Feminism in Iceland

As of today, we have been in Iceland for seven weeks, having arrived on a very windy and relatively dark January morning.  The days are already much longer, with the light lasting until well after 6 p.m. (18:00).  

So it's about time I started this blog.  And to start, I want to talk about why I wanted to come here to find out more about feminism in Iceland.

When I was preparing my Fulbright application in the summer of 2009, it already looked like a very interesting time to take a look at feminism in Iceland.  I won't bore you with the whole application, but here is some of what I said about why this was a great time to look at Icelandic feminism:

Among feminist scholars, the Nordic countries are well known for their progressive public policies for gender equality and the inclusion of women in the political process.  The five countries are all among the top twelve in the world in the percentage of women serving in their national parliaments, which average 42% women, according to the Interparliamentary Union; no other region even comes close.  As a result of egalitarian mores as well as strong and well-organized women’s movements, social policy in the Nordic countries is much more “woman-friendly” than in the U.S., including policies such as parental leave, equal pay, subsidized child care, and access to publicly-funded health care, including reproductive health. To varying degrees, the Nordic countries also have mechanisms of “state feminism”: public ministries whose mission, in whole or in part, is to ensure the promotion of gender equality in public policy.  Thus, as a scholar who studies and teaches about gender and public policy, women and politics, and the politics of sexuality in the U.S., I have always been interested in the politics and policies of the Nordic countries.

Iceland sometimes receives less attention among feminist scholars than its larger neighbors, but now is a particularly interesting time in Iceland from the standpoint of gender equality and women’s political leadership.  Iceland’s current Prime Minister is a woman and also the only openly lesbian head of state in Europe. Iceland has recently placed diversity and gender equality high on its agenda for higher education through a large grant to RIKK, the leading research institute on women and gender equality in Iceland, with which I propose to affiliate.

RIKK is the center for women’s studies research, teaching, and advocacy in Iceland.  The Centre was founded in 1991 to coordinate both the gender studies curriculum and women’s and gender research and scholarship.  RIKK was recently awarded a grant of up to 80 million kronur (600,000 U.S. dollars) per year for seven years from the government-funded Icelandic Center for Research (RANNIS) to establish a Centre for Excellence in Equality and Diversity Studies.  This is one of just three research centers provided with such support through a competitive national grant proposal process, and the only project in the social sciences or humanities; it indicates that gender equality and the promotion of research on gender and diversity is a key national goal for higher education in Iceland.  This is an important reason that I would like to affiliate with the Centre on Women’s and Gender Research. 

So there is part of the answer to the questions "Why Iceland?" and "Why now?"  You should take a look at the many things that RIKK is doing, including EDDA, which is the project funded by the RANNIS research grant, and the GEST (Gender Equality Studies and Training) program.

And things have gotten even more interesting.

For example, Iceland, for two years in a row, has ranked number one in the world in gender equality according to the The World Economic Forum.

The Nation magazine just ran an article about Icelandic feminism by Janet Johnson, a political scientist at Brooklyn College, called "The Most Feminist Place in the World".  As Johnson notes in the article, Icelandic feminists might dispute that description, pointing out among other things a continuing gender pay gap.  Nevertheless, the level of broad social support for gender equality is nothing to take lightly.

And the politics of the post-financial crisis, from the Icesave deal (which is going to a national referendum again as a result of the President's veto) to the delayed constitutional assembly mean that there continues to be a lot of interesting political discussion.

So it's a great time to be in Iceland.  Besides, it's a beautiful country full of lots of very nice people.  On those topics, more soon.