Ólöf Garðarsdóttir (left), Birna Bjarnadóttir (centre) and Sofiya Zahova (right) discuss ongoing gender struggles in Iceland today 50 years after the Icelandic Women’s Strike.
From October 22-25, 2025 we hosted three scholars from the University of Iceland at UBC for a range of activities including a guest lecture in a Nordic literature class, a public talk on Romani comics, relationship-building activities with faculty from Nordic Studies, and a public panel discussion following a screening of the 2024 documentary The Day Iceland Stood Still on the 50th anniversary of the Icelandic Women’s Strike. Panelists reflected on their own personal experiences related to the strike, its legacy, and the necessary work that carries forward in the strike’s wake.
Visiting speakers:
- Ólöf Garðarsdóttir, Professor of Social History, Dean of the School of Humanities, University of Iceland
- Birna Bjarnadóttir, Research Specialist, Faculty of Languages and Cultures, University of Iceland, and former Chair of Icelandic (2003 —2015), University of Manitoba
- Sofiya Zahova, Director of the Vigdís International Centre for Multilingualism and Intercultural Understanding, School of Humanities, University of Iceland
Visiting speaker Ólöf Garðarsdóttir seated next to Brynjarr Þór (Perry) Mendoza, looking across the table at Sofiya Zahova and Birna Bjarnadóttir during a lunch meeting at local Vancouver staple East is East Silk and Spice Restaurant.
Brynjarr Þór (Perry) Mendoza, who moderated the panel, kicked off the film with a land acknowledgment in Icelandic. The screening of The Day Iceland Stood Still also officially launched our Pop Film Series this year, starting strong with ~100 people in attendance, including a large turnout from the Icelandic Canadian Club of British Columbia, who reported that the documentary was “stunning”, “important”, and “a must-see.” The panel discussion added important context for our current moment, demonstrating that progress is incremental and always ongoing. Speakers noted that the fight for LGBTQ+ rights continued (and continues) alongside gender equality, not always along the same timeline or with the same success, and that some of the major areas where inequities still persist are in gendered and sexual violence and for migrant women in Iceland, who remain marginalized through economic, social, and legal conditions.
Visiting speaker Sofiya Zahova talks with María McKay, board member of the Icelandic Canadian Club and editor of its newsletter.
The film also highlighted the importance of relationships, networks, and coalition-building in sustaining and maintaining social justice movements. The Women’s Strike was organized not just by feminists and women’s groups but also with labour organizers and union activists, who shared larger common goals. Similarly, the multi-day scholar visit highlighted the value of interdisciplinary scholarly exchange, relationship-building, and community collaboration in creating more accessible and equitable opportunities for dialogue and engagement while advancing opportunities for collaborative research across institutions and continents.
We are ever grateful for our ongoing collaborations with the UBC Film Society at the historic Norm Theatre, and we look forward to seeing more Pop Film collaborations on the Norm’s marquee!
