The Icelandic Women's Rights Association was founded on January 27th 1907, in Reykjavik. In the beginning the main focus was on women's suffrage. In 1915, women 40 years and over received a national suffrage and the right to hold office. The law was signed on June 19th and since then, that day has been celebrated by Icelandic women; it is the women's rights day in Iceland. IWRA's publication is also named after the day: 19. júní. It was first published in 1951 and is one of the oldest magazines in Iceland.

Main focus of IWRA work today is equality between men and women as elected officials in the Parliament and the municipalities as well as gender balance in leadership positions in both public and private companies. Violence against women, prostitution and trafficking in women is also a huge concern, the gender wage gap is consistent so there are still many issues that affect women in a different way from men and gender inequalities are persistent. The objective of IWRA is to eliminate those inequalities.