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New Nordic report on pathways to equal pay for work of equal value

Published

Today, women in the Nordic countries are among the most active labour market participants in the world, but the goal of equal conditions in the labour market is far from being achieved. The Nordic Council of Ministers has therefore commissioned the publication “Towards Pay Equity: Regulation, Reporting and Practice in the Nordic Region.”

This publication is the first in a series of reports from a project initiated by the Nordic Council of Ministers to reduce the pay gap that still exists. The project is being carried out by Nordic Information on Gender, NIKK.

A story of much talk and little action

The publication describes legislation and policy initiatives in the Nordic countries, including a discussion about the implementation of the EU Pay Transparency Directive with focus on the issue of pay equity. The report also provides a brief overview of Nordic labour market models and highlights differences for possibilities to advance work towards equal pay for equal work and work of equal value. Special attention is paid to the interaction between legislation, collective wage agreements and requirements for reporting wage statistics related to the ISCO standard.

The publication is written by the lawyer Eberhard Stüber. He has worked as, among other things, an analyst at the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman (JämO), and as a senior investigator at the Swedish Gender Equality Agency, both in Sweden.

The other two reports in the series will be published in winter 2024/2025.

 

NIKK, Nordic Information on Gender, is a co-operation body for the Nordic Council of Ministers placed at the Swedish Secretariat for Gender Research at the University of Gothenburg.

Other reports in the series

The second report in the series examines how available official statistics can be used to measure pay differentials between women and men in equivalent work at the national level in the Nordic countries, with in-depth studies of Finland, Norway and Denmark (Anna Fogelberg Eriksson Department of Behavioural Science and Learning Linköping University and Minna Salminen Karlsson Uppsala University).

The third report discusses various explanations for the undervaluation of women’s work in a gender-segregated labour market, based on a survey of the social partners and other key actors in the Nordic countries (Jimmy Sand National Secretariat for Gender Research, University of Gothenburg).