With just three women in the new cabinet, we are poorly represented in our new government. Iceland, however, has a new three-party coalition led by three female politicians with seven female cabinet ministers. Karen McHugh reports from Reykjavik on how Icelandic society has achieved gender equality in politics
‘Women bring what I call capitalism with care’: Iceland’s president Halla Tómasdóttir. Photo: Karen McHugh
One wintry weekend at the end of November, two general elections took place on two islands in the Atlantic. Both were snap elections, held a day apart — but their outcomes could not be more different.
While Ireland was appointing just three women in a cabinet of 15 ministers, Iceland had created a three-party coalition government with three female leaders at the helm, and seven out of its 11 cabinet ministers were women.