Iceland to combat extremism with girl power

Youngest ever prime minister

Iceland is celebrating girl power as its youngest female prime minister, social democrat Kristrún Frostadóttir, 36, forms a coalition with two other female-led political parties to “govern in a different way.”

A female hat trick

Not only are her associates women – Inga Sæland of the centrist People’s party and Katrín Gunnarsdóttir of the centre-right pro-European Reform party – but the country’s president Halla Tómasdóttir is also female.

Coincidence?

“It just so happened that these three parties were run by women,” said Frostadóttir, who was voted in after a snap election in November last year, in The Observer.

Gender dynamic

“But I do think there is a certain type of dynamic you get when you have three women together. We also have three women who are at a different stage in their lives,” she added.

Welfare focus

The focus of these women, aside from holding a referendum on joining the EU, will be the job market, housing and welfare for Iceland’s citizens, but without overspending.

Public participation

To this end, the coalition has asked Icelanders to send in suggestions regarding how this might be achieved.

Sensible spending

“It’s a big priority of mine to show that you can have a socially focused welfare-oriented government that can still run the budget on the right side of zero,” Frostadóttir said.

Combating populism

The new prime minister, who started her professional life as a journalist and economist, believes that her women-led coalition can combat the ubiquitous wave of populism by focusing on welfare for the average citizen.

Humane level

“I think that is an antidote to right extremism. Welfare-oriented center right, center left parties, wherever you want to situate this government, brings politics back to the humane level,” she told The Observer.

Lending an ear

She also believes that outlandish views can be combated by listening to them rather than dismissing them.

Pulling back to center

As extremism takes hold on both sides of the Atlantic, all eyes will be upon Iceland to see if this predominantly female approach to governance might prove the answer to polarization.

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