and became the first female elected Head of State anywhere in the world, it changed everything in Iceland and also elsewhere, I hope. And just by looking at numbers, we can see that after her election, the number of women parliamentarians rose from 5% to 15% in the coming term, and the next coming term it rose up to 20.6%. So, her election made marks because the increased number of women in parliament meant that they fought for issues that was not considered real issues before, such as parental leave, such as day care and to diminish the gender pay gap. So, none of these issues were seen as major issues before that. So, I also want to mention because we have talked a little bit about men and their support. Vigdís herself mentioned quite often how important the support of men was during her campaign, especially fishermen and sailors. They came out openly to support her so in these typical male dominant sectors, because they realised how important the role of women back home was. So that was quite beautiful.

Ms Mariia Mezentseva, Chairperson of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination of the Parliamentary Assembly Thank you very much. That is very interesting to know how it was developing and of course we know that was the really first step electing Vigdís as a President to the today's achievement seen in Iceland as a championship in gender equality. But Rósa, what do you think can be a powerful message to the younger ones, to the younger generations? As we see in our member States, sometimes they do not even come to elections. Not even talking about being a candidate for local or national elections.

Ms Rósa Björk Brynjólfsdóttir, member of the Selection Panel of the Vigdís Prize for Women’s Empowerment, Office of the Prime Minister of Iceland So being an Icelandic woman who was five years old when Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was elected and 21-year-old when she quitted her post, I know personally how me, and my generation were influenced by the fact of having a woman as a Prime Minister. So, the main reason, for example, this Prize and putting into the limelight the hard work that champions for gender equality are working day by day is, of course, for promoting role models, because the role models have to be there for the generation to come. And it is very interesting to see my colleagues here from Liechtenstein who has been fighting recently in our view this fight for gender equality. And I hope they will look at us and we are always open to give advice and share our experience. But even in Iceland we have great challenges still. We have domestic violence, we have a system that we have to improve better for the gender equality but I really want to emphasise the importance of being a role model, have as many role models in front of us for the generation to come and for other women who passes on to the younger generation that everything is possible. And as Madame Finnbogadóttir told herself to Guardian in an interview in 2017, she said “women thought, if she can, I can”. So, the aim of these prizes is to reward outstanding initiatives promoting the empowerment of women in all their diversity, to create role models for other women and girls who are fighting for gender justice. And it is therefore very fitting for the Vigdís Prize to be named after her. And I want to finish, if I may, Mariia, on behalf of my country and my Prime Minister, Ms Katrín Jakobsdóttir, who is the second female to be Prime Minister of Iceland. I want to give my sincere thanks to the members of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination that have facilitated the launching of the Prize, with, of course, the tireless support of the President of PACE, Tiny Kox. Thank you so much. And to his dedicated staff. So, thank you so much for this support.

Ms Mariia Mezentseva, Chairperson of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination of the Parliamentary Assembly Thank you very much indeed. I experienced that phrase myself. I met Vigdís in 2017 in Reykjavík for the Women Parliamentary Platform, and at that time I was a city Council member, being under constant challenges from the mayor and his ruling majority back then, God bless his soul, made many jokes about young women in local parliaments where Ukraine was struggling, the new generation of politicians. And currently, we're also numbering them, not only in numbers, but also the quality. You are very right, dear Rósa. This is the role model that young leaders, young generation might have, or so-called mentors who can advise so that they don't waste time on such stories which I have had in my past. Thank you very much for your interventions, dear panellists, but this is not over yet. We will now give the floor to our members of the Assembly for their remarks. I have already in my list three colleagues who indicated a wish to speak. And this is, of course, our dear friend Franziska Hoop, the Chairwoman of the Liechtenstein delegation. Franziska, the floor is yours.

Franziska Hoop (Liechtenstein, ALDE) Thank you, Mariia. Mr President, speakers, dear colleagues, on behalf of the Liechtenstein delegation, I would like to thank the panellists most warmly for the important and interesting things that they have said. Iam delighted to see so many Liechtensteiners here today. Particular thanks to Ms Kubik-Risch and Mr Marxer. Thank you for agreeing to come along. Gender equality still has not been achieved. The orange days that are taking place at the moment show us just how frequently domestic violence

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