Although Iceland is considered a paradise of equality, there are studies that show that almost 40% of its women have experienced gender-based or sexual violence in their lifetime, and that there is still a pay gap between women and men, which mainly comes from devaluation of women's work in care services: health, children, elderly and cleaning services.

According to United Nations research the next generation of women will likely still spend, on average, 2.3 more hours per day on unpaid care and housework than men. It is the invisible labor that prevents women from reaching economic autonomy and independence. The result is that both sexes are losing out, men withdrawing from their families and women from their careers.

Harvard professor Claudia Goldin was last week awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics for her study of the contemporary role of women in the labor market as well as its historical evolution.

Goldin found that the modern wage gap occurs for women when they hold the same job and have the same level of education as men, and occurs to a large extent when they have children (the so-called invisible work of women). Also according to Goldin, gender bias plays a role in the pay gap. One of her most fascinating studies shed light on how symphony orchestras saw a significant reduction in gender bias when they held blind auditions and how this led to more women being hired.

Claudia Goldin's Nobel Prize represents a double triumph for women. Not only did she win for her excellence in a predominantly male field, but the award is for her ground-breaking research on the advancement of women in the workplace.