Gender Equality
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Articles on gender equality.
Nordic women lose power despite Denmark’s new prime minister
(Mar 08, 2012) 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
(Mar 08, 2012) 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.
Women’s businesses mirror gender segregated labour market
(Mar 08, 2012) 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
(Mar 08, 2012) 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
(Mar 08, 2012) 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.
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir: The gender pay gap is now the most important equality issue
(Mar 08, 2012) 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.
New Norwegian drive to find jobs for people with impaired work abilities
(Oct 12, 2011) Organisations for people with disabilities along with the social partners didn’t hold back their praise when Norway’s Minister for Labour Hanne Bjurstrøm and Minister for Children, Equality and Social Inclusion Audun Lysbakken presented their ‘Job strategy for people with impaired work ability‘ during the presentation of Norway’s 2012 budget on 6 October.
Fatal accidents in Nordic workplaces nearly exclusively involve men
(Apr 07, 2011) Men in the Nordic region are involved in fatal accidents at work far more often than women. 1,157 men died in work accidents between 2003 and 2008, compared to only 85 women.
Denmark still waits for a female prime minister
(Mar 07, 2011) Few countries have been so mentally prepared for a female prime minister as Denmark. The political TV drama Borgen has been a great success, also in neighbouring countries. It portrays a female prime minister and the power struggle at Christiansborg, the Copenhagen palace which houses parliament, the Prime Minister's office and the supreme court.
Finnish women have conquered the most important positions of power
(Mar 07, 2011) Finnish women top the Nordic Labour Journal power barometer with 15 out of a possible 40 points. Not least because both their president and prime minster are women.
Norwegian women have lost the most power
(Mar 07, 2011) Norway has been the hottest country in the gender equality debate since quotas were made law there in 2008. Publicly listed firms, often major listed companies, must have at least 40 percent of each sex in their boardrooms. Yet at the same time women have lost more positions of power in Norway than in any other Nordic country.
Who'll replace Sweden's powerful women?
(Mar 07, 2011) Sweden is the only Nordic country which has never had a female prime minister or a female head of state in modern times. The Social Democrat Party leader Mona Sahlin could have become prime minister in the September 2010 elections, but her new red-green coalition lost.
New tack sought in Danish equality debate
(Mar 07, 2011) Norway uses quotas and a men's panel to improve gender equality, but in Denmark there is disagreement on how to do it. Yet the Danes do agree there's a need for a gender equality debate which focuses on both sexes.
Motherhood vs career logic rules
(Mar 07, 2011) We're all equal now, right? More women than ever get an education, there are new ideals for what it means to be a father and family-friendly solutions have changed the framework for how mothers' and fathers' adapt to work and family life. Yet my dissertation 'Mothers and fathers meet the rules of career logic' shows these social changes have not been enough to achieve gender equality in working life or in family life.
Working con amore
(May 01, 2008) After fifteen years in Italy, it feels wonderful to be taken on the wings of the Scandinavian labour market. Not under! That's the whole point.
Wanja Lundby-Wedin - favours security in change
(May 01, 2008) She is the president of LO - Sweden, the Council of Nordic Trade Unions and of the European Trade Union Confederation. Wanja Lundby-Wedin represents the employees of all of Europe. “As their representative of course I have power. That is just how it should be”, she says.
Striking the right work-life balance
(Mar 03, 2008) There's a lot of focus on finding a balance between work and private life these days. Despite all the good intentions, it is hard to imagine real change will come about before we seriously address the difficulties in getting the right mix of family and working life. There is now considerable scientific documentation showing heavy work loads and unsociable working hours make it hard to find time for family life.
Things to do on holiday
(May 10, 2007) "How was your holiday?" they ask me. I think to myself - holiday? What holiday? I've worked harder over the past three months at home than during an entire year in the office.
The Nordic women – leaders in gender equality
(May 01, 2007) The Nordic countries are leaders in Europe and the world when it comes to equality between men and women. Nowhere else do women have such good opportunities to participate in working life and build careers as in the Nordic region. Finland recently set a new world record in the number of women in government, with 12 women cabinet members. Iceland is an example in parental equality as all fathers have their own three-month paternity leave.
Finland's Tuula Haatainen sees positive gender signals in EU
(Oct 10, 2006) The European Union is seriously looking at the challenges of gender equality, while many member states have no option but to address the problem of how work and family life can be combined.
