A Graduate of The School of Housewives Writes on Iceland´s Day of Women´s Strike

It’s a day of mixed emotions.

My graduation from the Master’s program in Creative Writing at the University of Iceland happens to fall on Iceland’s Women’s Strike.

The first Women’s Strike was held in 1975, when 90% of Icelandic women stopped working, both paid and unpaid jobs, to demonstrate the importance of women’s labor. The event had a profound impact on Icelandic society and helped pave the way for the world’s first democratically elected female president, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, who was a childhood friend of my grandmother. She took office in 1980, the year I was born.

Throughout my studies in creative writing, which have been a source of inspiration, nourishment, and shelter over the past few years, I’ve written extensively about equality, gender-based violence, the impact stories have on culture, and authorship.

Among other things, I wrote the dramedy TV series Húsó (The School of Housewives) in the program. Last week, it was announced that the series received the most nominations at the 2024 Icelandic Television Awards, including Best Scripted Series and Best Script, where I finally received credit, with my pseudonym, Hekla Hólm, a big moment for me.

It’s a strange kind of full circle.

In honor of the day, I’d like to share the following excerpts from an essay I wrote during my studies:

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Knowledge is power, and throughout history, marginalized groups have been restricted from accessing education and information by those in power, to prevent rebellion against the system.

Up until the Second World War, it was widely believed that men’s and women’s education should be separate and tailored to what was considered appropriate for each gender.

The unwritten policy in Iceland was that every woman should attend a housewives’ school, care for the home and children, and thereby strengthen the nation’s morality while preserving its “untainted rural culture” (Valborg Sigurðardóttir)

The Reykjavík School of Housewives was founded in 1941. Similar schools operated across the country around the turn of the century and were often the only form of education available to women. In 1964, the name was officially changed to the Reykjavík School of Home Management.

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After completing addiction rehab in Sweden in 2020, I have been sober. As part of my rehabilitation, I decided to take a break from my work as an actor and improv teacher and enrolled in the Reykjavík School of Home Management, known among its students as “Húsó.” From the late headmistress Margrét Sigfúsdóttir, I received invaluable support at a vulnerable time when I was taking my first steps in recovery.

Almost daily I shared photos and videos from school life on social media (see “Húsó 2020” highlights on Instagram @dorajohanns). These posts received a lot of positive attention, and Icelandic media frequently picked up stories from them and reached out for interviews.

Shortly after graduating, I began developing a TV series based on my own experience, about a single mother who enrolls in Húsó after rehab. The project was co-written with others, and its working title was Hekla – named after the main character. Hekla is an Icelandic woman’s name of Gaelic origin, and it also happens to be the Icelandic verb for “crocheting,” as well as the name of one of Iceland’s most famous volcanoes.

In January 2022, I met with the Head of Programming at RÚV (The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service) regarding another project, and during that meeting, I unexpectedly received the green light for Húsó.

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According to archaeologist Þorvaldur Friðriksson, many of the best-known aspects of Viking culture, such as poetry and music, have their origins in Celtic tradition. This fact has often been overlooked, along with research by deCODE Genetics showing that around 63% of the women who settled Iceland came from Ireland and Scotland (Carrell). The ancestry of most Icelanders can therefore be traced to Norse Viking men and the Celtic women they abducted on their way here. The story of Iceland, in a sense, begins with gender-based violence.

Most Icelanders know the names of acclaimed authors Halldór Laxness and Gunnar Gunnarsson, but fewer have heard of Torfhildur Þorsteinsdóttir Hólm (1845–1918), the first Icelander to work professionally as a writer. Torfhildur was a pioneer, yet men who followed in her footsteps often borrowed from her work without acknowledging her contribution (Helga Kress).

The stories that find space in media and culture rarely reflect the true diversity of society. Those with the easiest access to media are often the same people who hold economic, political, and cultural power – most often white, heterosexual, non-disabled men. Women have been systematically undervalued, ignored, exploited, silenced, and erased throughout history, maintaining their subordination (Lerner).

In the early years of cinema, women had great influence on shaping the art form, such as Alice Guy-Blaché, one of the first film directors in history. Between 1911 and 1929, women wrote about half of all screenplays in the United States, and themes of women’s liberation were common, as in the films of Lois Weber (1916–1917) that dealt with birth control and abortion (White).

As the film industry expanded and began generating more profit, creative women in positions of power were gradually pushed aside, and the field has since remained dominated by men (Bielby). A male perspective has almost always defined film history: 97% of all films ever made have been directed by men (Liddy). In Iceland, about 90% of all feature films have been directed by men (Guðrún Elsa Bragadóttir).

