ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author focuses on the role of Icelandic gender-equality images in national identity projections and foreign imaginaries following the 2008 financial crash. Following the financial crisis, however, the narrative shifted rapidly from masculine reification and female objectification to that of highlighting the level of gender equality in Iceland. It demonstrated the paradox of women being objectified in a nation internationally recognized for a high degree of gender equality. Elected to the UN Human Rights Council following the withdrawal of the United States from the body in June 2018, it focused in particular on women's rights and gender equality, LGBTQI+ rights, and the rights of the child. While adhering to international notions of altruistic Nordic ‘exceptionalism’, Nordic gender-equality branding has also much to do with Realpolitik or with what Louis Clerc and Nikolas Glover have termed ‘the necessity for small states to act in character’.
