The site is separated into 12 themes, such as work and equal pay, education, violence, media, peace and security and sustainable development. Everything is presented in a gender equality perspective. The teaching material has been developed within the framework of “A Gender Equal Nordic Region”, which is a project run by three organisations from Sweden, Denmark and Iceland. The idea is that teachers in various subject areas should be able to use the material, and that it will inspire students to get involved in these issues.

‘Icelandic schools don’t have any textbooks that deal with women’s rights and gender equality issues. This type of material is a good thing,’ says Vilhjálmsdóttir, who has been part of the project working group.

The Nordic countries have chosen somewhat different paths when it comes to teaching gender equality in schools. When Vilhjálmsdóttir started working as a teacher, she designed a course in gender and gender equality. It became very popular. After a few years, she was asked to train other teachers to enable them to offer the course at their schools.

‘Twenty-five of Iceland’s 33 upper-secondary schools are offering the course at the moment. It has sparked a lot of interest among the students. Feminist clubs have popped up at several schools!’

Advantages with electronic platform

The Icelandic gender equality course puts a strong focus on discussion and active participation. Everything from pornography and prostitution to labour market issues and politics is addressed and analysed from a gender power perspective. Vilhjálmsdóttir sees the new online teaching material as a useful complement.

In Iceland and Sweden, schools are required by law to teach gender equality in schools. The Danish national education act lacks a similar provision, which means that teachers are not required to address these issues.

‘I think relatively few teachers are teaching this stuff. Most of them probably already have a personal interest in gender equality issues,’ says Lise Bæk Vestermark, upper-secondary teacher in Roskilde and also member of the working group.

She likes that the website covers women’s rights in a wide range of areas. This enables teachers to choose whatever issue they want to talk to their students about.

‘One advantage with an electronic platform is that it lets you click on links to access new research or other continuously updated material. This way the content never becomes old and obsolete,’ says Bæk Vestermark.

Women´s Convention relatively unknown

The project behind the website came about after the Nordic Forum in Malmö 2014. According to Stéphanie Thögersen, project leader, many young people who attended the event showed a lot of interest and engagement in gender equality issues – something the project wanted to keep building on.

She says that schools and the public lack important knowledge about the UN Women’s Convention and the Beijing Platform for Action.

‘Most people have heard about the Children’s Convention, but the Women’s Convention remains relatively unknown. Feminist engagement gets even more effective when young people learn about their rights and how they can let this knowledge guide their efforts,’ says Thögersen.

This is an article about one of the projects granted funding through the Nordic Gender Equality Fund.

At the first parliamentary hearing, held in mid-October, Minister of Foreign Affairs Timo Soini from the Finns Party declared that he is against abortion. Miina Keski-Petäjä, abortion researcher at University of Helsinki, is critical to the suggestion that healthcare workers should be able to refuse participating in abortions.

‘I think it’s problematic that patients may encounter healthcare workers who don’t accept their decision. This may make an already difficult situation even harder,’ she says.
She also believes that the proposed policy may lead to increased inequality in healthcare.
‘The policy may cause problems in conservative rural areas, where the nearest hospital might be far away,’ she says.

Norwegian doctor Johanne Sundby confirms Keski-Petäjä’s concerns. In Norway, abortions are performed by doctors, who have the right to refuse the procedure. This may cause problems in communities with few doctors and midwives, she says. All clinics are required by law to offer all the care people are entitled to, including both the actual abortion and the aftercare, but this may be a challenge in some small communities, according to Sundby.
The freedom of conscience clause in the Norwegian abortion legislation applies to the actual abortion procedure, but some people want to expand it to include also other tasks and professional groups. For example, there are general practitioners who don’t want to refer patients to clinics where they can get an abortion.

All doctors should be required to provide the care patients are entitled to. The patients shouldn’t have to risk facing healthcare workers who make them feel guilty,’ says Sundby.

Swedish healthcare workers cannot refuse carrying out abortions, but the issue is debated intensely, just as in Finland. Two midwives have sued their respective employers after being denied employment due to their refusal to perform abortions. The first decision is expected in November.

Broad support for abortion force opponents to seek new paths

Lena Lennerhed, professor of history of ideas at Södertörn University, sees the focus on freedom of conscience as a conscious strategic move by abortion opponents in Sweden.
‘There is broad support for the right to abortion. They won’t get anywhere by saying they are against abortion, so they choose this path instead. This is how the resistance to abortions is carried out at the moment,’ she says.
The laws regulating the right to abortion vary across the Nordic region. In Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Greenland, pregnant woman are free to decide to have an abortion up to the 18th and 12th week of pregnancy, respectively. In the Faroe Islands, Åland, Iceland and Finland, certain medical or social criteria have to be met for an abortion to be performed. However, it is hard to say how relevant these requirements are in practice. In Finland, all requests for an abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy are approved, but the simple fact that a formal evaluation has to be made does make a noticeable difference, says Lennerhed.
‘Although in practice women get to decide up to week 12, somebody else has to give a formal approval. This is a clear signal that it is not the pregnant woman’s own choice,’ she says.

