Málþing í tilefni af 100 ára afmæli kosningaréttar kvenna í Noregi

Málþing í tilefni af 100 ára afmæli kosningaréttar kvenna í Noregi
Norræna húsinu 22. nóvember 2013
Nánari upplýsingar um málþingið.

Ambassador Dag Wernø Holte, Madam Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, Ladies and gentlemen.

I should like to begin by thanking the Norwegian Embassy for taking the initiative on holding this seminar to mark the Centenary of women's suffrage in Norway. I should also like to thank the Norwegian Government for inviting five Icelandic representatives from public administration, the media and the academic world to attend the international conference Women, Power and Politics, which was held to mark the same anniversary in Oslo last week.

All the Nordic countries are currently celebrating this important Centenary of the time when their women first acquired the vote and the right to stand for election on the same footing as men. Equality between the sexes as regards the right to vote and to run for public office was one of the most important milestones in the development towards democracy in the Nordic countries. It involves the fundamental human right of being able to exert an influence, and it reflects our vision of justice and equality. As in Norway, we in Iceland want to use this opportunity to look back and examine how the great changes that have taken place in the sphere of gender equality actually came about.

A short while ago we heard that, for the fifth year running, the World Economic Forum ranked Iceland at the top on their list in the Global Gender Gap Index. The other Nordic countries follow behind us at the top of the list. This is a confirmation of the successes that have been achieved in this area, and even though we still have a long way to go before we can say that men and women enjoy complete equality of status and influence in Iceland, we can be proud of the ground we have covered.

The international financial crisis, with the collapse of the Icelandic banking system and the economic difficulties that followed in their wake, has not only had multiple effects on the positions of men and women but also on politics and policies regarding gender equality.

I'm happy to note that these effects have not all been negative and that there is a good reason for saying that greater gender balance in politics and in senior levels of public administration, and also in representation on committees, boards and councils, has to some extent come about because of calls for changes following the economic crash. Women now account for about 40% of elected representatives, both in local government and in parliament, the Althingi, where the proportion of women peaked at just under 43% after the general elections of 2009. Before that, the previous high-water mark of 35% had been reached in 1999.

This means that for the first time, the proportion of women returned in the last two general elections has been comparable with that in the other Nordic countries, which must be seen as marking an important stage along the road towards achieving the closest possible gender balance among the nation's elected representatives. The proportion of women in business management has also risen since legal provisions, on the Norwegian model, were introduced on gender ratios on boards of business enterprises and their effect has now started to filter through. But we must remember that these results have not come about of their own accord. We know that we must stay on guard so as to prevent a reversal in these trends.  

Let me elaborate on this: Even though there has been a rise in the number of women candidates on party candidate lists, and consequently among elected representatives, the fact is still that they constitute an ever-diminishing proportion the higher one goes up the lists. The results of the primaries that are now going ahead for the forthcoming municipal council elections bring this uncomfortable reality home to us once again.  Equal ratios on election lists are not enough: if our aim is to reach gender equality among political representatives, then women have to be placed high on their candidate lists.  Among the long-established political parties in Iceland, there is only one that does not apply quota rules for gender for its candidate lists, but recent developments show that women's groups within the parties have had a long-term effect as concerns the participation of women in politics. We must also bear in mind that women's share in company management did not grow by any significant amount until legislation was enacted on gender ratios on the boards of public and private limited companies. Our experience here regarding the dynamics of gender equality is the same as what has been highlighted in Norway during this anniversary year: - gender equality does not come about of its own accord.

I have used many opportunities to mention the great progress that we have seen in Iceland over a short time.  Of course it has been the fruit of concerted efforts on the part of the nation; but it has also been due to contributions by individuals and groups that have had the courage to stand up for a society based on democracy and equality. The history of the Women's Movement in Iceland is an example of this – a history that illustrates the strength that women have when they stand together and at the same time the great value of contributions by individuals who have carried out amazing feats.

Hear I would like to mention the contribution of one of the pioneers of the Icelandic Women's Liberation Movement. In 1885, Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir,  who was then not yet aged 30, wrote an article in the periodical Fjallkonan under the nom-de-plume Æsa. Her article, entitled “A few words about women's education and rights”, is regarded as the first published article in Icelandic in the campaign for women's rights. In it, she encouraged other women to stand up and fight against the limitations that set their stamp on their everyday lives and hindered progress towards equality between the sexes.

Thus, her article marked the beginning of the organized women's movement in Iceland – a campaign for basic human rights for women and girls, such as the right to education, the right to serve in public positions of responsibility and, later, the right to vote and to stand for public election. To begin with, Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir's writings drew opposition from many of her contemporaries (both men and women), but as time passed they became the foundation of a vital contribution to the evolution of democracy in Iceland.

This courageous young woman had no organized movement behind her as she set out to fight for the most basic human rights for women. Almost two decades later, in 1907, the Icelandic Women's Rights Association was founded at her instigation. A year after that, she was one of the first four women to take their seats on the Reykjavik Municipal Council.

Bríet's story reminds us that until just how recently it was considered perfectly normal for women not to have the same basic rights as men. While we express our gratitude to the women who pioneered the way ahead, we know that deep-rooted attitudes are slow to change and that there is still a lot of work to be done in bringing about gender equality.

We intend to make further progress. Not simply because gender equality is the basis of democracy and human rights, but also because we ought to make the best possible investment in our human resources – meaning both our men and our women. As Gro Harlem Brundtland, the former Prime Minister of Norway, mentioned in her speech at the conference in Oslo last week, Icelandic studies also show that the revolution in women's educational rates and the high level of female labour market participation has been the basis of welfare and economic prosperity in the country, just as in Norway. Gender equality is not merely a matter of justice – gender equality is a matter of necessity and it is a matter of  common sense as pointed out by Harlem Brundlandt. We must stay on our guard and go on letting actions talk in sweeping away the barriers, formal and informal, until we know that women and men enjoy equal opportunities in all spheres of society.

When we commemorate the Centenary of women's suffrage in Iceland in 2015 we want to use the occasion to make further progress.

We want to use the opportunity to draw attention to projects aimed at achieving further equality in areas where there is still an imbalance in favour of either sex.

We want to use the opportunity to record the main achievements so far along the road towards equality and support educational projects and research aimed at spreading awareness of democratic development and the campaign for increased civil and political rights.

We want to chart out the part played by women in politics and identify the factors that can account for the gender imbalance that we still find in the political arena.

And last but not least we want to examine how our experiences and progress as concerns gender equality can be of help for those women and girls around the globe who still suffer because of their gender. Women and girls who are exposed to sexual violence in times of civil and armed conflicts, that do not learn to read and write because they are female and often suffer malnutrition because it is more important to feed their brothers and fathers.

In working on all these challenging projects, we want to follow examples already set elsewhere and to collaborate with the other Nordic countries.

Once again, I should like to thank the Norwegians for their initiative in organizing our conversation hear today.

Thank you.