Where to Invade Next Page #10

a female president.

She was a single mom.

She had

a seven-year-old daughter.

You cannot help but to thank

those role models--

and these women

who came before us--

and think that we owe it

to the next generation

to empower ourselves

and the generations that follow.

I campaigned all over the country

and it was absolutely

a unique experience.

I never slept in a hotel.

I slept in children's beds

around the country,

and it was arranged.

I knew who in the area

would vote for me

and I campaigned,

and then--

and finally I was elected.

There were hundreds of people

outside the house here.

My daughter, seven years old,

was standing beside me.

You know, if you take

the really long view of history,

you have, essentially,

a few thousand years

of it being just one way.

Men in charge.

Men in control.

Men making the decisions,

calling the shots

politically, economically,

socially, and personally.

Look what's happened in this time

since that women's strike in '75,

since your election in 1980.

How many countries

have elected women?

I mean, dozens.

And that doesn't even count

the women elected by parliaments.

All fathers know that their daughter

is as clever as the boy,

has the same intelligence.

All brothers know

that their sisters

have the same intelligence

as they have.

I'm very proud that Iceland

was the first and set an example.

- Right.

- And, definitely, it had a very good--

a very good effect

on our women and culture at home.

Okay.

That's exactly how I would've hit it.

Dead center.

I predict an eagle for this hole!

Meet Hafds,

Brynveig, and Margrt.

Aside from beating me

in a game of golf

on a balmy 29-degree day,

these women are all C.E.O.s,

one of them the former head

of their Food and Drug Administration.

They're part of a generation

of Icelandic women

inspired by the election

of President Vigds.

I think Iceland is the best country

to be a female in

in the world.

There has been a lot of change

since the last, maybe, 20--

- 15-- yeah, 15 to 20 years.

- To 20, yeah.

- We've gone like that.

- Yeah.

We have the same chance

as the men.

- You do?

- Yeah, definitely.

You do feel--

in your bones, you feel that?

Yes, in your bones.

We grow up believing that.

I mean, we don't even

think about it.

We have a gender quota

for the biggest companies.

You mean the company's

board of directors?

- Yep.

- So, you have to be

either at least 40% women

or 40% men.

Because you also have to think

about the young men.

They need to get

on the boards also,

so it's a good law

for them also.

Right, so-- so, yeah.

So it can't be

more than 60% women.

- Yeah.

- No, no.

That's true, yeah.

Research has shown us that--

and this is international research--

that once you have three women

in the boardroom,

that's when culture starts changing.

Not when you have one or two.

Because one is a token

and two is a minority.

But once you have three,

it all of a sudden changes

the group dynamics,

it changes how the dialogue

is taken, what is discussed,

and it's been well shown that

that goes beyond the balance sheet

when you have more women

around the table.

They start asking more

about all stakeholders,

and this is what I call a different

moral and ethical compass.

And I think this

is extremely valuable today.

And I actually don't think you can

survive long-term in business

without doing this today.

Throughout my invasions,

it was clear that where women

had power and were true equals,

people were simply better off.

Yet here in Iceland, I felt that

the women had taken this

to an even higher level.

And while they controlled nearly half

the seats on company boards

and nearly half the seats

in Parliament,

it did make me wonder--

what was it that the men of Iceland

still controlled?

When much of the world

went into recession last year,

no country melted down

faster than Iceland,

dragging down

three major banks with it.

The only bank to operate in the black

is run by women.

So, does gender make a difference

in the financial world?

Here's Sheila MacVicar.

Iceland's collapse

was the fastest in history,

with 85% of the economy

wiped out in weeks.

There was only one

financial institution,

Audur Capital, in Iceland,

that did not lose money

for its customers.

Founded by two women

on the investment principle of

"if we don't understand it,

we're not buying it,"

there's a lot of talk here

about the difference it would've made

if more women

were on the trading floors.

It's been 99% men

that wanted to take risk,

wanted speed,

wanted individual rewards

and excessive rewards.

There is new evidence emerging

that some of what happens

on trading floors

may be partly the result

of male hormones.

When testosterone levels

get too high,

traders become overconfident,

take too much risk,

and the bubble bursts.

Women, they think,

"What's good for the whole?"

Where men, more,

they think, "What's in it for me?"

It's a provocative question

being debated around the globe.

Where would we be

if it had been Lehman Sisters?

So, do you think

any of this would've happened

if women had been

in charge in 2008?

I thought we had created a world

that was on

an empty pursuit for more,

and I had a question about

if this growth journey we had been on

was really a successful

business strategy

that I had somehow missed

during my M.B.A. education.

Is it a relentless pursuit

for getting big?

Or is this the great big

penis competition?

So, 20, 30 persons in Iceland

has turned the whole economy

on this island on its head?

Yes.

20, 30 persons?

Yes.

That's insane.

Yes, that is.

Normally stoic and proper

Icelanders have started protesting.

Yo.

Ahem.

His name was Jn Gnarr

and he's Iceland's top comedian.

He decided to run for mayor

of its capital city, Reykjavik,

as a joke.

The people of Reykjavik

thought it was the best way

to send a message to the bankers

and the people who had

ruined their country.

So, why did you decide

to call it the Best Party?

Well, because there's

this idea of "best."

Here, we're not allowed to say

that something is "best."

You mean, here--

it's not against the law.

You mean Icelandic culture.

- Yeah, I'm-- it's a law.

- Oh, it is a law.

I cannot say that this brand of coffee

is the best brand of coffee.

- Oh, really?

- No, you-- you cannot say it.

- Have you tried it?

- Yeah, it's very good.

But it's not the best.

It's the best, but I can't say it.

It might be the-- okay.

No, but they don't have

these rules in politics.

He won in a landslide.

His election was a total rebuke

of these guys.

The bankers.

Anybody who has kids

will know

that if the kids get away

with their crime,

chances are they will continue.

When the bankers went to court,

they went to a real criminal court.

And when the judges

issued the sentence,

they put the bankers away.

Far away.

Far...

far...

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