Iceland's PM joining nationwide strike to protest gender inequality

• "Systemic wage discrimination still affects women, and gender-based violence is a pandemic that must be eradicated," organizers said.

The big picture: Iceland remains at the forefront of fighting for gender equality, having achieved the highest overall score on the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report for the 14th year in a row.

• It continues to be the only country to have closed more than 90% of its gender gap, according to the report findings.

Yes, but the wage gap between men and women in the country is 21%, per the report published in June.

What they're saying: "As you know, we have not yet reached our goals of full gender equality and we are still tackling the gender-based wage gap, which is unacceptable in 2023," Jakobsdóttir told a local news outlet Friday.

• "We are still tackling gender-based violence, which has been a priority for my government to tackle," the prime minister said, adding that she expects other female lawmakers to join Tuesday's strike "in solidarity with Icelandic women."

Zoom out: This year's strike, called Women's Day Off (Kvennafrí) is the seventh such strike to be held in the country, with the first having taken place in October 1975.

• There will be demonstrations held across Iceland in solidarity with the movement.

Go deeper: Gender pay gap now the narrowest on record