Gender equality barometer 2025

Every year, the barometer takes stock to see whether a woman or man holds 24 different positions of power. The point of measurement is 8 am on 8 March. There might be changes before that time.

Compared to 2022, when Nordic women scored 92 points, we are still in a deep slump. The four biggest countries have gone back slightly or stood still. 

Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen has strengthened her position as the face of the Nordics on the international stage, albeit not at the level of Olof Palme or Gro Harlem Brundtland. 

But women do best in Iceland. Both the President and Prime Minister are, for the first time ever, a woman.

Only one of the Nordic trade union confederation presidents is a woman, while employer organisations are exclusively led by men. 

Iceland

Since the last survey of 8 March 2024, there have been quite a few government reshuffles across the Nordics.

The biggest changes have taken place in Iceland after Katrín Jakobsdóttir decided to step down as Prime Minister and party leader on 9 April 2024 and announce fresh elections.

Before that, she ran for President on 1 June but lost to Halla Tómasdóttir who became the country’s second female President. 

Bjarni Benediktsson, who took over as Prime Minister when Katrín Jakobsdóttir stepped down, failed to keep together the coalition that had governed since 2017 and called a snap election.

It was held on 30 November 2024. The Social Democrats made big gains and Kristrún Frostadóttir was asked to form a government. It comprises seven women and four men from three different parties. 

There have been no changes among the social partners. The Icelandic Federation of State and Municipal Employees is still led by Sonja Ýr Þorbergasdottir, while the Confederation of University Graduates in Iceland is led by Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir.

Church elections were also held in 2024 in Iceland, where Guðrún Karls Helgudóttir was elected bishop. She followed Agnes M. Sigurðardóttir, who had held the position for 12 years and became the country’s second female bishop.

Iceland also has a female national police commissioner, Sigríður Björk Guðjónsdóttir, which gives the country 21 points in total – one more than what is needed for full gender equality in the NLJ gender equality barometer.

The first Nordic country to gain more than 20 points was Norway when Erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2017. With women in the positions of prime minister, finance minister and foreign minister, Norway scored over 20 points for six years in a row.

Denmark got more than 20 points for three years from 2020 to 2022. That was while Queen Margrethe was head of state, Mette Frederiksen was prime minister and Lizette Risaard LO president.  Sweden got 20 points in 2022.

Denmark

Mette Frederiksen has been Denmark’s Prime Minister for nearly six years now (five years and 253 days on 8 March). She has increasingly become the international face of the Nordics. 

She represented the Nordic and Baltic regions during Emmanuel Macron’s Paris crisis meeting on 17 February. It was convened after US President Donald Trump wanted to keep Europe outside negotiations with Russia about Ukraine.

Trump’s desire to take over Greenland will also keep Frederiksen in the spotlight. 

Female leaders are otherwise thin on the ground in Denmark, at least in the positions we include in our gender equality barometer. 

There was a government reshuffle on 29 August 2024, which also saw the number of government ministers increase from 23 to 25 – the highest ever. There are nine women, including the Prime Minister, but that only makes up 36 per cent. 

The two new ministers’ portfolios include civil preparedness and to execute the agreement on “the green tripartite cooperation’. This was an agreement between the government, two employer organisations, two trade unions, the Danish Nature Agency and Municipalities of Denmark.

The aim is to reduce emissions from agriculture. 40 billion Danish kroner (€5.36m) have been allocated to plant 250,000 hectares of forest, among other things. 

Sophie Hæstorp Andersen took over as Minister of Social Affairs from Astrid Krag. Christina Egelund took over as Minister of Education from Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil. These two changes between two women did not therefore change the number of points.

Denmark gets only ten points this year, the same as in 2024.

Sweden

Sweden saw a minor change in its government when Minister for Foreign Affairs Tobias Billström stepped down on 10 September 2024. He was replaced by Maria Malm Stenergard, who was previously the Minister for Migration. 

This gives Sweden two more points in this year’s barometer. However, on 18 May, Susanna Gideonsson stepped down as President of Swedish LO, a post worth four points in the barometer. She retired for personal reasons and was replaced by Johan Lindholm.

