Minister's address on the occasion of a visit by a Japanese Women's Group to Iceland (Ávarp dómsmálaráðherra í tilefni af heimsókn japanskra kvenna til Íslands
Minister's address on the occasion of a visit by a Japanese Women's Group to Iceland August 2nd 2000
Ávarp dómsmálaráðherra í tilefni af heimsókn japanskra kvenna til Íslands 2. ágúst 2000.
Dear Guests from Japan,
I wish you welcomed to Iceland.
My name is Sólveig Pétursdóttir and I am a Member of Parliament and Minister of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs in the Icelandic Government. I was an alternate member of Parliament 1987 – 1991 and I have been a permanent Member of Parliament since 1991. I am a member for the Reykjavík constituency.
I would like to use this opportunity to explain to you the status of women in Icelandic politics.
Equality in daily life between the sexes in Iceland has come a long way during the last half century. Women have gradually been accepted into the professions and in some professions like law, where they were exceptions in 1950 they are now becoming a majority within a foreseeable future. The legislation of equality stipulates that all official bodies and employers may not prefer men before women and they shall pay same wages to employers of both sexes. Special rules apply regarding equality in employment by official bodies.
Equality has developed both by legislation and by increased public awareness and it is now stipulated in our constitution. The first legislation giving women equal rights to education and official positions was passed by Parliament in 1911 and their right to vote in 1915. The present legislation is from 1991. There is a special administrative body which receives and processes complaints regarding breach of the law, but an injured party can also ask for redress before the courts.
Here in Parliament there are today 22 ladies out of a total of 63 members. In percentages the ladies are 35 percent of the total. This is of course not enough – the aim is more or less half of the members as women are half of the population. But we have come a long way as I said.
There are 5 political parties represented in the present Parliament. The largest of these is my party, and the chairman of our parliamentary group is a lady. Other political parties have also had ladies as chairmen of their party.
In the present government there are today 12 ministers out of which 4 are women. All ministers are also members of Parliament.
Iceland became independent as a commonwealth of Denmark in 1918. We then shared the sovereign family with Denmark. In 1944 we established a republic with a president who is elected directly by the voters. It can be said that the president inherited the powers of the Danish sovereign, which then had been much restricted compared to past centuries and can not be compared for instance to the powers of the U.S. president. The president has however an important role in our public life. Since 1944 we have had 5 presidents one of which is a lady, Mme Vigdís Finnbogadóttir.
In public administration Iceland has a two-tiered system, the state government and 124 local authorities, each with a directly elected local council. In these local councils 28,2 percent of the representatives are now women but as late as 1982 the corresponding number was 12,4 percent.
Dear guests.
We value increased contacts with Japan, which is one of our most important trading partners. We have a positive balance of trade with Japan although our imports of Japanese products are considerable. Especially our seafood products have found a good market in Japan and we are very happy about that.
But we would like to increase our cultural ties with Japan and its highly refined culture. I know for instance that the study of Japanese is becoming more popular among Icelanders and appreciation of Japanese art is growing. Cultural currents from Iceland to Japan are also becoming stronger.
I hope that you will have an enjoyable time here in Iceland and that you will return home with fond memories.
Thank you for taking time to visit us here.