Talk:Vigdís Finnbogadóttir

Addition of picture
Added a picture of Vigdís. Don't know if it was placed in the right, someone with better knowledge could probably check over it: -S SKC 02:27, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

Biography assessment rating comment
WikiProject Biography Assessment

The article may be improved by following the WikiProject Biography 11 easy steps to producing at least a B article. -- Yamara 02:14, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Discussion
We can say Finnbogadottir is the first woman president in Iceland, then to state her gender isn't always necessary. You can write "Ms. Finnbogadottir is the first Icelandic president to be female/or a woman"...as long you don't go into too much detail on her gender (some readers may take offense). I want to show respect to her integrity and ambition in the presidency, but Iceland isn't the only country to elected a woman to presidency or as prime minister. I believe 45 other countries have, and the U.S. may have one in the future, either Hillary Rodham Clinton (she may assist Bill Clinton's presidency) or Condoleeza Rice, the current US state secretary. The article surely states Ms. Finnbogadottir was a leftist/center-left politician. However, Iceland isn't in whole a "liberal socialist" country (this is POV if someone, most likely an American wrote it since the majority of US politics is "conservative"). Not well written in the article, but what political observers acknowledged, Ms. Finnbogadottir as president has focused much on pacifist, child care, social welfare and  environmental issues, something Iceland is well used to. Today, Iceland appeared to lean left in the political spectrum, the current trend in Icelandic and European politics is the center-right (or what Americans referred to as "conservative" or non-socialist left/moderate right) gained more popularity by electoral votes than in recent years. -- G. Sageha —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 63.3.14.129 (talk • contribs).

Iceland, like other Scandinavian countries, changes its political allegiances decade to decade. In the first years of Iceland's independence, it could be argued that the nation was conservative/right-wing. In the eighties, Iceland had a right-wing leading coalition. It is unfair to say that Iceland is left-wing when that may not be the case in 10 years or so.

The extensive comment above is misleading or built on a misconception. Her gender must be stated clearly as she was indeed the first democratically elected female president and head of state. This should not be confused with democratically elected heads of government such as prime ministers of whom there had been a couple before her time. Wiki-BT (talk) 10:33, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Finnbogadóttir
Just wondering, but is it appropriate to call her "Finnbogadóttir" in the article? I know that in encyclopedias, people are generally referred to by their last names, but from what I know about Icelandic naming conventions, "Finnbogadóttir" is not her name (that would be Vigdís); in fact, it's not a name at all, but rather a description of what she is (daughter of Finnbogi). It probably doesn't make a huge difference, given that most (native) English speakers probably wouldn't even realize, but others might find it irritating. -- Schneelocke 16:20, 12 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Yes, we normally use the name, not the patronym (hence, Vigdís). This is how it's done with the other Wikipedia articles on Icelandic presidents so thank you for changing this one to that system too. Haukur 16:34, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as a start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 15:54, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

Longest-serving female head of state
The lead claimed that "With a presidency of exactly sixteen years, she also remains the longest-serving female head of state of any country to date." As written, this is incorrect as several female monarchs have been head of state for significantly longer - Queens Elizabeth I of England, Victoria of the United Kingdom and Elizabeth II immediately spring to mind. Presumably, Finnbogadóttir is the longest-serving elected female head of state. I have adjusted the lead accordingly. AusTerrapin (talk) 04:48, 12 September 2010 (UTC)

Well, during the ancien régime Vigdís Finnbogadóttir couldn't have presidency as a métier. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.147.148.65 (talk) 08:59, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified
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"... despite being a divorced single mother"
"After much persuasion Vigdís accepted to run against three male candidates. She was the first woman in the world to be elected as head of state in a democratic election, despite being a divorced single mother" No. Just... no. It is not some kind of handicap to be divorced, or single, or a parent, or any combination of those things. Have removed the phrase, and am noting here to call out an instance of women's history inappropriately anchored to whether or not they have a partner or child. BessieMaelstrom (talk) 14:46, 16 May 2020 (UTC)
 * It was in the 1980s. It still is in my countries around the world. Stefán Örvar Sigmundsson (talk) 20:59, 16 May 2020 (UTC)
 * None of those things are handicaps in and of themselves, which is what the text in question stated. It is not a given, in abstraction, that being a divorced single mother has anything to do with whether or not one can be elected as head of state.


 * Giving a reason for being single is a purely emotive choice here, and therefore a subjective choice on the part of the writer who included it, since this factual information about her life is already included more appropriately elsewhere in the article.


 * There is no evidence given that the abstract fact of her being a mother had any impact at all, any more than the impact of being a father would necessarily have on a man. Politicians are also parents, period. That is not noteworthy.


 * The fact that society deems the mother to be the primary caregiver, and furthermore, expects her to carry out the accompanying duties herself, is another subject entirely.


 * As written, there was no historical context, and further, no evidence that she personally carried out that role fully and alone. It is entirely possible for a child to be heathily raised in a family unit other than the traditional two-parent one, and no evidence is given in this article about the specifics of how parenting was actually achieved.


 * The implication here is that a divorced single mother must have had a harder time of it, and that is profoundly unfair to all the women who are mothers, divorced mothers, divorced single people, and single mothers who are not unusually inhibited by those states of being. As it stood, it served - perhaps inadvertently - as a general comment on women who meet that description, regardless of any external factors.


 * I am fully supportive of Wikipedia capturing all the aspects of a specific woman's life that are notable. If she did face specific struggles, historic and social and otherwise - and women in general certainly do - then by all means, let's evidence that, but absolutely not in a way that tacitly perpetuates the very thing you have pointed out about the world. BessieMaelstrom (talk) 10:16, 17 May 2020 (UTC)

About the first source about Vigdís Finnbogadóttir
I noticed that the link to the first source on this article is an Internet Archive snapshot, but I checked the original link and it has the EXACT same details as the original link, since it's still working. Is this merely a precaution, or was something changed since 2017 (apart from the style being different which I'd argue shouldn't count)?

Sincerely, Bon Wattersen (talk) 17:31, 28 February 2023 (UTC)

About the first woman to be president
In fact, the first woman to be president was Maria Estela Martínez de Perón, in 1974 HateSans (talk) 15:08, 10 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Emphasis on the democratically elected part. Stefán Örvar Sigmundsson (talk) 16:14, 11 May 2024 (UTC)