People in the Nordic countries have
been enjoying the Danish political TV drama Borgen lately. Actress
Sidse Babett Knudsen’s main role as Denmark’s Prime Minister is
performed with bravura. By November Danes will go to the polls in real
general elections, and they could for the very first time elect a real
female prime minister.
The Finnish go to the polls in April. In the
Portrait the Finnish Minister of Social Affairs Juha Rehula takes stock
ahead of those general elections. A central question in the debate will
be Finland’s forthcoming generation shift. In News you can read that
‘Finland’s next government will make people work longer’. Can Prime
Minister Mari Kiviniemi keep her chair?
Denmark and Sweden are the only Nordic countries
that never had a female prime minister. This month’s Focus ‘Gender
equality in the Nordic region – vision or reality?’ features Nordic
Labour Journal’s own count of how many women have held government posts
and other public positions of power in the Nordic countries over the
past 40 years. The results indicate a stagnation of women’s progress in
society. It is also interesting to note that each country has its own
male bastion which women have not been able to penetrate. Finns don’t
want female union leaders. Norway does not want a female foreign
minister.After the crisis Icelands women have strengthened their
position, but most positions of power are still held by men. Does this
mean something?
The Nordic countries are world champions when it
comes to gender equality. Even though there is considerable variation
between the countries, women enjoy high employment levels, generous
maternal leave, offers of paternal leave, good nursery and care home
cover and women make up more than half of all graduates in higher
education. So why aren’t more women in powerful positions? The labour
market is still divided along gender lines. Women tend to work more
often in part-time low wage jobs The leader of the Swedish Municipal
Workers’ Union, Annelie Nordström, says in ‘Part-time is a result of
lacking equality’ that her union has campaigned for the right to
full-time work for 30 years without success. Denmark too is looking for
a change of tack in the debate on gender equality.
Sigtona Halrynjo shows through her research that
the question of gender equality is more complicated than what
legislation and rules allow for. Even when a highly educated woman
with a highly educated partner works more and shares family work more
equally with her partner than other women do, there is still some way
to go before she can enjoy full gender equality in her career and in
her share of home and care responsibilities, she writes.
Vision or reality? Perhaps the vision of gender
equality is more beautiful than real life, not only in the Danish
drama, but also when it comes to ‘Gender equality in the Nordic
region.’
