The Women's League of Hafnarfjörður presents the town with a pink bench

The occasion is the alliance's 50th anniversary in October 2022.

Women's League of Hafnarfjörður celebrated its 50th anniversary in October 2022 and has since been celebrating the milestone and its fifty years in various ways over the past few weeks and months. At the end of April 2023, the group presented the City of Hafnarfjörður with a beautiful pink bench with an inscription, which has been placed by the Hafnarfjörður Library, right next to the first heart that was erected in the town. Mayor Rósa Guðbjartsdóttir dedicated the bench and, following the ceremony, invited everyone for light refreshments at the Bæjarbíó cinema.

The member societies of the Women's League of Hafnarfjörður today are the Women's Society of Hafnarfjörður Church and Free Church, the Sisters' Society of Víðistaðir Parish, Vorboðinn-Liberal Women, Harpa-Progressive Women, and Hrund-Women of the Trades. The women of the Federation are in the right place, and their collective strength has been to their great honour and credit.

Material from the 50-year summary of the Women's League in Hafnarfjörður

The Women's League in Hafnarfjörður held its founding meeting on 11 October 1972, followed by a further founding meeting on 7 November the same year. By this time, women had become more aware than before of their position at home, in the labour market, and in social life. The ten societies that sent representatives to the founding meeting all had their own backgrounds, and some had been active in the town for decades. The women who worked within the societies were accustomed to social work and were well-versed in fundraising and charitable work. The women of Hafnarfjörður thus formed a powerful organisation, ready for the future and its tasks, for the benefit and enjoyment of the people and the town. The association's objectives are based on a strong tradition of women's work in helping individuals and include, among others: To strengthen the cooperation between the societies and, by uniting the forces of the women's associations, to work for the welfare of households, promote healthy living, thrift, social development, all-round culture, gender equality, and all good causes.

Saint Barbara is the emblem of the Women's League of Hafnarfjörður.

Before Sigurveig Guðmundsdóttir stepped down as president in 1977, she presented a necklace bearing a medallion of Saint Barbara to the women of the federation and told them that Gunnar Hjaltason, a local goldsmith and artist, had designed and made a necklace bearing a symbol of the saint. This was the oldest image of a woman ever found in the Hafnarfjörður area. An image of Saint Barbara was found among other items during an excavation at Kapelluhraun, opposite the Straumsvík aluminium smelter, on 21 May 1950, and the find supported the old oral tradition that the ruin was a centuries-old chapel. Saint Barbara is the patron saint of fire and metallurgists.

Committees of the Women's League in Hafnarfjörður

• Holiday Committee has always operated within the BKH. Through its work, the committee has eased the fatigue and burden of many women. In recent years, the leave committee has had a particularly difficult time, especially due to the changing circumstances of women in life and work.
• Mother's Allowance Committee has done a great deal of good work for households in Hafnarfjörður. Support for the committee's work comes from many quarters, particularly from businesses and voluntary organisations in the town. Throughout BKH's history, the committee has provided assistance to those less fortunate, to the best of its ability.
• Forestry Committee The planting by the women's association has for many years beautified Sléttuhlíð in the hinterland of Hafnarfjörður to great acclaim. The BKH Forestry Committee oversees the Association's woodland and organises planting in the plot.

Unity and improved community life at home in the region and further afield

The health of the people of Hafnarfjörður and the rest of the country has benefited from the collective strength and will of the Women's League of Hafnarfjörður for an improved quality of life. The association has thus raised funds for: a nerve analyser for the Grensás Rehabilitation Centre, hospital beds for the Sólvang nursing home, an X-ray machine for St. Joseph's Hospital, and a breast cancer sampling device for Landspítalinn. The Women's Alliance of Hafnarfjörður raised money for equipment at St. Joseph's Hospital right up until the time the closure was finalised. It attracted widespread attention when the women's league in Hafnarfjörður held a petition drive against the closure of St. Joseph's Hospital and in support of the hospital's continued operation in the autumn of 1991. Women went to every house in the town and collected the signatures of 10,322 residents of Hafnarfjörður over a single weekend. It is worth noting that in 1990, the population of Hafnarfjörður was 15,151. Welfare and support for the nursing home at Sólvang is one of the women's association's projects, and the annual waffle baking at the beginning of November is a testament to this care. The Federation has stood alone in fundraising for health institutions within the town, but has collaborated with the National Federation of Women's Societies on nationwide projects.

There have been 19 chairwomen of the Women's League of Hafnarfjörður since its foundation.

1. Helga Ragnheiður Stefánsdóttir (current chair)
2. Sigurveig Guðmundsdóttir
3. Sofía Stefánsdóttir
4. Thorunn Johannsdottir,
5. Helga Guðmundsdóttir
6. Sjöfn Magnúsdóttir
7. Anna Daníelsdóttir,
8. Hjördís Þorsteinsdóttir
9. Hulda Sigurardottir
10. Erna Fríða Berg,
11. Jónína Steingrímsdóttir
12. Erna Ingibjörg S. Mathiesen
13. Kolbrún Jónsdóttir,
14. Guðrún Hjörleifsdóttir
15. Katrín Gústafsdóttir
16. Kristín Gunnbjörnsdóttir,
17. Dýrleif Ólafsdóttir
18. Unnur Birna Magnúsdóttir
19. Magnea Vilborg Þórsdóttir