In a Nordic context, the resistance against abortions has historically been particularly strong in Norway, and Sundby believes this is still the case. The right of Norwegian women to request an abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy is widely supported, but attempts to extend the limit to the 16th week have failed.
‘There’s an ongoing public discussion about whether abortions should be made more difficult to get. I see this as a step backwards. Abortion is portrayed as a moral issue for the pregnant woman rather than as the legal right it actually is,’ she says.
Voices questioning the right to abortion are often heard in the other Nordic countries as well. Greenland has a high frequency of unwanted pregnancies compared with its Nordic neighbours, and some participants in a current media debate are saying that abortion patients should have to pay part of the costs of the procedure. Sundby is very critical of suggestions of this type.
‘I’m totally against it. It would open up for an unregulated market with cheap, dangerous abortions, as we see in poor countries,’ she says.

Abortion opposition grows stronger in economic recession

Let us return to Finland and the freedom of conscience debate. Keski-Petäjä does not think the Finnish citizen initiative will be passed in parliament, but she is afraid the debate surrounding the proposition will lead to increased resistance to abortion in some people.
‘It wouldn’t be the first time in history the resistance to abortion would grow stronger in the wake of conservative winds and economic recession. Conservative, racist and sexist ideas are becoming increasingly common in the Finnish public debate. The targets are often refugees, sexual minorities and women,’ she says.
The increased support for the Finns Party has contributed to a normalisation of these types of attitudes and arguments, says Keski-Petäjä.
‘The question is what the other parties are going to do. I wonder if they are going to stand up strongly for human rights or if they are afraid of losing voters to the Finns Party.’

Different laws in the Nordic countries

• In Norway and Denmark, a woman can choose to have an abortion until the 12th week of pregnancy. A pregnancy can be terminated after this point only if there are acceptable medical or social reasons for such a decision.
• In Finland, a pregnancy can be terminated until the 12th week if certain broadly defined criteria are met. If there are strong reasons to terminate a pregnancy after this point, an abortion can be performed until the 20th week. In case of foetal defects, the limit is 24 weeks.
• Swedish women can choose to have an abortion until the 18th week of pregnancy. In Iceland, the limit is week 16, and permission for later abortions can be given if the woman’s health is at risk.
• In Norway and Denmark, healthcare workers can refuse to participate in an abortion by referring to the freedom of conscience clause. This type of clause is being discussed also in Sweden and Finland.

‘Politically engaged young people are scared silent through online threats and sexist comments. This leads to a major democratic problem,’ says Kai Alajoki, president of the Nordic Youth Council.

The seminar on young people’s vulnerability to online hate speech in the Nordic countries was arranged in connection with the Nordic Youth Council’s session, which was held in Iceland this year and attracted participants from all over the Nordic region. The event was opened by Icelandic gender equality minister Eygló Harðardóttir, herself a frequent target of hate speech via emails and social media:

‘I think all politicians have experienced it. People don’t seem to understand how much pain it causes. They write things they would never say face-to-face.’

She believes it is important that politicians model proper behaviour by not responding to hatred with hatred.

‘The worst thing you can do when dealing with internet trolls is to give them a platform,’ says Harðardóttir.

Caroline Engvall, journalist and author from Sweden, argued that the justice system should work actively to contact young victims of cyber bullying, since they are unlikely to report their experiences to the police by themselves.

Norwegian researcher Helga Eggebø pointed out that a new definition of hate crime should include gender and gender identity. Sexist hate speech targets primarily young women and LGBT youth.

‘Politicians have a special responsibility’

On Tuesday, parliamentarians and government representatives from all Nordic countries will gather in Reykjavik for the Nordic Council’s session. Kai Alajoki believes that all politicians have a responsibility to protect young people from their online vulnerability.

‘They have a special responsibility since they are largely directing the public debate. They can make sure that they themselves don’t trigger hate speech by expressing preconceived views and unfounded opinions. They should talk respectfully about all people,’ says Alajoki.

He also feels it is not reasonable that the fight against sexist hate speech has to be led by those who are targeted the most.

‘We men should get more involved and speak up against all the threats and hatred,’ says Alajoki.

FOOTNOTE: The Nordic Youth Council is a forum for Nordic political youth organisations. The seminar on young people’s vulnerability to online hate speech in the Nordic countries was arranged in connection with the Nordic Committee for Children and Young People (NORDBUK), the Nordic Committee of Senior Officials for Gender Equality (EK-JÄM) and the Nordic Committee of Senior Officials for Culture (ÄK-K).

‘This is a hot topic in Sweden right now,’ said Liisa Husu, professor in gender studies at Örebro University, when she opened the workshop Thursday.

The Swedish gender equality commission presented its final report earlier in the week. The commission proposes a clearer intersectional perspective in the country’s gender equality policy, and that the government should establish a national gender equality agency.
‘If this means that gender will be treated separately, it could be seen as a return from an integrated to a separating perspective. But the establishment of a national gender equality agency is at the same time a big and important step forward,’ said Sofia Strid, researcher at Centrum för feministiska samhällsstudier, Örebro University.
Strid is part of the Nordic research network that arranged the workshop. The network wants to facilitate a discussion about the increasing complexity of gender equality policy. Around 20 researchers from various Nordic countries participated in Örebro.

