00:46:45,760 --> 00:46:48,480
Speaker 1: strike again. I'm sure they will. It's it's a thing

743
00:46:48,800 --> 00:46:51,360
Speaker 1: Iceland's women do, don't you know. And I want to

744
00:46:51,440 --> 00:46:55,080
Speaker 1: know though, if Iceland's women do strike, like, would we

745
00:46:55,160 --> 00:46:57,960
Speaker 1: be allowed to join the strike? Can go over? Could

746
00:46:58,040 --> 00:47:00,799
Speaker 1: we come? But I don't know, I mean, I feel

747
00:47:00,800 --> 00:47:04,680
Speaker 1: like we might be kind of invading their fair thing, Christen,

748
00:47:04,760 --> 00:47:07,680
Speaker 1: Their whole thing is coalition building all different types of

749
00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:13,279
Speaker 1: women from all different um countries. Smile. This is us

750
00:47:13,320 --> 00:47:16,880
Speaker 1: asking any Icelandic listeners, This is us inviting ourselves to

751
00:47:17,040 --> 00:47:20,239
Speaker 1: my passport is ready to go? Well. I mean, do

752
00:47:20,360 --> 00:47:23,600
Speaker 1: you think though, that they will strike though anytime soon?

753
00:47:23,719 --> 00:47:26,920
Speaker 1: Because the wage gap is narrowed, women are now making

754
00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:31,319
Speaker 1: about of what men are making. But you do still

755
00:47:31,360 --> 00:47:34,160
Speaker 1: have issues with women being the majority of single parents

756
00:47:34,719 --> 00:47:37,839
Speaker 1: and they're struggling financially. Um, you still have more low

757
00:47:37,880 --> 00:47:41,560
Speaker 1: waged women than men. And you're seeing a shift of

758
00:47:41,880 --> 00:47:46,640
Speaker 1: younger people holding more conservative views, which is leading more

759
00:47:46,680 --> 00:47:49,759
Speaker 1: women to stay at home. Yeah, or a lot of them,

760
00:47:49,840 --> 00:47:53,560
Speaker 1: A lot of like teens and early twenties boys think

761
00:47:53,719 --> 00:47:57,520
Speaker 1: that women should stay at home. Very they believe in

762
00:47:57,640 --> 00:48:02,640
Speaker 1: gender equality, They believe the ideal of equality between men

763
00:48:02,719 --> 00:48:05,680
Speaker 1: and women. But more and more of them are thinking yeah,

764
00:48:05,760 --> 00:48:08,640
Speaker 1: and but also you should stay at home. Very interesting

765
00:48:08,719 --> 00:48:13,760
Speaker 1: paradox there. I would not put it past Iceland's women

766
00:48:14,520 --> 00:48:18,239
Speaker 1: from all classes and all parts of society to band

767
00:48:18,320 --> 00:48:21,640
Speaker 1: together and strike again. I mean, definitely, whenever you've got

768
00:48:21,680 --> 00:48:24,560
Speaker 1: like an anniversary of the first Well, now, what are

769
00:48:24,600 --> 00:48:26,759
Speaker 1: we in, Oh, for for a minute, they were doing

770
00:48:26,800 --> 00:48:28,440
Speaker 1: it every five years, and for a minute, I mean

771
00:48:28,760 --> 00:48:31,960
Speaker 1: like just the ones they had two thousand five, so

772
00:48:32,080 --> 00:48:33,520
Speaker 1: that there should have been one last year that we

773
00:48:33,560 --> 00:48:37,120
Speaker 1: could have gone to oh, but could totally happen. Yeah, okay,

774
00:48:37,160 --> 00:48:41,400
Speaker 1: so we're apparently planning the next Icelandic women's strike. Everyone

775
00:48:42,160 --> 00:48:44,880
Speaker 1: watch out, We'll get our red stockings on. But this

776
00:48:45,200 --> 00:48:49,240
Speaker 1: was so fun to dive into this history and especially

777
00:48:49,320 --> 00:48:52,160
Speaker 1: put some context to you know, those stats that we

778
00:48:52,280 --> 00:48:55,200
Speaker 1: do talk about in social media promote all the time,

779
00:48:55,400 --> 00:48:58,400
Speaker 1: you know, whenever Iceland is you know, hailed as the

780
00:48:58,520 --> 00:49:02,239
Speaker 1: feminist utopia. So at least feel more informed on that.

