Little time? At the end of the text there is a summary.

The wind that hisses through the streets of Reykjavik is scary. Ice cold, he catches three women stepping out of the shelter of the houses near the faxaflói bay at an intersection. He shakes and tugs at them until they almost go to the ground.

Icelandic women can deal with headwinds. Iceland has been at the top of gender equality rankings for many years. At first glance, women are more present and committed than anywhere else. And more uncompromising. Because even in the island state, women have had to fight for their participation.

Does Iceland have a secret recipe for equal rights? Is there anything Germany could possibly learn from the women - and men - in the north?

MIRROR ONLINE

Reykjavik

Protest and resistance

"We are strong in our movement," says historian and feminist Sara Hrund Einarsdottir, who, on a windy day, leads a group of shaggy tourists through Reykjavik in an open jacket, bringing them closer to Iceland's feminist tradition. She points to the demonstrations that take place again and again in front of Parliament, the Althing: the #MeToo protests, the "Free The Nipple" campaign, or the slut-walks that women around the world demonstrate against the claim Rape victims are often complicit because they dress like sluts, like sluts.

Einarsdottir says women need to be heard and to be loud in order to prevail. And they should persist: "We never give up." Einarsdottir you can trust it.

In fact, the will of Icelandic women to engage in politics and demonstrate their rights seems particularly great. The initial spark was rallies on October 24, 1975, when an overwhelming majority of women followed a strike call.

Morgunbladid

Creation of the newspaper "Morgunbladid" of October 25, 1975

"It was a big deal," recalls actress and director Thorhildur Thorleifsdottir, who later became a member of the "Women's Alliance" in the Icelandic parliament. More than 90 percent of women left their jobs or homes to demonstrate on the street against their unequal pay. Public life came to a standstill. "We have recognized our strength in this act of solidarity: society does not work without women." And then came Vigdís Finnbogadóttir.

The icon

When asked to appear in the presidential election in 1980, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir resisted: "No, I can not," she said. Today she has to laugh about it. "That was such a typical woman's response."

Very narrowly, the party opposition prevailed against three men. But over the years she gained enormous popularity and was re-elected three times. Although the presidency in Iceland is more of a representative nature, it was a milestone to be the first woman in the world to be elected to the position - as a divorced single with an adopted child. "My candidacy has broken with tradition," says the 88-year-old. In the meantime, women are taken for granted in politics: "In Iceland feminism is strong, we set standards."

She was very proud of the many women in parliament, even if their share had fallen sharply after the last election, from 47.6 to 38.1 percent. He also sank in Germany - to just under 31 percent.

"The more women involved in political decision-making, the more peace we will have," says Vigdís Finnbogadóttir. "Women have open discussions and negotiations, they seek the consensus, the mighty lords issue orders and silence problems."

Equality in Iceland: Achievements

Heads of State and Government

Iceland made with Vigdís Finnbogadóttir 1980 the first woman in the world to the president, had with Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir from 2009 to 2013, the first openly lesbian head of government and at times the parliament with the most women. Since 2017, Katrin Jakobsdóttir has again had a wife, Prime Minister.

Quotas and laws

The board members of large companies have a female quota of at least 40 percent. Iceland was the first country in the world to legally bind companies with more than 25 employees to equal pay for men and women. Since January 2018, violations of the conditions can be punished with fines. But the gender pay gap is not yet closed: Icelandic women earn 82 percent of what men get in comparable jobs - that is, still less.

parental leave

The parental leave provides for three months each for man and woman. One of the partners can take an additional three months, or they can be split in half between them. This 3-3-3 rule will soon be replaced by 5-5-2 months, which will be distributed according to the same rules. During parental leave, parents receive 80 percent of their last gross salary. In Germany, there are 12 months parental allowance, which can be freely divided among the partners. If both partners use parental allowance, they are entitled to two additional months. For most, it is 67 percent of the previous monthly income, maximum 1800 euros.

childcare

Childcare in Iceland is subsidized and affordable for most families. According to the OECD, Iceland spends about 1.8 percent of its gross domestic product on early childhood education in crèches, kindergartens and preschools, with Germany at below one percent only in the European average. But crèche places are sometimes hard to come by in Iceland.

The women's party

For Vigdís Finbogadóttir, Vigdís Finbogadóttir's election was a go-ahead for the young women's rights activists in the country: "If a woman is president, why are not we in parliament?" Asked the anthropologist and later Member of Parliament Sigridur Dúna Kristmundsdóttir. In 1983 she founded with other activists the Women's Alliance, a party that succeeded in the same year right off the ground, with 5.5 percent of the vote in Parliament to collect. In 1987, the list reached more than ten percent and was able to hold its own until the nineties in Althing.

"We lost votes as the established parties began to put our issues on their agenda," recalls the former professor. A normal process: "We kicked our butts and it worked - that's what a women's party has to do."

Why has not this been achieved in Germany so far? In the twentieth century alone, there were more than a dozen feminist parties in Germany - but none was able to prevail permanently. "It is the lack of resources, time and money that prevents women from getting involved in politics," says Margot Müller, spokeswoman for the party founded in 1995 "Die Frauen", which came in the 2017 federal election on just 439 Erststimmen.

