Navigation

Newsletter

Subscribe to the latest news from the Nordic Labour Journal by e-mail. The newsletter is issued 9 times a year. Subscription is free of charge.

(Required)
You are here: Home i News i News 2005 i Iceland: The parental revolution

Iceland: The parental revolution

The image of parent and child doesn't necessarily involve a woman any longer in Iceland. For almost five years fathers in Iceland have been able to take paternity leave, and from day one they have made the most of it. This has been the largest step Iceland has taken towards gender equality. But there are still examples of employers who don’t follow the law.
Up one level

This folder has no visible items. To add content, press the add button, or paste content from another location.

Document Actions

Facts

The almost five years old legislation or act on Maternity/Paternity and Parental leave in Iceland has been a great success.

The law now allows three months leave for the father, three months for the mother and three months for either mother or father. 

Furthermore, parents have eighteen months to make use of the leave.

The Maternity/Paternity Fund handles all the payments, and parents on leave get 80 % of their wages, or up to 7.700 EURO monthly. 

From January to June this year, 1707 men and 1858 women have received payment from the Fund. 

Since January 1st the Fund has a cap of 7.700 EURO a month. In this period, 61 men received as much as that, which means that their normal wages were at least 9.600 EURO monthly. 

Only 15 women were in that category. Earlier, people got 80 % of their wages no matter how much. It came as a surprise how almost all fathers took paternity leave, right from the start, and the Fund almost went bankrupt.

Newsletter

Receive Nordic Labour Journal's newsletter nine times a year. It's free.

(Required)
h
This is themeComment