781
00:49:02,600 --> 00:49:05,879
Speaker 1: But I think we can get even more informed from

782
00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:08,200
Speaker 1: our listeners. We want to hear from you on this

783
00:49:08,440 --> 00:49:12,160
Speaker 1: and also, regardless of where you live, have you ever

784
00:49:12,400 --> 00:49:14,719
Speaker 1: gone on strike for anything? And would you ever join

785
00:49:15,160 --> 00:49:18,800
Speaker 1: a women's strike. Mom subit House stuffwork dot com is

786
00:49:18,840 --> 00:49:20,719
Speaker 1: our email address. You can also tweet us at mom

787
00:49:20,760 --> 00:49:23,920
Speaker 1: Stuff podcast or messages on Facebook, and we've got a

788
00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:26,200
Speaker 1: couple of messages to share with you when we come

789
00:49:26,320 --> 00:49:34,320
Speaker 1: right back from a quick break. So I have a

790
00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:37,080
Speaker 1: letter here from Alex in response to our Truking episode,

791
00:49:37,600 --> 00:49:39,960
Speaker 1: Alex says, Hello, I just listen to your Women and

792
00:49:40,000 --> 00:49:41,799
Speaker 1: Trucking podcasts, and while I thought it was a great

793
00:49:41,800 --> 00:49:44,160
Speaker 1: and fascinating episode, it shocked me that you don't think

794
00:49:44,200 --> 00:49:46,480
Speaker 1: there's a union supporting them. As far as I know,

795
00:49:46,600 --> 00:49:49,080
Speaker 1: the Teamsters Union is and always has been the largest

796
00:49:49,160 --> 00:49:52,080
Speaker 1: and strongest union in the USA. They're also truckers and

797
00:49:52,120 --> 00:49:54,920
Speaker 1: other unions like the Roofers and Waterproofers Union because they

798
00:49:55,040 --> 00:49:58,239
Speaker 1: need to get their equipment places too. Also, when talking

799
00:49:58,280 --> 00:50:00,840
Speaker 1: about places to go for food, there truck stop diners

800
00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:04,840
Speaker 1: which have large meals available and parking, but when driving

801
00:50:04,880 --> 00:50:06,879
Speaker 1: in the city and trying to eat, truckers will often

802
00:50:06,920 --> 00:50:08,879
Speaker 1: just throw their hazard lights on in the turn lighte

803
00:50:08,920 --> 00:50:11,600
Speaker 1: and run into a fast food restaurant because, as you

804
00:50:11,680 --> 00:50:14,239
Speaker 1: might imagine, there isn't parking and they don't fit in

805
00:50:14,280 --> 00:50:17,880
Speaker 1: the drive through hazard of the job, Alex says in

806
00:50:17,960 --> 00:50:20,000
Speaker 1: other news, while I have long ago given up on

807
00:50:20,040 --> 00:50:23,920
Speaker 1: active treatment, I love hearing an advertisement for it because

808
00:50:23,960 --> 00:50:26,600
Speaker 1: I am so bored of listening to the same advertisements

809
00:50:26,640 --> 00:50:29,120
Speaker 1: every day on all my podcasts, and finally there is

810
00:50:29,200 --> 00:50:33,840
Speaker 1: one that relates to the show. So thank you for

811
00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:40,640
Speaker 1: your very kind corrections and your love for cureology dot com. Well, Caroline,

812
00:50:40,640 --> 00:50:42,919
Speaker 1: seeing of our trucking episode, I have a letter here

813
00:50:43,600 --> 00:50:46,840
Speaker 1: from truck or Greg who helped inspire that episode, and

814
00:50:46,880 --> 00:50:49,440
Speaker 1: I think that he's like an honorary you know, Sminty

815
00:50:49,480 --> 00:50:52,640
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer at this point. Um So, Greg, we

816
00:50:52,760 --> 00:50:56,120
Speaker 1: heard back from you after our trucking episode, which was

817
00:50:56,160 --> 00:50:58,640
Speaker 1: so exciting to hear back from you. He wrote, just