That means overall Sweden loses two points and ends up with 11.

It is debatable whether LO has so much power that the position of President should be awarded four points. In Denmark, LO and the Confederation of Professionals in Denmark merged into the Danish Trade Union Confederation and is therefore awarded six points in our barometer.

There is nothing in Sweden to indicate a similar merger is on the cards. There are three major central organisations. LO, which organises the workers, The Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees (TCO) and the Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations (Saco) which represents academics.

LO has lost members for many years, however, while the other organisations have seen an increase in their memberships. There are now only 160,000 fewer members in the LO than in the TCO. If TCO overtakes LO, should that result in more points? 

Saco has also gained members lately. Their President of 14 years, Göran Arrius, will step down after this autumn’s general assembly. The deadline for nominations just passed.

Chances are the new President will be a woman since the President of the Swedish Medical Association Sofia Rydgren Stale is considered to be a strong candidate.

Finland

There have not been any major changes in Finland. The current government is led by Petteri Orpo, who came to power on 20 June 2023 when Sanna Marin decided to step down after three years and 192 days as Finland’s third female Prime Minister. 

Orpo’s coalition government comprises four parties and 19 ministers. 12 are women, which represents 63 per cent. Two of the most important posts – ministers of finance and foreign affairs – are held by women; Elina Valtonen and Riikka Purra respectively. 

There have been seven changes of ministers since the government came to power – one because the Swedish People’s Party of Finland changed their party leader.

Anna-Maja Henriksson served as Minister of Justice for a long time in three different coalitions but became Minister for Education in Orpo’s government. On 5 July, she left the post for the new party leader Anders Adlercreutz.

On 24 January, Sari Multala from the National Coalition Party became Minister of Climate and the Environment. She was previously the Minister of Science and Culture, a post taken over by Mari-Leena Talvitie from the same political party.

The government changes mean Finland lose one point and end up on 13, which is surprisingly low considering the number of women in government. 

But Finland has no women in leadership positions among the social partners, except for Mari Löfgren who leads Akava, the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in Finland. 

There are no women in the symbolic positions of power either, which explains Finland’s 13 points.

Norway

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has succeeded in turning around record-low support for his Labour Party in an unprecedented manner. A poll published by the VG newspaper on 11 February this year gives the party 28.7 per cent, up 8.5 per cent from the last poll. 

There are two explanations. Jens Stoltenberg said yes to becoming the new Minister of Finance and the Centre Party left the coalition government on 4 February this year.

Støre began his period as head of government on 14 October 2021. It comprised 20 ministers including himself. Eight of these were from the Centre party and 12 from Labour.

Besides Jonas Gahr Støre, only Minister of Transport Jon-Ivar Nygård has held his position until today. Only Tonje Brenna, Jan Christian Vestre and Espen Barth Eide are part of the original team. 

Today’s Norwegian government is made up of ten women and ten men. None of the posts that score highest in our barometer are held by women, But Tonje Brenna is Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion, which is said to manage one-third of the budget. 

She is also one of the Labour Party’s two deputy leaders. 

Compared with 8 March 2024, Norway has gained one female minister, Cecilie Myrseth – the Minister of Trade and Industry. But since Marie Benedicte Bjørnland is no longer the national police commissioner, there is no difference in points.

Norway ends up with 14 points, the same as in 2024.

In recent months, there has been a power struggle primarily between LO on one side and the employers' organisation NHO on the other. The dispute has centred around the agreement on an inclusive working life, the so-called IA agreement, which was first introduced in 2001.

The goal was to reduce sick leave and increase employment among older workers and people with disabilities—without Norway implementing unpaid sick leave days.  

LO's leader, Peggy Følsvik, issued an ultimatum: she refused to sign the IA agreement if the rules for sick leave were changed. And she got her way.

But at the same time as the gender equality barometer is published, Peggy Fønsvik announces that she is resigning. This will take place at the LO congress in May. There is a clear favorite to take over, writes VG. It is a male candidate: Jørn Eggum of Fellesforbundet (The United Federation of Trade Unions). It is the largest trade union organizing the private sector in Norway, with 170 000 members.