Iceland Exporting Gender Equality: Foreign Policy through a Feminist Lens
Dr. Silja Bára Ómarsdóttir

In the talk Silja will discuss how gender equality came to be a prominent feature of Iceland's foreign policy. Since 2000, Iceland has focused many of its efforts on promoting gender equality abroad. Since the financial collapse of 2008, this has become even more pronounced in Iceland's international approach, with the government promoting activities such as #heforshe and the so-called "barbershops" for men to talk about gender equality. But is this mostly a way to brand Iceland abroad? Applying a feminist lens to Iceland's foreign policy may give some answers.

Dr. Silja Bára Ómarsdóttir lectures at the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Iceland, where her research focuses on Iceland’s foreign and security policy, feminist foreign policy and reproductive rights. She holds degrees in International Relations and Political Science from Lewis & Clark College, University of Southern California, and University College Cork. She is the vice chair of the University of Iceland's Institute of International Affairs. She is currently a visiting fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.