As usual, Norway is among the most advanced countries to promote equality between men and women. And Norway being today the main social democratic country in the region, we should not be surprised by the report “Gender and Pay: facts, analyses and measures to promote equal pay” presented on the 16th of May to the Norvegian government. You will find here a presentation and the proposed measures, but I recommend to all people interested to look at the full summary in english.

Presentation:

In June 2006 the Norwegian Cabinet appointed a Commission to provide an overview overdifferences between women’s and men’s pay and consider measures to reduce pay
differences. The Equal Pay Commission was established as a committee of experts and
comprised researchers from several different disciplines. A reference group for the
Commission was also established, consisting of the ten main employers’ and employees’
organisations in Norway.
The Commission’s mandate was to describe the current situation, provide an analysis of the
reasons for the pay gap, provide an overview over legislation and international agreements
relating to this area, consider the consequences of the collective wage agreements (in the past
ten years) from a gender equality perspective, and provide an analysis of the consequences of
equal pay for public budgets, the operation of the labour market and employment. The
Commission was to consider measures that could help to reduce pay differences between
women and men. The mandate also emphasised that the Commission should play a proactive
role and arrange common meeting places for discussion and communication, disseminate
knowledge and influence public opinion. The pay gap was defined as differences in hourly
pay, and the pay gap was to be considered in the context of gender equality policy.
The report is divided into three parts. In accordance with the mandate, the first part contains a
comprehensive set of facts, figures and analyses relating to the pay gap, women and men in
working life, family policy and the division of work in the home. Part I also deals with
legislation, enforcement and the administrative practices of the Gender Equality and Anti-
Discrimination Ombud and the Gender Equality and Anti-Discrimination Tribunal.
Part II discusses various explanations of the pay gap between women and men and provides
analyses of the causes of the pay gap on the basis of theoretical knowledge. Factors such as
historical causes, the importance of the Norwegian collective bargaining model and the
importance of children and care responsibilities are included in these analyses.
Part III provides a broad overview over the lessons learned from previous efforts to promote
equal pay, including enforcement of the right to equal pay, experience gained from using job
evaluation as an instrument to promote equal pay, income policy measures and family policy
measures. The members of the Commission presented specific proposals for new measures
but their support for the proposals was not unanimous. The majority presented six proposals,
while one member supported two of them and also presented his own proposal (Proposal No.
7).

Propositions

The Equal Pay Commission argues that equal pay for women and men does not mean that the
goal is equal pay for all, but that pay must be determined in the same way for women as for
men and unreasonable gender-based differences in pay are unacceptable. However, opinions
differ about how this is to be interpreted and about the instruments that should be used to
achieve equal pay. The majority of the Equal Pay Commission has considered both measures
aimed at achieving equal results (eliminating undesirable pay differences) and measures
aimed at ensuring equal opportunities for choice and equal chances in working life.
One important goal of the measures that have been considered by the Equal Pay Commission
is that they must help to improve the position of women on the labour market. The
Commission has therefore not considered proposals for compensatory measures, such as
lower taxes for women or lower national insurance contributions from employers for women
employees. Some of the measures place the responsibility for implementation with the
authorities. Others have been designed as a request and a recommendation for the social
partners.
1. Enforcement of the duty under the Gender Equality Act to promote gender equality,
including equal pay, should be strengthened. a) The Gender Equality and Anti-
Discrimination Ombud should receive an increased annual allocation of NOK 10
million (the equivalent of € 1,25 million and $ 2 million). The Gender Equality Act
should be amended: b) enforcement of the duty to make active, targeted and
systematic efforts to promote gender equality, including equal pay, should be
strengthened, c) authorisation should be provided for regulations concerning the
content of the duty to promote gender equality, including equal pay, and d) enterprises
over a certain size in both the public and private sector should be required to produce
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pay statistics, broken down by gender and position. These statistics should be made
available to all employees.
2. The authorities and the social partners should implement a pay increase for selected
female-dominated occupations in the public sector. A prerequisite for the pay increase
would be the establishment of an agreement between the parties stating that wage
growth in the public sector may be higher than in the private sector, and that new
relative pay differences between the groups will not trigger demands for
compensation. The pay increase cannot be implemented administratively by the
authorities alone. The pay increase would entail the allocation of fresh funding
through the national budget, approximately NOK 3 billion (the equivalent of € 0,375
billion and $ 0,6 billion), which, in connection with a revision of a wage agreement,
would be used to raise the level of pay for female-dominated occupational groups in
the public sector.
3. The social partners who are involved in collective bargaining in the private sector are
recommended to allocate funds for combined low-wage and women’s pots in the wage
negotiations. It is argued that such pots will not necessarily affect the total frameworks
for the wage negotiations, but that this will in any case entail re-setting the priorities
between female-dominated and male-dominated groups in the private sector.
4. Chapter 14 of the National Insurance Act should be amended to ensure that mothers
and fathers divide parental leave more equitably between themselves. The amendment
would mean that one third of the parental leave period would be reserved for the
father, as in the Icelandic parental benefit model. This measure would entail an
estimated additional annual cost of between NOK 700 million (the equivalent of €
87,5 million and $ 140 million) and NOK 860 million.
5. The social partners are urged to introduce a right, regulated by agreement, for
employees who are absent from work due to parental leave to at least an average pay
increase when they return to work. At a later date the authorities should consider
whether such right should be made statutory in order to include areas in the private
sector that are not covered by a collective wage agreements.
6. The Government should design a project to support enterprises and organisations that
implement measures to increase women’s competence and motivation with a view to
increasing the recruitment of women to management positions. This scheme could be
designed in such a way that enterprises and others can apply for funding for targeted
efforts to increase the proportion of women in management positions. The project
should be of sufficient size to allow for annual expenditure on the scheme of NOK 10
million (the equivalent of € 1,25 million and $ 2 million), and should initially have a
term of five years.
7. The parties in the public sector are recommended to increase the use of local
negotiations in bargaining areas where there is a large proportion of female-dominated
occupational groups.

The full summary in english