100 years of Women's Civil Rights
Adress by Eygló Harðardóttir Minister of Social Affairs and Housing, Iceland
100 years of Women's Civil Rights
October 22nd, 2015
Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Ms. Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, Ms. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Mr. Einar K. Guðfinnsson, Distinguished guests.
Let me begin by saying what an honour and a genuine pleasure it is for me to be here with you today and to be a part of your discussions about gender equality and the developments of women's civil rights and our democracies.
All the Nordic countries are currently commemorating the Centenary of women's suffrage – 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.
During the period of hundred years that have passed, we have reached the point where women account for between 37 and 44 per cent of elected representatives in the Nordic legislative assemblies. It is, indeed, a great achievement in this long struggle that the number of women in cabinets in the Nordic states does reflect these numbers, in spite of the fact, that the executive power is referred to as the highest glass ceiling. We want to achieve an even greater balance between men and women in politics and we are eager to share what we have learned with women elsewhere in the world, in communities which cannot afford to wait as long as we did – over 100 years – for almostpolitical equality.
Political organizing on the part of women within political parties and the women‘s movement has been one of the most vital factors in promoting gender equality in Iceland. It is also of great importance that women have always organized across borders, even when they could only travel by sea and their correspondence took months to be delivered. By developing personal relations that often led to friendship, and discussing country specific experiences and best practices women have been and still are empowered to act. This will not and may not change.
I had the good fortune of travelling to Manitoba this summer to celebrate our National holiday with the descendants of our foremothers and forefathers who emigrated to Canada. It was such a pleasure to learn about the personal communications of the Icelandic women leaders with their Western Icelandic fellow sufragettes, who are recognized in Canadian history as‘pioneers' in the Canadian suffrage campaign”.
Such collaborative work has, not the least, benefitted our small society and last year, for the sixth year running, the World Economic Forum ranked Iceland at the top of their list of 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 during the recent decades, 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, we can be proud of the ground we have covered.
The most celebrated and productive cooperation in the field of gender equality has been the 40 good years of Nordic cooperation when each country benefits from the experience of the others. It also means that the Nordic Countries are able to exert an influence in the international arena not the least to press for high ambitions for gender equality and human rights for women and girls in the Post-2015 Development Agenda. The Nordic Countries supported a stand-alone goal on gender equality and women's empowerment as well as it being mainstreamed throughout the framework.
And all do we share the same experience regarding the dynamics of this work: Gender equality does not come about of its own accord and we all know that – despite all the progress – none of the Nordic Countries is an equality heaven for women. Challenges remain, such as closing the gender pay gap, securing equal political and economic power between women and men, and eliminating all forms of gender based violence.
Gender equality is not merely a matter of justice – gender equality is a matter of necessity, it is a matter of common sense and it is simply smart economics as Gro Harlem Brundlandt has pointed out in many of her speeches on the issue. We must stay on our guard and continue to let 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.
This year we also celebrate the 70th anniversary of the United Nations. The principle of equality between men and women was established in its Charter. And for a reason, as at the time of signing only 4 of the 160 signatories were women. Despite this solemn pledge, still today, too many women are made poor and powerless when their rights are taken away from them.
We owe it to all of us, not only our women and girls but to our boys and men as well. We cannot wait another 70 or 100 years for achieving gender equality and, therefore, we should all work towards more collaboration, each one in her or his own field, lets develop friendships across borders and continue to empower each other as we will do in this conference.
I wish you all very fruitful discussions during this important conference.
Thank you!