Iceland's women go on strike to mark 50 years of closing gap

Iceland is the only country to have closed the gender gap by more than 90%, according to the World Economic Forum, and, for the first time in its history, every national leadership position - including president, prime minister, bishop and police chief - is now held by a woman.

- Miranda Bryant

But as people go on strike to mark the 50th anniversary of kvennafrí (women's day off), the protest that kickstarted a global equality revolution, the Icelandic president warned that her country was not immune from gender-related "red flags" and a global backlash against feminism.

Halla Tómasdóttir, who last year became Iceland's second female president in an election that saw 75% of the population vote for female candidates, put her country's world-leading success at improving gender equality down to five decades of work that followed the 1975 strike.

Iceland, she said, was "powered by two sustainable energies: geothermal power and girl power".