Looking for a pay rise? Consider moving to Iceland.
No, seriously.
The nordic country is number one for gender equality. While women typically earn 14-18 per cent less than men currently, the government has made the pledge to close that gap by 2022.
It’s not just empty words either. In case you missed it, on International Women’s Day last week the country introduced legislation that enforces equal pay.
“Equal rights are human rights. We need to make sure that men and women enjoy equal opportunity in the workplace. It is our responsibility to take every measure to achieve that.”
Should the legislation pass as expected, the new law would hopefully be implemented by 2020.
The move follows a strike last year supported by women all over the country.
On 24th October last year, thousands of women in Reykjavik alone left offices, shops, factories and schools where they were meant to be working at 2:38pm to protest against earning less than their male counterparts.
Listen: It’s never too late to make a difference – women who’ve made it later in life. Post continues after audi.
According to unions and women’s organisations, the 14 to 18 per cent disparity in pay for women means that in a typical eight hour day, women are working for free after this time.
It’s not the first time a strike has brought about positive gender equality for the country.
In 1975, 90 per cent of women in Iceland decided to demonstrate their importance by going on strike. One year later, the equal pay act was introduced and five years later, the country elected its first female prime minister – and the first in Europe – Vigdis Finnbogadottir, a divorced single mother.
“What happened that day [of the strike] was the first step for women’s emancipation in Iceland,” she told the BBC.
“It completely paralysed the country and opened the eyes of many men.”
Top Comments
Because the gap exists on the basis that women work less hours than men in lower paying positions because it is already actually illegal to do otherwise in most developed nations. The only way to 'close the gap' would be to pay women more than men for the hours they do work compared to men who work longer in the equivalent position. Basically pay them overtime when they aren't working overtime. Is this really what the world needs right now, what amounts to a man tax. To further disincentivise men to fulfill their role in society as the most efficient units of production? Men as a group are already paying disproportionately into the tax base while not drawing on the welfare programs & spending that taxes fund to the same degree as women. This kind of policy reeks of an uneducated political class that doesn't understand how capitalism as a system pits competitive forces against one another to come up with the most efficient, productive & best valued product or service for the benefit of all consumers to improve everyones quality of life via it's key incentive of rewarding capital to those who work harder & smarter irrespective of gender.