Newsletter from the Nordic Labour Journal 2/2012
Editorial: One step forward and two steps back?
Nordic women are loosing power in politics and society, according to Nordic Labour Journal’s barometer. Is this really the case? Denmark’s Minister for Equality promises a policy in high gear, and the chairman of Carlsberg’s executive board is going for 40 percent women on the board, but says no thank you to any legislation in Denmark. Can they achieve a better balance of power, like Iceland has?
Nordic women loose power despite Denmark’s new prime minister
The Nordic Labour Journal’s gender barometer shows equality between the sexes in top political and professional positions is falling in the Nordic region. Denmark gaining its first female prime minister with Helle Thorning-Schmidt does not make up for the fact that Finland has just got a male president and a male prime minister.
Danish gender equality shifting up a gear
Denmark’s new Minister for Gender Equality, Manu Sareen, promises to turbo charge gender equality. His main focus will to fight violence against women and a gender-divided labour market. He wants more women in top management and into board rooms.
More women rise to the top at Carlsberg
It’s looking bad for gender equality in Danish companies’ boardrooms and management. There is massive opposition to legally binding female quotas. Now one of Danish business’ old giants is taking voluntary action: from 2015 at least 40 percent of the elected members to the board of Carlsberg brewery will be women.
Women’s businesses mirror gender segregated labour market
There is strong political will in Sweden to strengthen women’s entrepreneurship and between 2007 and 2014 the centre-right government spent a total of 800m SEK (€90m) on supporting, developing and highlighting women’s enterprise. De-regulated public sector markets open up for new businesses, but there is a risk that Swedish businesses will mirror the Swedish labour market and end up being just as gender segregated.
Effective sanctions make Norway’s quota law a success
The law on quotas is the most efficient measure to improve the boardroom gender balance. “But the law should be followed up by effective sanctions and state measures which help stimulate the action.” That is the advice from head of research Mari Teigen to other countries looking to legislate for quotas on company boards.
Demand for more female board members as EU’s patience runs out
EU Commissioner Viviane Reding’s patience has ran out. European companies have failed to improve board room gender equality to a satisfactory degree. The European parliament has already voted to introduce quotas to secure at least 30 percent women board members by 2015 and 40 percent by 2020.
Wide support for early retirement and flexjob reform
There’s an increased drive in Denmark to stop young people ending up in benefit traps. Meanwhile there are cuts in subsidies to the flexjob scheme and early retirement.
Unemployment can be defined away
The definition of employment and unemployment differs from country to country. A comparative historical perspective shows the political context - how the problem is presented and how its constituent parts change - steers our understanding and that the standard views of employment no longer are relevant in countries like the US or France, examples which social historian Noel Whiteside has been looking at.
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir: The gender pay gap is now the most important equality issue
Iceland’s Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir has managed what many thought near impossible. She has cut public spending in the wake of the market crash without negatively impacting Iceland’s social security system.
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