Iceland: Equality must be fought in every sector

For a long time, Iceland has considered itself to be a world leader in gender equality. And when you look at big public leadership positions, women can be quite pleased with their share.

The Chief Police Commissioner, the Reykjavik Police Commissioner, the Bishop of Iceland and the Director of Health are all women, to name but a few.

More recently, there have been some major political changes. In May, a woman was elected President for the first time in 30 years. After the parliamentary elections, a woman took over as Prime Minister. 

Halla Tómasdóttir won the Presidential election in Iceland last year. This is the second time in history a woman holds the post. (Photo: Halla Tomasdottir's public website)

And she was not alone. The new government coalition comprises three parties, all led by women. Seven of eleven cabinet ministers are women. 

To add to that, it is very likely that the next leader of the conservative Independence Party will be a woman after its annual congress later this month. This would be a first for the party that has been Iceland’s largest for most of the time since its formation in 1929. 

Þorgerður Jennýjardóttir Einarsdóttir, Professor of gender studies at the University of Iceland, says this is a clear example of how things are going in the right direction when it comes to gender equality in Iceland.

“What I find interesting is that women’s political activity increased much slower in Iceland than in other Nordic countries. In 1983, the women’s share among parliament members increased from 5 per cent to 15 per cent.

“That was mainly because of the success of a new party, The Women’s Alliance, and the effect it had on other parties that had more women running.

"There was another big jump in 1999 when the women’s share increased from 25 per cent to 35 per cent in parliament, and then another in 2009 after the financial crisis, when the share rose to 43 per cent.”

Þorgerður Jennýjardóttir Einarsdóttir is Professor of gender studies at the University of Iceland. (Photo: Islands universitet)

Einarsdóttir says other Nordic countries were way ahead of Iceland, for example by arriving at more than 30 per cent female representation in parliament. 

“We were almost a decade behind in reaching that goal. But since then, women’s share in parliament has grown rapidly in Iceland. This is certainly an indication that things are going in the right direction, but that doesn’t mean we have equality in all areas in Iceland.”

Slow change for court judges

The trend has been the same in the public sector in general, as previously mentioned. But not everywhere. 

“When we look at directors of public institutions, the women's share is good, there are still a bit more men than women in these positions. That share is, however, much better than among court judges, especially on the Supreme Court. 

“This seems to change very slowly. And even though there is a lot of focus on the women who lead these public institutions – they almost become a token – the majority of the directors are still men.

“So these are only gradual steps towards equality. Women are not taking over the country at all as some people seem to think,” Einarsdóttir says. 

When asked where the biggest equality challenges lie, Einarsdóttir names the economy as an example.

“Men control nearly everything there, for example, companies’ boards. Recently, a law introduced a 40 per cent gender quota for boards of companies with more than 50 employees. 

“Those companies have gone in the right direction but not the companies the law doesn't apply to. Also, this has not affected the women’s share in senior management. 

“That was the main purpose of introducing such quotas, which has also been stated by the EU. This has not happened. So it looks like we have to focus on reform in each sector.”

Einarsdóttir adds that even though there is a quota on board members, it does not apply to chairpeople of the boards. So both chairpeople and managers are still men by and large.

The first woman was not hired as a senior manager in a registered company until 2022, but previously, women have been directors at the time of a company being registered.

Just 21 per cent female managing directors

Ásta Dís Óladóttir, a professor at the Business Faculty at The University of Iceland, has been monitoring the share of women in business for years.

“The World Economic Forum has listed Iceland as having the smallest gender gap for the last 15 years. But when it comes to women’s economic participation, we are in 7th place and in terms of management positions and decision-making we are in 44th place.” 

Ásta Dís Óladóttir is a professor at the Business Faculty at The University of Iceland. (Photo: Islands universitet)

She lists more examples of how the current situation.  

“Women make up 66 per cent of university graduates but only 21 per cent of managing directors. Around 30 per cent of managing directors of listed companies are women.

“Our researchers have shown that gender bias in recruitment processes hinders equal opportunities among top managers. Women invest less and start fewer companies than men.

“We have also found out that men on the boards of listed companies believe that gender ratios in management positions will level out on their own. Women just need to be patient for another 10-15 years.”

Einarsdóttir points out that many people believe power is moving from politics to the market. 

“This may sound like a conspiracy theory, but the assumption is it becomes easier to increase the women’s share in the public sector when you don’t have as many things under its control.

“An example of this is the financial deregulation that took place before the financial crisis, which brought a lot of power to the market. This is just a thought, I have no real sources to back this up."

Gender-divided labour market needs addressing

Einarsdóttir says there is no one way to increase equality in the sectors where it is needed. In some sectors, for example culture, it is easier to make these changes. Much has been achieved, but there is a lot of work ahead.

“One of the things that we have managed to do is decrease salary differences between the genders. But that only applies to the difference within each line of work. The big issue here is that we have a gender-divided labour market. 

“A good example is teachers who are currently on strike, demanding their salaries be equal to other experts in the public sector. The majority of them are women. So we are not comparing the jobs’ value and paying salaries accordingly. This needs to be solved somehow.”

Einarsdóttir also says unpaid work needs addressing.

“By that I mean, for example, what the shortage of daycare actually costs in terms of unpaid work for the relatives – parents, grandparents and so on. This is a very invisible problem which must be taken into consideration because this also costs money.”

Another thing that also still needs to be fought is gender-oriented violence.

“That is considered the most extreme form of gender inequality. Iceland has been criticised by the Gender and Inequalities Research Group GRETA, set up by the Council of Europe, for not doing enough to fight human trafficking, for example.

“It also looks like only 10 to 13 per cent of gender violence cases face charges, and even fewer reach the courts and get a sentence. So in that aspect, we really have a long way to go.” 

Controversial quotas

When asked about how to increase women’s share in management, Ásta Dís Óladóttir says one measure is gender quotas for boards of directors, similar to what was done with the company boards.

That legislation was controversial. 

“Managers generally believe that the business community itself should ensure that gender ratios on boards and in senior management positions are good enough, without government intervention.

“Despite this, gender quota laws for boards of companies with 50 or more employees were fully implemented in Iceland in 2013, intended to equalise the proportion of women and men on the boards of Icelandic companies.” 

Óladóttir says many hoped that the law would have a spillover effect into senior management positions. 

“This appears to be the case only to a limited extent. Globally, tough measures such as company board gender quotas have been much more effective in equalising gender ratios on boards.

“Softer measures and penalties for non-compliance, as we have in Iceland, have been more effective than where there are no penalties. 

“Previous research has suggested that company board gender quotas could be one of the ways to reduce the gender gap that exists in management positions in this country.”

Þorgerður Jennýjardóttir Einarsdóttir believes Iceland is generally heading in the right direction, equality-wise. 

“But we still have this tough gender system in certain areas that we find very difficult to break. It looks like normal social changes are not enough. It is necessary to take the fight to each sector. 

“Good things in the public sector do not seem to affect the private sector and good things in larger companies do not affect other private companies.

“Also, women today are sometimes adapting to the existing system rather than changing it as previous women’s rights leaders did. 

“In order to change something, they have to subscribe to a feminist ideology, which they don’t all do. So the increased share of women does not automatically mean a changed system.”