Women’s Day Off

In 1975, the women of Iceland took a “day off” from their usual jobs – and relations between Icelandic men and women were never quite the same again.

“Things went back to normal the next day, but with the knowledge that women are as well as men the pillars of society,” [former president Vigdís Finnbogadóttir] says. “So many companies and institutions came to a halt and it showed the force and necessity of women – it completely changed the way of thinking.”