I Dare! I Can! I Will!
The Day the Icelandic Women
Walked Out and Inspired the World
Written by Linda Olafsdottir
Cameron Kids, 2023
“I Dare! I Can! I Will!” opens as
Mamma bundles up her daughter Vera to go on a women’s march with her. As they take
a bus to the march, she tells Vera about the Women’s Day Off or the Long
Friday. This was a march she went to with her own mother on this day in 1975 when
she was a child Vera’s age.
Women’s Day Off happened on
October 24, 1975. Women from all over Iceland marched out of their homes and
jobs. They took the day off.
Mamma explains that women had
been fighting for equal rights for many years. At one time, girls weren’t
allowed to go to school. They were kept at home to learn how to take care of
the household and children.
As time went by, more women got
educations and worked outside the home. But they were paid only about one half
of what men were paid, Mamma tells Vera.
In 1975, the United Nations
declared the year International Women’s Year. Women of Iceland decided it was
time to show the world how important they were. So, they decided to take the
day off and show their bosses, their coworkers, their husbands, and everyone
how much they were missed.
At exactly 2 p.m., women of
Ireland walked out of their jobs and homes. They marched, sang, and cheered, “I
dare! I can! I will!”
The men had to do all the work
that women usually did – both on the job and in the home. For them, the day
felt very long. That is why the day was nicknamed Long Friday.
The news of what the Icelandic
women did traveled around the world, and inspired similar women’s strikes all
over.
Mamma tells Vera that it is
important for them to remember the women who dared to leave their jobs and march
for women’s rights. She asks her daughter, “Will you dare?” Vera shouts, “I WILL!”
as she joins the march.
This picture book is a good story
for girls today who can be inspired by Ireland’s history. The colorful illustrations
have an old-fashioned feel and bring the story to life.
In the back of the book, the
author tells more details about Ireland’s Women’s Day Off with photographs. She
says today Iceland is one of the most gender-equal countries in the world.
However, women have not gained complete parity with men. They continue the
fight.
One criticism is that if this
story takes place today, Vera’s mother would not be old enough to have marched
in a protest in 1975 as a child. Instead, Mamma could have told her daughter
about marching on the anniversary of the Women’s Day Off when she was a child.
About the Author and Illustrator
Linda Olafsdottir is an
award-winning Icelandic children’s book author and illustrator. She wrote and
illustrated “Play?”, published by Cameron Kids. She illustrated “Mindi and the
Goose No One Else Could See,” published in the U.S. by Candlewick Press, 2021. She
lives in Reykjavik, Iceland, with her husband and two children. Visit her at
lindaolafsdottir.com.
