In Response To Gender Wage Gap, Women In Iceland Leaving Work Today At 14:38

Women across Iceland will be leaving their workplaces at 14:38 today which, when the gender wage gap is factored in, is effectively the time in an 8-hour day when they stop being paid for their work.

RÚV reports that there have been indications that the gender wage gap has been narrowing: when this event was held for the second time, in 2005, Icelandic women left their workplaces at 14:08. In 2010, it was 14:25.

At this rate, three minutes are added on average each year. If the trend continues unchanged, the gender wage gap in Iceland will not be closed until 2068.

As such, women across Iceland will be leaving their workplaces at 14:38 today. There will be an assembly in front of parliament at 15:00 to underscore this discrepancy in wages, and to call upon authorities to do more to close the gender wage gap.

As reported, another way to look at the gender wage gap is to determine at what point in the year women begin essentially working for free. In Iceland, the gender wage gap is 14% without overtime factored in; when overtime is factored in, it’s 17%. As such, Icelandic women are essentially working for free from November 10 onwards.

While disheartening, Iceland’s gender wage gap is at least slightly smaller than the EU average of 16.65%, meaning Europe’s women on average stop working for pay on October 31.

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