The first major international #MeToo conference is taking place in Reykjavik this week.
Running from Tuesday 17 - Thursday 19 September, the conference is a collaborative event organised by the Icelandic Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2019 and the Institute for Gender, Equality and Difference at the University of Iceland.
The three-day gathering will be hosted by the Icelandic prime minister – who said she hoped it would contribute to “relegating sexual harassment to history” – and will explore why the movement first gained traction, and the effect it has had across different countries and sectors.
According to the website, a myriad of topics will be discussed throughout the three days including bodily autonomy for women with disabilities, the politics of naming and storytelling as a force for change.
The prime minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, told the Guardian that the conference was intended to “create a platform for an international and in-depth conversation about the impact and the future of #MeToo”.
"We owe it to all those women, to the women who couldn’t speak up and to future generations, to create policies and push for transformative change, so that the realities unveiled by #MeToo will soon belong to the history books," she added.
The key themes of the event will explore:
- #MeToo why now?
- #MeToo: what next?
- and #MeToo and the Nordic countries
Lastly, the conference will ask how government, businesses and organisations have, and should, respond to #MeToo.
The programme boasts an impressive array of speakers including Roxane Gay – who will give the conference's closing speech – Angela Davis and Emma Holten.
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