818
00:50:58,760 --> 00:51:00,960
Speaker 1: want to thank you for the Fanta Hasti podcast on

819
00:51:01,040 --> 00:51:03,840
Speaker 1: women in trucking. I had to chuckle when Atlanta traffic

820
00:51:03,960 --> 00:51:06,279
Speaker 1: was mentioned. I know all too well how crazy it

821
00:51:06,360 --> 00:51:08,800
Speaker 1: can be, and thank you for giving us room. We

822
00:51:09,000 --> 00:51:11,800
Speaker 1: notice and appreciate it, although we may not acknowledge it.

823
00:51:12,440 --> 00:51:13,920
Speaker 1: A couple of points I would like to add for

824
00:51:14,000 --> 00:51:17,560
Speaker 1: anyone looking at a career in trucking. First, any reputable

825
00:51:17,640 --> 00:51:20,560
Speaker 1: company that hires new drivers will pair a student driver

826
00:51:20,760 --> 00:51:23,320
Speaker 1: with a trainer of the same sex, just to avoid

827
00:51:23,360 --> 00:51:26,480
Speaker 1: the problems you discussed. The concern of sexual assault by

828
00:51:26,520 --> 00:51:29,600
Speaker 1: a trainer against a student is absolutely a valid concern

829
00:51:29,960 --> 00:51:33,279
Speaker 1: and nobody deserves to be subjected to that. Second, be

830
00:51:33,440 --> 00:51:35,600
Speaker 1: prepared to give it everything you've got, or at least

831
00:51:35,640 --> 00:51:38,640
Speaker 1: a year. The first year is very difficult. Without question,

832
00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:41,160
Speaker 1: the pay isn't good and learning the ropes largely on

833
00:51:41,239 --> 00:51:44,040
Speaker 1: your own can be stressful. But once you get past

834
00:51:44,080 --> 00:51:46,720
Speaker 1: that first year, things do get better and much easier.

835
00:51:47,200 --> 00:51:50,120
Speaker 1: At that point you may find this career is very fulfilling.

836
00:51:50,640 --> 00:51:53,200
Speaker 1: I love it and can't picture myself doing anything else.

837
00:51:53,600 --> 00:51:55,799
Speaker 1: And as far as hours of service go, I thought

838
00:51:55,840 --> 00:51:58,200
Speaker 1: to clarify a bit what was mentioned. Our days can

839
00:51:58,239 --> 00:52:00,840
Speaker 1: be up to fourteen hours long, but we only spend

840
00:52:01,160 --> 00:52:05,200
Speaker 1: eleven of those hours behind the wheel at most. Generally speaking,

841
00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:07,640
Speaker 1: I try to drive around ten hours a day. The

842
00:52:07,719 --> 00:52:09,799
Speaker 1: rest of the time would be on duty time, which

843
00:52:09,880 --> 00:52:13,520
Speaker 1: is work related activities that don't involve driving, such as

844
00:52:13,640 --> 00:52:17,359
Speaker 1: napping in the truck, fueling, loading and unloading. Even though

845
00:52:17,520 --> 00:52:20,759
Speaker 1: the work is related, typically you aren't paid for this time.

846
00:52:21,239 --> 00:52:23,719
Speaker 1: In any case, I really appreciate what you do. Keep

847
00:52:23,760 --> 00:52:26,759
Speaker 1: up the good work and I'll continue listening. Well. Thank

848
00:52:26,800 --> 00:52:30,160
Speaker 1: you so much, Greg, We really appreciate hearing back from you,

849
00:52:30,520 --> 00:52:33,880
Speaker 1: and stay safe out there on the road, and again, listeners.

850
00:52:33,920 --> 00:52:35,680
Speaker 1: If you've got letters to send us, Mom Stuff at

851
00:52:35,680 --> 00:52:38,239
Speaker 1: how Stuff Works dot com is our address and for

852
00:52:38,360 --> 00:52:40,040
Speaker 1: links all of our social media as well. As all

853
00:52:40,080 --> 00:52:43,120
Speaker 1: of our blogs, videos and podcasts with our sources so

854
00:52:43,280 --> 00:52:47,120
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