Secrets of the Sprakkar, Eliza Reid
Secrets of the Sprakkar, Eliza Reid
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Secrets of the Sprakkar
Iceland’s Extraordinary Women and How They Are Changing the World

Author: Eliza Reid

Narrator: Ann Richardson

Unabridged: 9 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 05/17/2022


Synopsis

For the past twelve years, the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report has ranked Iceland number one on its list of countries closing the gap in equality between men and women. What is it about Iceland that makes many women's experience there so positive? Why has their society made such meaningful progress in this ongoing battle, from electing the world's first female president to passing legislation specifically designed to help even the playing field at work and at home? And how can we learn from what Icelanders have already discovered about women's powerful place in society and how increased fairness benefits everyone?

Eliza Reid, the First Lady of Iceland, examines her adopted homeland's attitude toward women—the deep-seated cultural sense of fairness, the influence of current and historical role models, and, crucially, the areas where Iceland still has room for improvement. Reid's own experience as an immigrant from small-town Canada who never expected to become a first lady is expertly interwoven with interviews with dozens of sprakkar ("extraordinary women") to form the backbone of an illuminating discussion of what it means to move through the world as a woman, and how the rules of society play more of a role in who we view as "equal" than we may understand.

About Eliza Reid

Eliza Reid is a journalist, editor, and cofounder of the annual Iceland Writers Retreat. Eliza grew up on a hobby farm near Ottawa, Canada, and moved to Iceland in 2003, five years after meeting the man who later became her husband, Gudni Th. Johannesson. When he took office as President of Iceland on August 1, 2016, Eliza became the country's first lady. In that capacity, she has been active in promoting gender equality, entrepreneurship and innovation, tourism and sustainability, as well as the country's writers and rich literary heritage.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Skip on October 01, 2023

Canadian-born Eliza Reid is the current First Lady of Finland, having met and married her husband at Oxford, and who has lived in Iceland for close to 20 years. Reid does an excellent job explaining the many reasons why Iceland has the smallest gender gap in the world for many years, a profound achi......more

Goodreads review by Kalle on February 02, 2023

Okay this book was FANTASTIC!! Secrets of the Sprakkar is about women in Iceland and how they are changing the world. It is written by Canadian-born First Lady of Iceland and is an incredible look into feminism, gender equality, parenthood, immigration, language, diversity, politics, sports, farming......more

Goodreads review by Kate on January 15, 2024

This insight into Icelandic life really made me want to move to Iceland and experience their culture. While Reid (and all the women she interviewed) try to be realistic about the myriad positives in Icelandic culture (gender equality, support for parents, free education, health care, etc), it's hard......more

Goodreads review by Michelle on June 17, 2022

I was expecting to like this more than I did. I think I would have enjoyed it more if there were less personal anecdotes from the author and instead more focus on historical context and the stories of the other women interviewed. It felt like it had a bit too much memoir, which I was not expecting f......more

Goodreads review by Caitlin on March 07, 2022

I found this book in a local Ottawa bookstore and was immediately intrigued. It did not let me down, but really how could it? A book for and about women and gender equality, discussed through Icelandic policy and programs that is beautifully written from the perspective of an immigrant who also happ......more