Gender Equality
Articles on gender equality in chronological order.
Who wants to hire young women and men with two children?
March is when gender equality usually takes centre stage. This year, the NLJ’s gender equality barometer shows a setback for women's share of 24 power positions in the Nordic countries. But we also look at childbirth, artificial intelligence, the EU's platform directive, and Iceland's refugee policy.
Severe drop in childbirth rates across the Nordics
What will happen to the Nordic labour market when birth rates in all of the five Nordic countries have fallen to record-low levels? Can existing assisted fertilisation technology help increase the number of children? Or is the drop in foreign adoptions larger?
Midwife – a norm-breaking profession for Swedish men
The Swedish labour market is very gender segregated. But some go against the grain. Like the men choosing to become midwives.
"Structures maintain the gender-segregated labour market"
“Men are underrepresented across the entire welfare sector, including healthcare, social care and education. Research shows that the reasons primarily lie on an organisational and structural level and that efforts to get more men to choose jobs in the welfare sector therefore must also be targeted at an organisational and structural level.”
Paulina Brandberg – the Minister for Equality who wants to take a tough stance
What can the Nordics bring to inspire other countries to improve gender equality? Sweden’s Minister for Equality Paulina Brandberg has two rather surprising examples: High divorce numbers and changing tables in the gents.
2024 Equality barometer: Three significant women have disappeared from power
Two years ago, it looked like the 24 positions of power in the NLJ’s gender equality barometer were just a few years away from being equally divided between men and women. Women had reached 92 points, and at 100 they would be on par with men. But in 2023, women’s points fell to 72 and this year sees a further fall down to 65 points.
Fighting domestic violence in Latvia with Finnish and Norwegian support
Just a lovers’ spat. A common explanation in Latvia for domestic violence, although legislation has been considerably tightened in recent years. The country’s Marta Centre, with support from Norway, is working to reduce stereotypical perceptions among Latvian government officials.
It is time to get women on board again
The number of female state leaders is falling. In rapid succession, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced their retirements.
Female entrepreneur, CEO and role model
Hanne Jarmer is the inventor of a wall-mounted robot that exercises dogs’ brains. She is also a role model for female entrepreneurs who generally find it far harder than men to attract investors.
Norwegian nuclear physicist: make space for pink in science
Sunniva Johanne Rose is a physicist and blogger. She is good at sciences but also loves shoes, makeup, interior design and fashion. During her academic career, she has faced much prejudice against women in pink.
2023 Gender Equality Barometer: a dramatic fall
A dramatic fall from 92 to 77 female points – that is the result in the Nordic Labour Journal’s gender equality barometer 2023. It measures whether a man or a woman holds 24 positions of power in the five Nordic countries. 100 points for both genders would mean full equality.
Nordic men face different challenges from women in non-traditional jobs
Young women training to join typically male-dominated occupations make difficult choices but are also spurred on by family, teachers and politicians and end up with a high-status job. But when young men choose healthcare jobs, they get neither status nor good pay.
The tough road to male occupations in Denmark
Amalie Schwartz is a newly qualified electrician and the only woman in a workplace with 80 people. She is busy changing that disparity every day at work and as an ambassador for the Boss Ladies project.
Iceland's record-breaking parental leave "not perfect"
Iceland's parliament passed a new law on parents’ leave in 2021 giving each parent at least six months off – the longest paternity leave in the Nordics. Yet only six weeks can now be split between them, a big change from earlier when parents could split far more time between them. Usually the mother took the entire leave that could be split.
Finland extends parental leave
Three Nordic countries have recently made changes to parental leave. Iceland increased the leave for both parents to six months in 2021, while Denmark and Finland made changes this summer.
Nordic nuances regarding whistleblowers and paternity leave
Nordic citizens have many rights that can seem nearly utopian to people elsewhere in the world. But in certain areas, there are surprisingly large differences also between Nordic countries. Paternity leave is one example.
Dads on equal footing with mums in Denmark’s new parental leave law
More gender equality in the labour market and more fathers on leave with small children. This is what Danish families can now look forward to after the government has given fathers nine extra weeks of earmarked paternity leave.
Faroe Islands: Four weeks enough for father and child?
Faroese fathers use four out of the 52 weeks of the available parental leave while mothers use 48. The reason is economic, explains a father and the head of the Gender Equality Commission.
Eliza Reid – Iceland's outstanding First Lady
On March the 8th, the book Secrets of the Sprakkar was published in the US after having first been released in Iceland in 2020. It deals with gender equality in Iceland, considered to be among the best in the world. Sprakkar is an ancient Icelandic word for “outstanding women”. A few of these outstanding women are interviewed in the book.
The male role in the Nordics – in crisis or developing?
Two authors from Denmark and Sweden have written books on the male role – one concluding it is in crisis, the other believes it is evolving. Yet both underline the importance of jobs and highlight the negative consequences faced by men who cannot find one – especially among immigrants.
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