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gender equality
Tens of Thousands of Women Strike in Iceland Over Pay Gap, Gender-Based Violence
"An 'equality paradise' should not have a 21% wage gap and 40% of women experiencing gender-based or sexual violence in their lifetime," said one organizer.
Oct 24, 2023
Schools, health systems, and television broadcasters in Iceland were among the businesses that said they would have to close or reduce services on Tuesday due to the country's first full-day women's strike in nearly 50 years—potentially helping to prove the point that tens of thousands of women and non-binary workers are hoping to make by demonstrating that their labor is vital and must be paid accordingly.
Prime Minister KatrÃn Jakobsdóttir is among the women taking part in the "kvennafrÃ," or "women's day off," and told reporters she expects women in her cabinet to strike as well, as organizers push to close Iceland's gender pay gap and end gender-based violence.
While Iceland has been recognized for 14 straight years as having the smallest gap in gender equality among the countries in the World Economic Forum's annual rankings, strike organizer Freyja SteingrÃmsdóttir toldThe Guardian it is hardly an "equality paradise," and women are demanding greater action from the government to ensure true parity.
On average, Icelandic women still earn about 10% less than men, and as much as 21% less in some professions. Forty percent of women report experiencing gender-based violence.
"An 'equality paradise' should not have a 21% wage gap and 40% of women experiencing gender-based or sexual violence in their lifetime," said SteingrÃmsdóttir, communications director for the Icelandic Federation for Public Workers. "That's not what women around the world are striving for."
Taking place 48 years after the last full-day women's strike, in which 25,000 people rallied in ReykjavÃk and 90% of women staged a work stoppage affecting paid and unpaid labor, this year's protest has adopted the slogan, "Kallarðu þetta jafnrétti?" or "You call this equality?"
Icelandic President Gudni Th. Johannesson expressed his support for the strike, saying women's "activism for equality has changed Icelandic society for the better and continues to do so today."
The country's trade unions—which count 90% of Icelandic workers as members—are key organizers of the action and are calling on women and nonbinary workers to join the strike.
The 1975 action was tied to passage of an equal rights law the following year and the election of the country's first female president—the first woman to be democratically elected president in any country—in 1980. Other successes have followed in recent years, such as the passage of a law that requires some companies to prove they're paying people of different genders equally for equal work.
Former Climate Minister Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir toldThe Guardian that men continue to fail to take responsibility for domestic labor, leaving unpaid work such as childcare to women who are also attempting to succeed in the workplace.
"If you look at it economically women seem to be punished for taking these extra burdens, which is not righteous," Halldórsdóttir told the outlet. "It's something that we need to look into and need to change."
Organizers are calling for the wages of workers in female-dominated professions to be made public and for the federal government to take greater action against gender-based violence, ensuring perpetrators are held accountable. One 2018 University of Iceland study found that only 12% of survivors of sexual assault press charges, and those who do have their cases dismissed nearly 75% of the time. Women told researchers they feared the "shame, guilt, and condemnation" that would come with having their cases tried in the justice system.
"We are now trying to connect the dots, saying that violence against women and undervalued work of women in the labor market are two sides of the same coin and have an effect on each other," DrÃfa Snædal, spokesperson for StÃgamót, an anti-sexual violence group, told The Guardian.
Kate Jarman, a director of corporate affairs at a National Health Service hospital in the United Kingdom, said a similar women's strike in the U.K. would force numerous workplaces with majority-female staff to "recognize our worth."
The Left in the European Parliament also expressed support for the action.
"Solidarity with the strikers," the progressive political party said.
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'Heartbreaking': Court Reinstates Tennessee Ban on Gender-Affirming Care for Minors
"We want all the transgender youth of Tennessee to know this fight is far from over and we will continue to challenge this law until it is permanently defeated and Tennessee is made a safer place to raise every family," legal advocates said.
Jul 09, 2023
A 2-1 split panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled Saturday that Tennessee can enforce its ban on gender-affirming healthcare for minors—reversing a lower court's preliminary injunction, ignoring the guidance of every major medical organization in the United States, and delivering a crushing blow to trans youth and their supporters.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson found that S.B. 1—which prohibits doctors from providing puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and other forms of gender-affirming care to minors and requires trans youth currently receiving such care to stop within nine months—discriminates on the basis of sex and is therefore unconstitutional, siding with plaintiffs who sued Tennessee. The Trump administration appointee blocked large swaths of the law, which was set to take effect on July 1, from being implemented.
Saturday's decision, which came in response to an emergency appeal from Republican Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, temporarily lifts Richardson's order and allows S.B. 1 to take immediate effect while the lawsuit proceeds.
Skrmetti applauded the appeals court, saying, "The case is far from over, but this is a big win." The panel plans to reach a final verdict by September 30, at which point the law could be struck down or upheld.
"This ruling is beyond disappointing and a heartbreaking development for thousands of transgender youth, their doctors, and their families," the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Tennessee, Lambda Legal, and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP said in a joint statement. "As we and our clients consider our next steps, we want all the transgender youth of Tennessee to know this fight is far from over and we will continue to challenge this law until it is permanently defeated and Tennessee is made a safer place to raise every family."
