Closing the Gender Pay Gap: Global Concepts, Local Negotiations in Iceland and Sweden, 1900–1985

Focusing on two of the Nordic countries, Iceland and Sweden, this chapter argues that to understand the dynamics of the struggle for equal remuneration it is important to take account of the transnational context. Using social movement theory as a point of reference, as well as previous research on the international aspect of the struggle for wage equality, we map out the interaction between the local, national, and global from the turn of the twentieth century to the end of the United Nations Decade for Women in 1985. We analyse transnational activism and the mobilization processes involved to discern the triangular relationship between transnational actors, the state, and international institutions and explain why and how political opportunities emerging either locally, nationally, or internationally were transferred and used in protests and struggles at the local level. Both Iceland and Sweden were affiliated with the same international organisations, most importantly in this context the International Labour Organisation and the United Nations, and we show that despite different patterns in the relationship between activists, the state, and international bodies they confirm a general periodization of equal pay struggles worldwide.