Guðbjörg Linda Rafnsdóttir

Guðbjörg Linda Rafnsdóttir completed a BA in sociology and teaching certification from the University of Iceland in 1984, an MA in sociology from Lund University in Sweden in 1990 and a PhD from the same university in 1995.^[1][2] From 1994 to 2007, she was head of the Education Department and later programme director at the Research and Health Department of the Administration of Occupational Health and Safety where she conducted research into the working conditions and wellbeing of various professional groups.

Guðbjörg Linda Rafnsdóttir is currently a professor of sociology at the Faculty of Sociology, Anthropology and Folkloristics. Since 2016 she is also Pro-Rector of Science.^[3][4]

Guðbjörg Linda Rafnsdóttir's research spans a broad field within the sociology of work, well-being and gender.^[5][6][7] She has taken part in a wide range of Icelandic and international research projects and is an affiliate of the Center for Research on Gender in STEMM at the University of California San Diego.

Some of Rafnsdóttir's earliest research focused on the gender divide in the labour market and the Icelandic labour movement. Her doctoral thesis, Women's Strategies for overcoming Subordination. A discussion of Women's Unions in Iceland (Kvinnofack eller integrering som strategi mot underordning - Om kvinnliga fackföreningar på Island), discussed the gender divide in the Icelandic labour movement and its impact on the position of women in the labour market.^[8] Her research focus later shifted considerably towards occupational health and wellbeing.^[9][10][11] She has also explored gender segregation in labour and the impact of information technology and online work on work arrangement and well-being. In recent years, she has conducted a significant amount of research into the position of gender in academia and business leadership, gender quotas, the interplay between family and work responsibilities, and time as an instrument of power.^{[12][13][14][15][16]}