International Women's Day 8 March

14 Feb

Introduction of the Nordic countries journey towards gender equality

Denmark Sweden Norway Finland and Iceland are countries consistently recognized for their gender equality.

With slogans like "promoting gender equality at work is not only the right thing to do but the smart thing to do". Yes, promoting gender equality at work makes sense especially when aligned to taken for granted benefits like,

subsidised childcare for all,
shared and paid parental leave,
flexible work arrangements
leadership and equal opportunities at work

What needs to be acknowledged is that the Nordic countries collaboration in promoting for gender equality for well over 40 years.

Hence, it is no wonder that the share of women participating in work in the Nordic countries is larger than the global average.

Of course this has not been always the case, and it is actually good to remind oneself of the actual challenges women in the Nordic countries have had to overcome to have gotten this far in comparison to their sisters in other parts of the world.

As with all battles the first battle to overcome for the Nordic women was to be able to vote. Below is the information when each of the Nordic countries granted women the right to vote,

Finland: Finland was one of the first countries in the world to grant women full suffrage. Women in Finland gained the right to vote and run for parliament in 1906, making Finland the first European country to grant women full political rights.
Denmark: Women in Denmark gained the right to vote and run for office in municipal elections in 1908. Full suffrage was granted in 1915.
Iceland: Women in Iceland gained the right to vote in parliamentary elections in 1915. However, it wasn't until 1980 that Iceland elected its first female president, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, making her the world's first democratically elected female head of state.
Norway: Norwegian women won the right to vote in 1913, but it wasn't until 1918 that they were allowed to stand for election to the Norwegian Parliament (Storting).
Sweden: Women in Sweden gained the right to vote in municipal elections in 1862. Full suffrage was granted in 1919.

Begin granted the vote paved the way to several reforms,

1920s was the era that empowered women's financial independence and laws removed men's guardianship over their wives and allowed women full rights to own property. Unfortunately, as women got married they found themselves not allowed to work since the belief was that this would push men out of the labour market.

1939 Sweden became the first country in Europe to forbid married or engaged women to be fired.

There was however a problem with the joint taxation of spouses which meant that spouses’ incomes were combined and taxes calculated on the basis of the total household income. The taxes were often so high it hardly made sense for the wife to work. In addition, if both spouses worked, they often had to pay for childcare and a domestic worker to take care of the housework.

1971 in Sweden and Denmark with the introduction of individual taxation, changed the problem of joint taxation and created a stronger financial incentive for married women to join the labour force, effectively ending the housewife era.

1960-1970s to meet the severe labour shortages in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland unmarried or married women were welcomed into the labour force. In Finland women were already working full-time due to the aftermath of World War II

1960-1970s Childcare

1964 Denmark was the first country to legislate for childcare, followed by Finland, Iceland and Sweden in 1973 and Norway in 1975.

1960s social movement was toward social justice, equality and rights. And a big part of this was an ambitious family policy. Nordic family policy has aimed to actively facilitate behaviour change, with an expressed goal of gender equality through increasing women’s participation in the labour market, as well as facilitating an increase in men’s involvement in the care of their children. In short, Nordic family policy has encouraged a sharing of house hold and child-rearing responsibilities between parents, implying a transition away from the traditional pattern where women are expected to carry out these tasks alone. Efforts to change the traditional and stereotypical gender roles at work and at home, as well as changing people’s views of what is masculine and what is feminine, have been an important part of this work.

FEMALE PRIME MINISTERS NORDIC COUNTRIES

Prime Minister of DENMARK - Mette Frederiksen 2019 -