This is why we need female role models

They say that it takes a village to raise a child. This is me and my mum.

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I grew up in Iceland, a frosty island in the North Atlantic Ocean, famous for its Northern lights, volcanos and the singer Björk.

But strangely enough, I am also the daughter of this woman.

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Iceland consistently ranks as the best place in the world to live as a woman. In the summer of 1980 – when I was not yet two years old – Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, a divorced single mother, living in a flat with her young daughter, working as a teacher became the first female president in the world. She became the president of Iceland. It was an election result that shaped a generation of Icelandic women.

I am not literally the daughter of Vigdís Finnbogadóttir. I’ve never even met her. But seeing a woman in a position of power had a profound effect on me and my female contemporaries when we were growing up.

Earlier this month Vigdís gave an interview in which she revealed for the first time what she thought was the greatest achievement of her presidency. “When I got elected it changed the way women’s roles were perceived. It made women think: If she can do it, so can I.”

Vigdís’ legacy is a generation of strong women and a country that is the best place in the world to live as a woman. The story of Vigdís teaches us the importance of role models.

But the story doesn’t end there. The importance of female role models doesn’t diminish as you get older.

My latest book, a YA Nordic thriller called The Sharp Edge of a Snowflake, is inspired by a role model of mine. In 2018 the journalist Carole Cadwalladr revealed that a British company called Cambridge Analytica had harvested the personal data of millions of Facebook users without their consent and used it to influence elections. I followed Carole’s investigation into the scandal and I was in awe of her courage and her determination to reveal the truth. I’d worked as a journalist myself and I knew from experience that going up against power is never easy, it’s a lonely job and you get little thanks for doing it.

The Sharp Edge of a Snowflake rests on the efforts of countless role models who have inspired me throughout the years: My mum who I grew up knowing would always have my back; Vigdís Finnbogadóttir who showed me that girls can grow up to be whatever they want; and Carole Cadwalladrwho reminded me how important it is to stand up for what is right.

It takes a village to raise a child. It takes a village of female role models to build the best place to be a woman.

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Sif Sigmarsdóttir is a writer and journalist. Her latest book, a feminist Nordic noir YA thriller called The Sharp Edge of a Snowflake, was inspired by one of her role models, the Observer journalist Carole Cadwalladr who exposed the Cambridge Analytica scandal – a woman she has never met but whose courage and determination to reveal the truth she finds awe inspiring. 

You can read more about it here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/09/carole-cadwalladr-inspires-nordic-heroine-young-adult-novel