The U.S. Justice Department in April filed a separate lawsuit against the Tennessee law.
"This ruling is beyond disappointing and a heartbreaking development for thousands of transgender youth, their doctors, and their families."
Two of the three judges on the Sixth Circuit panel argued that the plaintiffs "have not shown that a right to new medical treatments is 'deeply rooted in our history and traditions,' and thus beyond the democratic process to regulate"—echoing language used by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito when he wrote the majority opinion overturning Roe v. Wade and suggesting that transgender rights should be left to the discretion of state lawmakers. Notably, they are the first two federal judges in the country to allow a prohibition on gender-affirming care to fully take hold.
As part of their broader attack on LGBTQ+ people, Republican-controlled legislatures have approved bans or restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors in at least 20 states since 2021, forcing many families and doctors to move or consider relocating. The federal judiciary, which has repeatedly blocked such laws from being enforced, had been a key source of reprieve until Saturday.
In addition to Richardson in Tennessee, judges in five other states—Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, and Kentucky—have determined that trans youth healthcare bans are unconstitutional or likely unconstitutional.
Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld U.S. District Judge Jay Moody's preliminary injunction against Arkansas' ban. Last month, in what was the first ruling on the merits of such a law, Moody concluded the state had violated the U.S. Constitution—namely the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection and due process clauses as well as First Amendment rights—and issued a permanent injunction. Republican Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said he plans to appeal the ruling, though it will be heard by the same court that already backed Moody in 2022.
At his Law Dork blog, journalist Chris Geidner explained the shoddy reasoning behind and dangerous implications of Saturday's 17-page ruling—written by Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, and endorsed by Judge Amul Thapar, who, like Richardson, was picked by former President Donald Trump.
After Sutton cited the aforementioned series of decisions halting multiple gender-affirming care bans around the country, he wrote: "We appreciate their perspectives, and they give us pause. But they do not eliminate our doubts about the ultimate strength of the challengers' claims."
Despite being the only court to dismiss plaintiffs' constitutional arguments, Geidner noted, "Sutton still attempted to claim the mantle of judicial modesty, stating that these are just 'initial views,' and adding: 'We may be wrong. It may be that the one week we have had to resolve this motion does not suffice to see our own mistakes.'"
"Nonetheless," Geidner pointed out, "Sutton was okay with his court being the sole one in the nation to allow such restrictions to be enforced."
Dissenting Judge Helene White said that she would have limited Richardson's statewide injunction so that it applied only to the plaintiffs and the Vanderbilt University Medical Center where they sought care. But unlike Sutton and Thapar, White sided with the many judges who have ruled in similar cases, writing that "the law discriminates based on sex" and "is likely unconstitutional."
Geidner went on to describe how Saturday's ruling "alters the legal landscape for these bans, at least temporarily."
As discussed at the outset, Tennessee is now allowed to enforce S.B. 1, barring any further court orders.
"The untenable position that adolescents, their caregivers, and their doctors have been put in is not only illegal, but also deeply unethical and dangerous."
Chase Strangio—a prominent ACLU lawyer working on several challenges to anti-trans laws nationwide, including Tennessee's—told Geidner that "things are moving quickly and for many families, waiting for legal relief is not an option. The untenable position that adolescents, their caregivers, and their doctors have been put in is not only illegal, but also deeply unethical and dangerous."
Strangio, the deputy director for transgender justice within the ACLU's LGBTQ & HIV Project, said that the ACLU "will continue to aggressively litigate these cases in Tennessee and across the country."
When asked whether the challengers would try to get the stay lifted, either by the full Sixth Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court, Strangio stated, "We are still evaluating all our options with our primary concern of course being how can we help ensure that people in Tennessee are not cut off from the care they need."
Sutton's self-imposed deadline to resolve the case is September 30.
Meanwhile, Kentucky falls within the Sixth Circuit. In a Saturday court filing, Republican Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron cited the panel's ruling as a reason why U.S. District Judge David Hale should "immediately" issue a stay of his June 28 decision granting a preliminary injunction.
According to Geidner, "The Sixth Circuit also consolidated Cameron's appeal of the Kentucky injunction in a separate order Saturday, which not only brings that case on the same schedule as the Tennessee appeal but also essentially confirms that Sixth Circuit would almost certainly issue a stay of the Kentucky injunction if the district court does not do so."
He continued:
Finally, the new, if tentative, lack of unanimity itself matters for two reasons—one rhetorical and one practical. Obviously, having unanimity is its own argument against the constitutionality of these bans. Additionally, although only at the stay request posture, the ruling increases the likelihood that a "circuit split" on these bans will develop—a factor that greatly increases the chances of the U.S. Supreme Court taking up one of these cases.
Few people know that better than Sutton.
It was, after all, Sutton's 2014 decision in the marriage cases out of Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee that prompted the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the issue of same-sex couples' constitutional right to marriage equality. Less than two months before Sutton's decision in those cases, the Supreme Court denied other states' requests to hear similar appeals when the federal appeals courts were in unanimity on the issue. After Sutton's decision created a circuit split, however, the Supreme Court took up the issue.