The first Icelandic film directed by a woman was credited to her male cameraman and producer. That film was Ágirnd (Greed), directed by Svala Hannesdóttir, released in 1952 (Anna María Björnsdóttir). Guðný Halldórsdóttir, one of Iceland’s most accomplished filmmakers, never received the same recognition as her male peers. Her contribution to her own films was often questioned in the media, which tended to credit her producer husband or her father, the Nobel Prize winning author Halldór Laxness, with much of her creative work (Jóna Gréta Hilmarsdóttir).

Many describe the Icelandic film industry as “the Wild West,“ referring to questionable practices that persist without consequences. Most employees rely almost entirely on freelance payments. There are no collective agreements to establish fair standards for pay or working conditions, leaving individuals’ bargaining power entirely dependent on circumstance. Job security is virtually nonexistent, and without unions, it’s best not to ‘rock the boat’ if one hopes to get more work.

Surveys show that women experience the Icelandic film industry as male-dominated, unwelcoming, and even hostile toward women in positions of power, and that women are less likely than men to maintain long-term careers within the field (Guðrún Elsa Bragadóttir).

Research shows that media continues to reinforce gender imbalance through unequal coverage and stereotypical portrayals (Collins).

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People experience the world differently depending on gender, skin color, body type, age, nationality, and many other factors. Each person’s perspective is unique and it´s important that we have access to stories told from diverse points of view.

When people talk about freedom of expression today, they usually mean the right to speak freely. But historically, the main argument for protecting free expression was rooted in the public’s right to listen – to have access to, weigh, and consider different viewpoints (Mill, Milton).

Through seeing and hearing people’s stories, we can try to put ourselves in each other’s shoes, and as a result become more likely to feel empathy, and more capable of approaching every individual’s experience with understanding and respect, even when it’s far from our own.“

“We are shards of the mirror, broken from the whole. When we put the pieces back together, we see ourselves and the world as one.”– a quote attributed to the Sufi poet Rumi

I am deeply grateful to my teachers, both at Húsó and in the Creative Writing program, for their inspiration and encouragement, and to my schoolmates for their companionship. I still don’t know how to cook, but I look forward to continuing the projects I’ve been writing and sharing them with the world.

But today, I’m joining the Women’s Strike in Iceland – because the backlash against gender equality is real, and together we can make a difference.

“A word after a word after a word is power.”– Margaret Atwood

(Note: This is the English translation of an essay first published in Icelandic on October 24th, 2025.)

References:

Anna María Björnsdóttir. 2024. “Linsan – Konur í kvikmyndagerð.” Ríkisútvarpið, útvarpsþáttur, 5. júlí. https://www.ruv.is/utvarp/spila/linsan-konur-i-kvikmyndagerd/36681/atq4sh.

Bielby, D. 2009. “Gender Inequality in Culture Industries: Women and Men Writers in Film and Television.” Sociologie du Travail 51 (2). https://doi.org/10.4000/sdt.16462.

Carrell, S. 2023. “Is Iceland’s Language a Norse Code – or Legacy of Celtic Settlers?” The Guardian, 4 January. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/04/iceland-language-culture-inspired-gaelic-settlers-says-author.

Collins, R. L. 2011. “Content Analysis of Gender Roles in Media: Where Are We Now and Where Should We Go?” Sex Roles 64: 290–298. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-010-9929-5.

Dóra Jóhannsdóttir (@dorajohanns). 2025. “Húsó (2020).” Instagram Highlights.https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18054416563841258.

Guðrún Elsa Bragadóttir. 2020. “Out in the Cold? Women Filmmakers in Iceland.” In Women in the International Film Industry: Policy, Practice and Power, ed. S. Liddy. Switzerland: Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39070-9_11.

Helga Kress. 2002. “Á hverju liggja ekki vorar göfugu kellíngar.” Saga 40 (2).

Jóna Gréta Hilmarsdóttir. 2021. Falin fyrirmynd: Femínísk greining á fjölmiðlaumræðu. BA ritgerð í kvikmyndafræði, Háskóli Íslands.

Lerner, G. 1986. The Creation of Patriarchy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Liddy, S. 2020. “The Gendered Landscape in the International Film Industry: Continuity and Change.” In Women in the International Film Industry, ed. S. Liddy. Switzerland: Springer Nature.

Mill, J. S. 2003. On Liberty. Yale University Press.

Milton, J. 1999. Areopagitica. Ed. J. Alvis. Liberty Fund.

Valborg Sigurðardóttir. 2005. Íslenska menntakonan verður til. Reykjavík: Bókafélagið.

White, P. 1998. “Feminism and Film.” In The Oxford Guide to Film Studies, eds. J. Hill and P. C. Gibson. Oxford: Oxford University Press.