Iceland's Secrets

Iceland has topped the World Economic Forum's index on global gender equality for the last 16 years. A compelling book gives unique insights into how this small nation on the edge of Europe became the world’s leader in gender parity.

Secrets of the Sprakkar: Iceland’s Extraordinary Women and How They Are Changing the World (2022) is a blend of history and memoir. The author, Eliza Reid, cofounder of the Iceland Writers Retreat, interviews female leaders from finance, politics, agriculture, fisheries and the arts to illustrate the many facets of Iceland’s journey.

Interspersed with the interviews are historical examples of Iceland’s sprakkar, or legendary women, to illustrate their longstanding tradition. These include Hallgerdur Höskulsdóttir, a saga-era sprakki seen as one of the country’s earliest feminists, and Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, who was elected President in 1980.

Writer, Mom, First Lady

Braided with these is Reid’s own story and her unique vantage point, as an immigrant, entrepreneur, a mother of four children under six at the time of publication, and as Iceland’s First Lady from 2016 to 2024.

Her status as both insider and outsider to Icelandic society lends weight to her tale of how policies and social structures made her own journey possible.

The Secrets

Icelanders enjoy mandatory leave for both parents when a child is born, a robust public healthcare system, and government-regulated and subsidized childcare.

In 2022, Iceland boasted one of the highest proportions of women working outside the home. Reid illustrates how each of these plus a myriad of other policies, including quotas that demand women hold a certain number of corporate leadership positions, has created a society that does not debate whether or not gender equality is important or relevant, but instead how best to achieve it.

Women’s Day Off

The results? A growing population, a growing economy, and a society that works together to make equality possible. Reid does not deny that privilege exists, or that she benefits because of her class, color, and sexual orientation. Work still needs to be done on many fronts, but progress is possible and underway. 

Reid and her interviewees point out that Iceland is an example, not a blueprint, and their success depends partly on unique cultural and historical features. For example, a day-long, countrywide ”Women's Day Off" protest in 1975 by roughly 90% of the women in the country led to the election of the first female head of state in 1980. In addition to government-subsidized childcare, extended families typically live near each other and can offer care in all stages of life.

Yet, just like the ancient and modern sprakkar, Reid reveals in these pages that Iceland is a role model for what can be done, for what is possible.

Lessons for Japan

The Japanese translation of Secrets was published on the 50th anniversary of Women’s Day Off, along with several other books attempting to show why Iceland is the planet’s leader in gender equality.

Japan ranks the lowest among the G7 countries in the gender equality index, at 31st from the bottom of 148 nations. The ranking is updated by OECD every year. 

From Oct. 24 through the International Women’s Day on March 8, several events are organized throughout Japan including the documentary screening of the Day Iceland Stood Still and Women’s Day Project.

Secrets of the Sprakkar: Iceland’s Extraordinary Women and How They Are Changing the World by Eliza Reid (Simon & Schuster 304 pages 2022)

Unfiltered edited the Japanese translation ジェンダー平等世界一　アイスランドの並外れた女性たち (Akashi Shoten Publishing, October 2025)