News - 19.06.2024
The Labor Movement on Women's Rights Day
When Icelandic women banded together at the beginning of the last century to fight for women's civil rights, they sought knowledge and inspiration from other countries, as detailed extensively on the Women's History Archive website. The women's movement was then, as it is now, international, with women seeking ways across borders to support each other's struggles and counter the strong forces that believed it was better to maintain the status quo, keeping women a step below men in society. The labor movement, like the women's movement, has always been international and focused on rights, working conditions, and solidarity. However, women have always had to fight for their place within the labor movement.
Headcounts are important, but not enough
In many ways, headcounts—counting the number of men and women in a given field—are a rather limited measure of women's rights, or the rights of any other group for that matter. But they still tell an important story about the situation. Today, 109 years after the law on universal suffrage and eligibility for women was passed by Parliament, women have never been half of the elected representatives in Parliament. The labor movement has also not achieved satisfactory representation, as can be seen in the interesting gender accounting of ASÍ. And now, as the workforce becomes increasingly diverse, the goal seems even farther away, as evidenced by the very low proportion of foreign members in trusted positions within the labor movement.
VR has long adhered to gender parity in its board to ensure the participation of both women and men in decision-making and policy-setting within the union. Generally, there is a fairly equal representation among the representatives of the Icelandic Confederation of Labor in ASÍ activities, and the unequal picture within ASÍ cannot be attributed to VR. The focus should be on the structure of the movement and how traditional male-dominated professions and their unions carry more weight in the organization. However, one might ask whether VR and LÍV should put forward more women and possibly reconsider the gender parity on the board, which has recently served to elevate men at the expense of women.
Above all, it is essential to consider the influence of women within the labor movement and how that influence translates into the issues the movement addresses. Visibility must be accompanied by recognition and redistribution of resources, to use the ideas of social justice scholar Nancy Fraser. For instance, the mere presence of women in meetings changes little if they are marginalized and their viewpoints are not considered. The distribution of resources is also a persistent issue for the labor movement. Yet, the view seems to persist that the current wage structure is the right one and that wage increases should maintain it, including the striking wage disparity between traditional female and male professions.
Equality makes everything better
Women's participation in politics was never solely about playing the game shaped by men, although some chose that path. Women's entry into politics changed the discourse and the decisions made, as their reality was often different from that of the male power holders. Women put education, welfare, and healthcare on the agenda. They are credited with establishing Landspítali (National University Hospital), setting up preschools, and ensuring that politics is about more than economic statistics and road construction. These issues are no less pressing today. The austerity mindset—also a century old—is regaining momentum after a brief COVID pause, viewing welfare and healthcare primarily as costs to be reduced. The impacts of this can be irreversible.
In Iceland, the quality of life is generally good, although too many groups are excluded from it. Much of what underpins this quality of life can be traced back to the struggles of the labor movement and the women's movement. Without them, Iceland would resemble countries where everyone fends for themselves, poverty rates are higher, and health and education are reserved for the wealthy. We need to nurture this legacy and move forward. Societies with more equal power distributions—between workers and owners, men and women, or natives and immigrants—are simply better societies.
Happy Women's Rights Day!
Halla Gunnarsdóttir
Vice-chairman of VR
