Björk says that they ‘don’t really have misogyny’ in Iceland

The singer praises her home country for electing a female president and prime minister

Bjork has claimed that misogyny is less of a problem in her home country of Iceland than it is in the rest of the world.

Speaking to The Guardian recently, the Reykjavík native said: “I come from a generation in Iceland where we don’t really have misogyny and I think maybe that’s something I haven’t talked enough about. Everybody’s kind of equal. We do have problems like lower pay for women, but only a bit. But we had the first female president, first female prime minister, these things are not a coincidence.”

These comments follow a recent interview Björk gave to Pitchfork, in which she’s quoted as saying: “I want to support young girls who are in their 20s now and tell them: ‘You’re not just imagining things. It’s tough. Everything that a guy says once, you have to say five times.’ After being the only girl in bands for 10 years, I learned – the hard way – that if I was going to get my ideas through, I was going to have to pretend that they – men – had the ideas. I have to play stupid and just do everything with five times the amount of energy, and then it will come through.”

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Despite praising gender equality in Iceland, Björk has however criticised current Icelandic politics. “They are a crazy insane government, just doing everything horribly wrong,” she told The Guardian. “Going back to what it was before the bank crash, but five times worse. All the changes that the left made – and I’m not for a minute saying that I’m left, I don’t see myself as left or right – but in five minutes they’ve gone back and privatised everything. So we’ve been hoping there’ll be another revolution to get them out.”

Meanwhile, Björk recently revealed the video for ‘Lionsong’, taken from her new album ‘Vulnicura’.

In the video, Björk is seen dressed in a similar style to that of the ‘Vulnicura’ album cover with viewers able to see her heart visibly beating through her chest. ‘Lionsong’ is the first song from ‘Vulnicura’ to get an official video after it was rush-released earlier this year.

Since the release of the record, Björk has discussed the breakdown of her relationship with artist Matthew Barney, which inspired the album. The artist said that the 2013 split was “the most painful thing” she had ever experienced. Björk and artist Matthew Barney were in a relationship for over a decade and have one daughter, Isadora. Writing about her new album on Facebook, Björk called ‘Vulnicura’ a “heartbreak album”.

Björk will play her first European gig since the release of new album ‘Vulnicura’ at Manchester International Festival later this year. The Icelandic singer will play at the Castlefield Arena on June 5 in the most high profile date in the annual festival’s pop and rock programme.

Björk was recently confirmed as one of the headliners for this year’s Wilderness Festival.

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