Veteran rapper and producer Sean “Diddy” Combs has long faced sexual abuse allegations – And on May 17, a video that appears to support some of the claims against him went viral. Hotel surveillance footage from 2016 seems to show Combs repeatedly hitting his then-girlfriend, singer Cassie Ventura, and kicking her when she was on the ground.
But violence against women is far from an American problem. In fact, it happens where most would least expect.
Iceland is touted as the world’s “most gender-equal” country. For 14 years, the small Nordic nation has led the World Economic Forum’s gender gap rankings, having closed 91.2% of the male-female divide based on surveys that examine the gender gap across four metrics: health, education, political empowerment, and economic participation.
However, although women in Iceland have more equitable economic, social, and political status than in other places, it doesn’t translate to physical safety. Indeed, statistics on violence in the country paint a very different portrait of how women are treated.
According to a 2018 study by the University of Iceland., around 40% of Icelandic women experience gender-based and sexual violence during their lifetime.
“It doesn’t matter even here in the one of safest countries in the world, your life is threatened for only being a woman,” gender-based violence survivor Ólöf Tara Harðardóttir said via ABC.net.au.
“If 40 percent of all women in Iceland are survivors of physical and or sexual abuse, that’s no feminist paradise.”
Studies also show that rates of violence are higher in Iceland compared to other European countries.
The potential theories regarding this complex issue encompass a diverse range of perspectives. One hypothesis suggests that the advancement and empowerment of women within society may have inadvertently triggered a backlash from certain segments of the male population, who feel threatened by the shifting power dynamics.
Alternatively, the problem could be exacerbated by problematic alcohol use patterns, which can impair judgment and increase the risk of domestic violence. Additionally, the limited public discourse and awareness surrounding family violence may contribute to the perpetuation of this societal challenge, as open dialogue and education are crucial for addressing such sensitive and deeply rooted issues.
“I decided that I needed to speak up … because I felt for too long our country silences victims,” said Ms Harðardóttir, who co-leads a not-for-profit organization that campaigns for legal and social reform for women in Iceland. (Sourice: ABC.net.au)
“People say we are an equal country, but I say equal for who?” Ms Harðardóttir asked.
Tanja Mjöll Ísfjörð Magnúsdóttir, a survivor of violence who co-leads Ofgar, feels let down by Iceland’s legal system.
“I did everything by the book, I pressed charges, I went to the police and everything,” she told ABC.net.au.
“[But] my case got dismissed and my family, my home town they turned their back on me and I had to look elsewhere to find help.
“I realize this happens to many survivors of abuse in Iceland.”
Anneli Häyrén, a researcher at Uppsala University in Sweden, stated, “For far too long, the problem Dr. Häyrén referenced has been incorrectly framed and narrowly perceived as solely a “women’s issue.”
“The good guys are very silent in Sweden and I would say, and we would need them to be a lot more active,” she via ABC.net.au.
“… I would say that we do not have gender equality, and we clearly still have a problem with the balance of power between men and women.”
“We have a problem with violence, men’s violence against women and children and men’s violence against other men as well.”
Hulda Hrund Guðrúnar Sigmundsdóttir, a respected co-lead of the organization, courageously shared that she endured assault by a family member during her childhood. Growing up, she felt unable to disclose it, fearing it would embarrass her family.
“We are trying to pave the way for our future so that our daughters and our sisters, can be safer than we were because when we were growing up,” she told ABC.net.au.
“We understand that many countries have it worse than us, but that does not mean that we have to settle.”
