Iceland is considered to be a forerunner when it comes to gender equality. What is less well known is that this situation didn’t just happen, but that Icelandic women (like women all over the world) had to fight hard for their rights. A key event in this feminist struggle was the women's strike in October 1975.

Directors Pamela Hogan and Hrafnhildur Gunnarsdottir let the contemporary witnesses speak who were there when 90 percent of women in Iceland stopped working and brought the country to a standstill. These are women who, supported by the spirit of feminism that was felt around the world, did not want to settle for a life as a second-class citizen: “I wanted to be myself.” Activists talk about how they got connected with each other to found the feminist “Red Stocking” movement to attract attention to the oppression of women, often by radical means, always with a sense of humor. Together with around 50 other women’s initiatives, among them the conservative national women’s group, they organized the “Free Day.”

The images from the strike day and the demonstrations in Reykjavik show their blissful surprise that it actually works and that so many people participated – young and old women, leftist activists and later politicians as well as factory workers and secretaries that suddenly felt how much power they had when they stuck together. THE DAY ICELAND STOOD STILL shows how social change can be achieved and its success story gives courage in dark times.
Incidentally, the women's strike day took place again in 2023 - with the highest participation since 1975. One of the reasons was the global #metoo movement.

Eva Szulkowski

Translation: Elinor Lewy