Gender equality is a top priority of H.E. Katrin Jakobsdottir’s government. During her six years as Prime Minister, she has initiated various legal amendments and policies to implement and enforce Council of Europe agreements and recommendations, including in relation to the Istanbul Convention and the recommendation on combating hate speech from 2022. Prime Minister Jakobsdottir has also worked hard on combatting gender-based violence in Icelandic society by putting targeted actions in place.
During the Icelandic Presidency of the Council of Europe in 2022 and2023, one of the four main themes of the Council of Europe’s work, next to democracy and the rule of law, the environment, and children and youth, was equality. Prime Minister Jakobsdottir’s commitment to equality, women’s rights and to the Council of Europe and its fundamental values, led to the Council of Europe Summit being held in Reykjavík in 2023. A special focus was put on combating digital violence and looking at the role of men and boys in gender equality policies. The “Vigdís Prize for Women’s Empowerment” was also established.
Prime Minister Jakobsdóttir has taken big steps regarding the protection the rights of LGBTIQ+ individuals and other minorities, such as the Act on Gender Autonomy and laws on equal treatment outside the labour market regardless of race and ethnic origin. The action plan on LGBTIQ+ rights and equality, the first of its kind in the history of Iceland, was also passed last year. During Prime Minister Jakobsdóttir’s term, Iceland has gone up 13 places on the ILGA Europe Rainbow Map, and Iceland is now on top of the Transgender Europe Map.
From 2017 to 2018, Katrín Jakobsdóttir was a parliamentarian at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Last year, as the Prime Minister of Iceland, she hosted the 4th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe in Reykjavík last year. She recalls the importance of the Council of Europe’s values, human rights, democracy and the rule of law, in these turbulent times we are living.
The project “75 women in 75 years of Council of Europe history” is organised by the Delegation of the European Union to the Council of Europe with the Council of Europe and the Permanent Representations of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
