Iceland is great for women, but it’s no feminist paradise

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/28/iceland-women-feminist-paradise-gender-gap-pay

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On Tuesday it was reported that Iceland has topped the charts for the sixth consecutive year as the country with the smallest gender gap between men and women, taking into account four key measures: political empowerment; educational attainment; economic participation and opportunity; and health and survival. Why is the country doing so well, and what should we read into this?

First it should be recognised that the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI), put together by the World Economic Forum, measures gaps rather than levels of gender equality or, indeed, women’s empowerment. So let’s be clear that women and men are not equal in Iceland. However, there have been some notable successes in terms of bridging the gap between men and women, and these are attributable not least to the vocal and often colourful women’s movement, which has had a clear impact on public agenda setting and the political landscape in Iceland.

This applies in particular to Iceland’s performance on the subindex of political empowerment. The Icelandic women’s movement has fought long and hard for the inclusion of quota systems when it comes to the selection of candidates for political parties. Not all parties have taken up this system but most of those on the left have. In 2009, as a left-leaning government came to power, Iceland jumped to the top of the GGGI ranks. The quota systems are not bound in law, and it is up to individual political parties whether they implement these. This means that Iceland’s strong performance on this measure is fragile, and could be undone with shifts in the political climate.

Iceland also tops the GGGI in terms of educational attainment. There are no surprises here, as the majority of schools from play school to university level are state run. There are no school fees, and most Icelandic university students have access to student loans to cover the cost of living. Last year, the ratio between men and women graduating from the University of Iceland was about two women for each man. However, there were clear gender preferences in terms of choice of studies; many women choose subjects that lead them to jobs in the care sector whereas men are more likely to choose subjects leading to lucrative jobs in sectors such as science, technology and engineering.

This brings me to the subindex that measures the gender gap in economic participation and opportunity. First, the good news. Women’s participation in the labour market in Iceland is the highest in the world, or 88%, yet they still manage to have on average two children. This is possible because of the high-quality, affordable play schools and nurseries. Childcare is heavily subsidised; in Reykjavík a married couple would pay the equivalent of £132 per calendar month for eight hours of childcare a day (that includes food), whereas a single parent would only pay £78. Each parent is entitled to three months of parental leave; with an additional three months that parents can decide how to divide between themselves. This is the longest parental leave entitlement for fathers in the world, which they cannot pass on to the mother, and it has had substantial consequences for gender equality in the labour market. Research also shows that this has had a positive impact on the division of childcare between parents within the home.

Gender quotas for company boards were recently bound in law. But there is some bad news. There is a pay gap between men and women in the labour market, which overall amounts to almost 20%. The struggle to lessen the pay gap between men and women has been ongoing for decades. In 1975, the first universal women’s strike took place in Iceland and women walked out of their workplaces and homes, leaving colleagues and family members to fend for themselves. Their aim was to show how undervalued yet valuable their contribution to society was. In 2010, with the problem persisting, women pointed out that not enough measures had been taken to close the pay gap. A similar strike was organised, with women leaving their workplaces at 2.25pm. This marked how long men would need to spend at work each day in order to earn equal pay to a woman.

Iceland’s low score on the health and survival indicator (where it ranks 128th in the world) shows how carefully we need to treat these statistics. Part of the index measures how much the life expectancy of women exceeds that of men. In many countries women’s life expectancy exceeds that of men to a marked degree, and so, in Iceland, men live on average to the ripe old age of 81, whereas women live on average to 84. There is clearly a gap, but in each case these are healthy life expectancies, so this doesn’t really pose a problem, does it?

Behind every statistical index lies a complex social reality. In Iceland, as elsewhere, there is considerable need for improvement. Next year the Icelandic women’s movement will be celebrating the centenary of women’s suffrage. The anniversary will be celebrated in style with a conference where leading experts will discuss prominent challenges for feminists today. Other events are also being planned, including school events, art and museum exhibitions. This will be a good time to remember that what has been achieved can easily be demolished. There is no space for complacency for any of us who care about gender equality.