Iceland is ranked the best country in the world for gender equality, but there is still a significant gender pay gap.

On Wednesday (24 October), women all over the country walked out of their workplaces to protest pay inequality. They downed tools at exactly 2.55pm, 74% of the way through the traditional 9-5 working day – a reference to the fact that Icelandic women earn on average 26% less than men.

It was the sixth time that women in Iceland have taken part in such a protest, with the first of its kind taking place in 1975.

Iceland’s Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdottir, the leader of the country’s Left-Green movement and an avowed feminist, was one of the women to leave work early on Wednesday. Writing in Icelandic newspaper Frettabladid ahead of the walkout, she said that the country has “not been successful in eliminating the wage gap between men and women, and women in addition continue to take on the biggest proportion of unpaid work, such as childcare and housework.”

One day after women in Iceland walked out over pay inequality, the UK’s Office of National Statistics revealed that our gender pay gap is the lowest it’s ever been – but things aren’t quite as positive as they might seem.

From Icelandic protesters to Meghan Markle: the women making waves this week