On 24th October 1975, women in Iceland went on strike

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/oct/18/gender.uk
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On October 24 1975, 90% of Iceland's women refused to work, cook or look after children. The effect was incredible, recalls Annadis Rudolfsdottir

Gudrun Jonsdottir still remembers what she was wearing on October 24 1975. She was 21, just married with a young child, and was not going to cook, clean, and was definitely not going to work. Nor was my mother, my friends' mothers, the shop assistants in the supermarket, the teachers - in short an estimated 90% of women in Iceland. A neighbour, the mother of three boisterous boys, left her family to fend for themselves at 8am and did not return until late in the evening. Remarkably, although Icelandic society was almost brought to a standstill that fine day, its women had never felt so alive, so purposeful and so determined.

When the United Nations proclaimed 1975 a Women's Year, a committee with representatives from five of the biggest women organisations in Iceland was set up to organise commemorative events. A radical women's movement called the Red Stockings first raised the question: "Why don't we just all go on strike?" This, they argued, would be a powerful way of reminding society of the role women play in its running, their low pay, and the low value placed on their work inside and outside the home. The idea was bandied about, and finally agreed to by the committee, but only after the word "strike" had been replaced with "a day off". They figured this would make the idea more palatable to the masses and to employers who could fire women going on strike but would have problems denying them "a day off".

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Tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of this life changing day for women in Iceland.
Too beautiful. There's another great report on the BBC site.