Geidner's argument dovetails with one put forth last week by The Intercept's Natasha Lennard, who warned that the GOP is poised to replicate its anti-abortion strategy—pushing the issue up the judicial ladder until it reaches a potentially favorable audience among the high court's reactionary majority—to destroy LGBTQ+ rights.
"Republicans have made clear that they plan to brute force their eliminationist assault on trans people into legal reality," Lennard wrote. "The far right knows how to bend legal paradigms to their will through tireless and well-funded campaigns, working through the minority rule of Republican-led statehouses until eventually reaching the Supreme Court. The same playbook hacked away at abortion access until an established right was wholly overturned, and settled law was ripped to shreds."
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'A Decade of Stagnation': UN Report Shows 9 in 10 People Still Hold Biases Against Women
"This is truly alarming and explains why the world is completely off track in achieving gender equality by 2030," an Oxfam Great Britain researcher said.
Jun 12, 2023
A United Nations report revealed Monday that despite "powerful" global movements such as #MeToo, Ni Una Menos, Time's Up, and Un Violador en Tu Camino, about 9 in 10 people worldwide still hold biases against women.
The new Gender Social Norms Index report covers 85% of the world's population and incorporates data from 2017-22. It follows the 2020 edition, which covered over 80% of the global population and relied on data through 2014.
According to the U.N. Development Program (UNDP), which produced both publications, the latest report shows "a decade of stagnation" across four dimensions explored by researchers: political, educational, economic, and physical integrity.
\u201cNew @UNDP report shows no progress in level of bias against women:\n\n\u27a1\ufe0f 50% believe men make better political leaders\n\u27a1\ufe0f 40% believe men make better business executives\n\u27a1\ufe0f 25% believe it is justified for a man to beat his wife\n\n\ud83d\udcf0 Read our full story here: https://t.co/HkjWhoEm0q\u201d— UN News (@UN News) 1686542700
"Nearly half the world's people believe that men make better political leaders than women do, and two of five people believe that men make better business executives than women do," the publication states, highlighting how few women hold roles in both areas.
"Only 11% of heads of state and 9% of heads of government are women, and women hold only 22% of ministerial posts," while "in the paid economy women hold only 28% of managerial positions," the document details. "Even when women reach leadership positions, gender biases lead to unequal treatment and judgment."
"All biased gender social norms are potentially harmful, but perhaps none has a more direct impact on women's agency and well-being than those leading to violence against women and girls," the report stresses. Over a quarter of people "believe that it is justifiable for a man to beat his wife," and a similar share of women and girls over age 15 have endured intimate partner violence.
The document also warns that "the world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030," which is among the 17 sustainable development goals adopted by the U.N. in 2015. Targets of the gender equality goal include ending all forms of discrimination against women and girls, including violence and harmful practices such as forced marriage, ensuring access to economic resources and reproductive healthcare, recognizing underpaid domestic work, and boosting female leadership in politics and beyond.
Anam Parvez, head of research at Oxfam Great Britain, responded with alarm to the new UNDP report's key figures.
"This is truly alarming and explains why the world is completely off track in achieving gender equality by 2030," she told The Guardian. "In 2021, 1 in 5 women were married before they turn 18, 1.7 billion women and girls live on less than $5.50 a day, and women continue to take on three times as much unpaid care and domestic work as men around the world."
"At the current rate of progress it will take 186 years to close gaps in legal protections," Parvez pointed out. "It also explains why, while there has been some progress on enacting laws that advance women's rights, social norms continue to be deeply entrenched and pervasive."
\u201c.@UNDP's new Gender Social Norms Index shows that there has been no improvement in biases against women in a decade.\n\nAlmost 9 out of 10 men and women worldwide still hold biases against women.\n\n#CheckYourBias now: https://t.co/VxVcfcUqCu\u201d— Human Development (@Human Development) 1686542465
The report says that "the gender-based biases we carry into voting booths, board meetings, interview panels, and assemblies present barriers to women's ability to fulfill their full potential. Policies to achieve comprehensive gender equality have to be designed and implemented to address biased gender social norms."
Raquel Lagunas, director of UNDP's Gender Team, explained that "an important place to start is recognizing the economic value of unpaid care work. This can be a very effective way of challenging gender norms around how care work is viewed."
"In countries with the highest levels of gender biases against women," Lagunas noted, "it is estimated that women spend over six times as much time as men on unpaid care work."
Pedro Conceição, head of UNDP’s Human Development Report Office, emphasized that "social norms that impair women's rights are also detrimental to society more broadly, dampening the expansion of human development."
"In fact, lack of progress on gender social norms is unfolding against a human development crisis: The global Human Development Index (HDI) declined in 2020 for the first time on record—and again the following year," he said. "Everyone stands to gain from ensuring freedom and agency for women."
The U.S. National Domestic Violence Hotline can be reached at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), by texting "START" to 88788, or through chat at thehotline.org. It offers 24/7, free, and confidential support. DomesticShelters.org has a list of global and national resources.
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