Newsletter from the Nordic Labour Journal 2/2013
Editorial: The many reasons for gender equality
The Nordic Labour Journal’s gender equality barometer, the third in as many years, shows progress for women’s representation in Nordic power positions by one percentage point in 2012 in relation to a 50/50 gender distribution.
Nordic women have gained a little more power since last year.
Women in the Nordic region are slightly more equal on 8 March this year compared to last year. The Nordic Labour Journal’s gender equality barometer shows they have climbed to get 61 of the points we have allocated for government minister posts and other positions in society. That is one point more than last year. 100 points would be full equality.
Denmark’s gender equality policies: no quotas and a focus on men
Women hold all of the Danish government’s top jobs, but Denmark lags behind the rest of the Nordic countries measured in paternity leave and women in leadership positions.
Major Swedish companies seek more women leaders
The cold facts show there is a long way to go before there is total equality between men and women in Swedish working life. So when CEOs from ten of Sweden’s largest companies launched the equality drive ‘Battle of the numbers’, there was a lot of interest.
What can we learn from 80 female prime ministers and presidents?
A lone female leader’s dilemma is whether she manages to change the system before it changes her. You need a critical mass of 30 to 35 percent female parliamentary representation before you get lasting cultural, political and practical change, writes Torild Skard in her book on female presidents and prime ministers between 1960 and 2000.
Workplace equality depends on early life choices
Sweden has one of the world’s most equal societies. Yet there are still major differences between men and women. A man’s lifetime earnings is on average two million Swedish kronor more than a woman’s.
Katrín Jakobsdóttir - party leader during times of change
She is young, skilled and popular and has just been elected party leader for Iceland’s Left-Green Movement (VG). She will lead her party into parliamentary elections at the end of April, under what for Iceland are unusual circumstances were the former party leader is one of the party’s strongest candidates in the election.
OECD: Norway’s welfare system needs reform to keep people with mental issues in work
Norway’s sickness benefit system allowing 100 percent compensation from day one is too generous. Financial incentives for all parties - employees and employers, unions, municipalities, schools and mental health care services - should help them take responsibility. That is the OECD’s message to Norway.
The Nordic role in Europe’s crisis
Participants at the conference ‘Nordic ways out of the crisis’ agreed the Nordic countries can play an important role in southern Europe’s current economic crisis. Yet just how the Nordic countries can work together and how much support there is for such work remains uncertain.
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