Young women today would rather spontaneously gather to flash mobs than to be permanently active for a party, so Mueller. "They are under pressure to be permanently available and flexible, leaving their mark."

Single mothers are now part of the precariat and sometimes do not even have enough money to go to party meetings in other cities. It was difficult to find party donations. Since women's rights activists traditionally come from the left political spectrum, there are hardly any financially strong donors from the conservative entrepreneurial milieu. "Feminism does not seem to be eligible."

Get men on board?

There is no women's quota in the Icelandic parliament, but some have voluntarily introduced it. At so-called barbershop days, women and men meet to debate gender equality. A code of conduct should take delegates into gender responsibility.

"We have to bring the men to the table - not only in ours, but also in their interests," says Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir, a member of the liberal-conservative Independence Party. "Equality means a win-win situation, where it rules, the country is doing better," the 28-year-old lawyer is convinced. Equality should by no means be just a matter for women; more female leaders ultimately have an effect on the success of companies.

At the end of November, hundreds of women from all over the world came to the Women Leaders Global Forum in Reykjavik. They wanted to know: How do you motivate women to get involved in the switching centers of politics and economics? Political celebrities showed keen interest: Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir opened the meeting, President Gudni Thorlacius Johannesson greeted the participants with a handshake, Foreign Minister Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson stated: "We men are as enthusiastic about equality as women."

But only a day later, the recording of a conversation was public in which several parliamentarians in a bar for three hours devalue and insult female MPs in a very vulgar way - including a severely disabled woman.

Protest against the insolence of politicians

Also in attendance was former Prime Minister and former Progressive Party leader Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson. He had to resign in 2016, after it was announced by the Panama Papers that he had acquired a letterbox company in the British Virgin Islands. He did not apologize like his colleagues at the women, but wrote on Facebook, the real scandal was that private conversations were secretly recorded by politicians.

Spicy: One of the bar politicians, the deputy Gunnar Bragi of the Center Party, had in the past, especially for the equality of men and women campaigned. He took a leave of absence. Two other deputies were excluded from their party, but remained as a non-party in parliament.

Morgunbladid / Arni Saeberg

Protests in front of the parliament in Reykjavik (archive picture)

Hundreds of Icelanders protested. The incident clearly showed that even Iceland's society is not immune to a culture that despises women and turns them into objects. "Patriarchy has existed for many thousands of years, it takes a long time to change structures," says anthropologist Sigridur Dúna Kristmundsdóttir. "It's a marathon, not a sprint."

Too few female executives in companies

Iceland is traditionally economic liberal, quotas and government regulation are therefore rather unpopular. At least 40 percent of women should be represented in the executive boards by law. "But that does not work too well," says Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir of the Independence Party.

Gender equality is also dragging on in Germany: Here, the female quota of one-third only applies to supervisory board members, and has recently risen to 28.4 percent. In the executive boards it still looks meager: 8.6 percent women.

With some highly qualified women, sarcasm spreads. "It is certainly not Iceland's corporate culture that has made us a gender equality pioneer," says Chamber of Commerce President Katrín Olga Jóhannesdóttir. Only eight percent of the country's 400 largest companies are run by women - "in the business world, men are still in charge".

Even if women were in boards, the men would be in the foreground. In addition, women are underrepresented in middle management.

There are more women in Iceland than men with university degrees, around 80 percent of women are employed, many of them in technical professions. "We have competence and experience, but we do not trust ourselves," says Katrín Olga Jóhannesdóttir. This difficult-to-break norm prevents progress - and it's an advantage for business reasons to be responsible for diversity: "With more women, business is better - profits are rising and corporate culture is improving."

Pay gap still available

Since January 2018, Icelandic companies with more than 25 employees are required by law to pay men and women equal pay for similar jobs. In case of infringement fines of up to 365 euros per day. The measure is expected to be implemented by 2021, so it is too early for an evaluation. But even the first, introduced in 1961 law had not led to the expected success.

According to a study by the World Bank, global growth losses due to income differences between men and women amount to an estimated $ 160 trillion. With equal pay, growth in the 141 countries surveyed could rise by more than 20 percent, they say.

Although Iceland managed to continuously reduce the differences over the years. Gender justice is far from over.

Iceland's ex-president, Vígdis Finnbogadóttir, can not explain why a fair pay is so difficult to enforce: "If I knew how to close the gender pay gap, I would announce it to the whole world." Ultimately, it is about creating awareness that women are equally intelligent and competent.

But many Icelanders seem to be frightened. When asked what he thinks about the women's movement, a worker at the airport grumbles: "It's getting worse and worse, eventually they'll take over the whole country." Hardly likely. The half they deserve, maybe.

In summary: Women's rights activists in Iceland are politically engaged and well networked. At times, almost half of the parliamentarians were female, but the number has fallen, as in Germany. Childcare is promoted, but has gaps. Parental leave for fathers and mothers is better paid than in Germany, but currently even shorter. Iceland has significantly reduced the gender pay gap but has not eliminated it. The attempt to promote equality by law has only partially succeeded. Women quotas are being implemented slowly, especially in companies there is resistance. Even in the island state, women must defend themselves against sexism and discrimination.