Bring in the women to clean up the mess

“When I have spoken on the importance of women taking on a greater role in the running of the world, I have sometimes quoted a poem by an Icelandic poet, Ingibjörg Haraldsdóttir, translated by Salka Guðmundsdóttir. It is simply titled “Woman”.

When all has been said
when the problems of the world
have been dissected discussed and settled
when eyes have met
and hands been shaken
in the gravity of the moment
—a woman always arrives
to clear the table
sweep the floor and open the windows
to let out the cigar smoke

It never fails

In my experience, women work hard to create a more just and equal society—when they are given the chance. If that was more often the case, and women were not simply called in to do the cleaning up when the men have made a mess of things, I think the world would become a better place.”

– Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, the first woman to become prime minister of Iceland, was elected to government in 2009 in the wake of the economic crisis in that country. She governed until 2013. This is from an article she wrote for Newsweek a week after the EU referendum in the United Kingdom. At that point, there was no indication that Theresa May would be the next British prime minister.

Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, the first woman to become prime minister of Iceland