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If we look at all the 13 government minister posts in the NLJ’s gender equality barometer, there have been 292 female Nordic government ministers between 1970 and 2016. 

56 different governments have had a female minister of social affairs. The ministry of justice is the second most female-dominated post, with 35 ministers, while culture and education minister posts are fighting for third place with 31 ministers each. These four ministries have therefore made up 42 percent (120 out of 292) of all female ministers (see figures below). 

Female prime ministers, foreign ministers and finance minister have been few, and second to last on the list are defence ministers. There have been 12 of them since 1970. Half of them were Norwegian. 

The six positions of power which we look at are:

Heads of state, supreme court presidents, heads of central banks, arch bishops, police commissioners and commander-in-chief.

Iceland does not have a commander-in-chief, so we have counted the head of the coast guard.

Read more about how we make the gender equality barometre here.