National and University Library of Iceland
IS – Íslenska

Reading Material

Reading material on important themes in the history of women in Iceland in English. For shorter articles in English, please visit our section ‘Facts and Trivia‘.

Websites

Other media

Books

  • Auður Styrkársdóttir. From Feminism to Class Politics : The Rise and Decline of Women’s Politics in Reykjavík, 1908-1922. Research Report ; 1998:6. Umeå: Umeå University, Department of Political Science, 1998.
  • Bára Baldursdóttir, ‘This Rot Spreads Like an Epidemic’. Policing Adolescent Female Sexuality in Iceland During World War II. College Park, University of Maryland College Park, 2000.
  • Guðjón Friðriksson, Mrs. President. The World’s First Democratically Elected Woman President. Reykjavík, Örn & Örlygur, 1980.
  • Guðný Hallgrímsdóttir, A Tale of a Fool? A Microhistory of an 18th-Century Peasant Woman. London: Routledge, 2019. 
  • Jenny Jochens, Women in Old Norse Society. Ithaca ; London: Cornell University Press, 1998.
  • Ólöf Garðarsdóttir, Saving the Child. Regional, cultural and social aspects of the infant mortality decline in Iceland, 1770-1920. Umeå: Umeå University, 2002.
  • Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon, Wasteland with Words : A Social History of Iceland. London: Reaktion, 2010. 
  • Sigríður Dúna Kristmundsdóttir,  Doing and Becoming. Women’s Movement and Women’s Personhood in Iceland, 1870-1990.  Reykjavík.  Félagsvísindastofnun Háskóla Íslands, Háskólaútgáfan 1997. [Doctoral Thesis]
  • Þorgerður Hrönn Þorvaldsdóttir, From Gender Only to Equality to Equality for All : A Critical Examination of the Expansion of Equality Work in Iceland. Reykjavík: University of Iceland, Faculty of Political Science, 2012. [Doctoral Thesis]         Chapters
  • Agnes Siggerður Arnórsdóttir. „Property and virginity : change in the contract of marriage in the middle ages“ “ Holt, Richard, Lange, Hilde, and Spring, Ulrike. Internationalisation in the History of Northern Europe : Report of the Nordsaga ’99 Conference, University of Tromsø, 17-21 Nov. 1999. Tromsø: Universitetet I Tromsø, 2000, 79-89.
  • Auður Styrkársdóttir. „Iceland : breaking male dominance by extraordinary means“ in Dahlerup, Drude, and Leijenaar, Monique. Breaking Male Dominance in Old Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. P. 124-145.
  • Auður Styrkársdóttir. “From social movement to political party : the new women’s movement in Iceland”. Dahlerup, Drude, and European Consortium for Political Research. The New Women’s Movement : Feminism and Political Power in Europe and the USA. SAGE Modern Politics Series ; 12. London ; Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1986.
  • Auður Styrkársdóttir, ‘Women’s lists in Iceland – A response to political lethargy’ in Christina Bergqvist et.al. (eds.) Equal Democracies? Gender and Politics in the Nordic Countries. Oslo, Scandinavian University Press1999.
  • Erla Hulda Halldórsdóttir. “Don’t you forget your always loving sister” : writing as a social and cultural capital“ , Vernacular Literacies : Past, Present and Future. Editors: Edlund, Ann-Catrine, Edlund, Lars-Erik, Haugen, Susanne. Northern Studies Monographs. Umeå: Umeå University : Royal Skyttean Society, 2014, 181-192.
  • Erla Hulda Halldórsdóttir. „A biography of her own : the historical narrative and Sigríður Pálsdóttir (1809-1871)“ in Biography, Gender and History : Nordic Perspectives. Editors: Kinnunen, Tiina, Leskelä-Kärki, Maarit, Possing, Birgitte, and Erla Hulda Halldórsdóttir, 2016, 81-100.
  • Erla Hulda Halldórsdóttir. L’historiographie Islandaise : Thématiques, Méthodologies, Professionnalisation = Icelandic Historiography : Themes, Methodologies, Professionnalization., 2016, 183-207.
  • Erla Hulda Halldórsdóttir. “Private Letters”. Petö, Andrea, and Waaldijk, Berteke. Teaching with Memories : European Women’s Histories in International and Interdisciplinary Classrooms.Galway: Women’s Studies Centre, NUI, 2006, 66-74.
  • Erla Hulda Halldórsdóttir. “Constructing identity : a critical assessment of the gender perspective in Icelandic historiography.” Waaldijk, Berteke, and Guðmundur Hálfdanarson. Professions and Social Identity : New European Historical Research on Work, Gender and Society.Thematic Work Group. 1, Work, Gender and Society ; 4. Pisa: Edizioni Plus Pisa Univ. Press., 2006, 135-151.
  • Erla Hulda Halldórsdóttir. “Earning one’s living : debates on femininity in Iceland in the 1880s.” Yannitsiotis, Yannis, Guðmundur Hálfdanarson, Lampropoulou, Dimitra, and Salvaterra, Carla. Rhetorics of Work. Thematic Work Group. 4, Work, Gender and Society ; 3. Pisa: Edizioni Plus, 2008, 237-243.
  • Inga Huld Hákonardóttir,.. ‘Philanthropy, Politics and Women in Iceland before the Modern Welfare State, 1895-1935’ in Pirjo Markkola (ed.) Gender and Vocation. Women, Religion and Social Change in the Nordic Countries, 1830-1940. Helsinki, Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura/Finnish Literature Society, 2000.
  • Sigríður Dúna Kristmundsdóttir. „Women’s movements and the contradictory forces of globalisation“ in Crossing Borders : Re-mapping Women’s Movements at the Turn of the 21st Century . Editors: Christensen, Hilda Rømer, Halsaa, Beatrice, and Saarinen, Aino. . Syddansk Universitet. University of Southern Denmark Studies in History and Social Sciences. Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark, 2004, 325-335.
  • Sigþrúður Helga Sigurbjarnadóttir. ‘On their own premises: The political project of the Icelandic Women’s Alliance’. Drude von der Fehr, Bente Rosenbeck og Anna G. Jónasdóttir (ritstj.) Is there a Nordic Feminism: Nordic feminist thought on culture and society. London, UCL Press, 1998, 69-89.

Articles

Reports

Media coverage