Johanna Kantola, gender researcher at the University of Helsinki described the situation in Finland:
‘We’re experiencing a gender equality policy crisis,’ she said.
Her statement can be interpreted as a rhetorical wink to the government. According to Kantola, various crises are precisely what the Finnish government likes to refer to when justifying cutbacks in the public sector. The financial crisis, the EU crisis and the refugee crisis are used as reasons to reduce public spending, she says. The government wants to save money for example by changing the rules for paid sick leave and lowering the extra pay for public employees working nights and holidays.
‘The only good thing happening in Finland right now is the growing opposition,’ said Kantola.
She mentioned an initiative where 88 professors are protesting publically against the cutbacks. She also described how Finnish trade unions have mobilised around the gender equality issues:
‘Many people who have never been part of the feminist movement are starting to get involved.’

The workshop in Örebro began Thursday and continued Friday. Hege Skjeie, professor in political science at the University of Oslo, described some of the challenges resulting from the theoretical transition from gender equality to a broader focus on equal treatment and antidiscrimination. One thing she sees is that some groups can be eager to safeguard their own interests.
‘They may fear that their own particular group will end up short-changed,’ she said.
The groups with the longest history of being organised and the strongest legal protection feel they have the most to lose when other grounds for discrimination are put on the agenda, she continued and gave an example. In Norway, the possibility to adopt an integrated antidiscrimination law has been discussed – an idea some women’s groups oppose.
According to Sofia Strid, the Nordic countries have chosen partly different paths in their design of discrimination laws. For example, Sweden has a law in line with the one proposed in Norway, while Finland has separate discrimination and gender equality laws in place.
‘We need to learn more about the consequences of different models. How does the design of the laws affect gender equality, the class system and LGBT people’s rights? This is something we need to look closer at,’ said Strid.
In her research, she has shown a particular interest in how the civil society has received the intersectionality perspective.
‘It’s interesting to look at how various organisations deal with the discrimination grounds. For example, we see that many feminist organisations try to include several other grounds for discrimination at the same time as they place gender a bit above the others.’

Both Strid and Skjeie feel that there is a lack of examples of how the intersectionality perspective can be implemented in policy proposals and practical gender equality work. They mention the Equality Ombudsman as an example where the intersectional analysis has led to concrete change. Norway was the first Nordic country to have a central equality ombudsman for all types of discrimination, and the other countries have since carried out similar reforms.
Strid thinks that having Nordic researchers get together and talk may help unveil how the intersectionality perspective has impacted policy and the situation of various groups.
‘We need to look at which paths are available and which paths have proved effective.’

This is an article about one of the projects granted funding through the Nordic Gender Equality Fund.

Sociologist and organisational researcher Mathias Wullum Nielsen, who presented his PhD dissertation in June, has spent the last handful of years studying gender equality in academia. He has primarily used his own academic institution, Aarhus University in Denmark, as the object of study, but he has also made comparisons between Denmark, Sweden and Norway. He concludes that the Scandinavian countries display important differences in terms of discourse, practices and concrete measures to increase gender equality in academia.

‘Denmark is less willing than Norway and Sweden to talking about gender equality as a rights issue,’ says Wullum Nielsen. ‘They prefer to apply a utility perspective: Organisations that hold back women are not talking full advantage of their potential and will therefore end up less competitive. Denmark is therefore using a more narrow range of interventions.’

Differences can also be found between Norway and Sweden, he says. In Norway, a lot of the gender equality work has focused on structural measures to support women in academia. In contrast, Sweden gives more attention to organisational cultures and how they can be changed.

‘Denmark is inspired by both Sweden and Norway. At the same time, however, the Danish discourse is more stuck in the notion that the issue of gender equality concerns only women and that gender equality strategies should focus on equipping women with the qualifications they need to be successful but are currently lacking.’

Open recruitments not so open after all?

In an article recently published in Nature (24 September 2015), Wullum Nielsen reports the results from another study he has done, on appointments of senior researchers at Aarhus University. From 2004 to 2013, 20 per cent of all new professors and associate professors were recruited without an open call for applications, he found. When looking only at the positions that were openly advertised, a large part of them only attracted one applicant – an observation suggesting that the open recruitment processes may not have been so open after all.

The studies also show that the gender imbalance is considerably larger in closed than in open recruitment processes: 23 per cent of the applicants were women when the positions were openly advertised, whereas the share was only 12 per cent when the recruitments were handled more informally, without an open call for applications.

‘I’m very interested in how the academic world thinks about the concept of meritocracy,’ says Wullum Nielsen. ‘Every time somebody suggests measures to increase gender equality in academia, opponents claim that such measures are incompatible with the principle of meritocracy, which is a cornerstone of the academic world. So I wanted to see how things really work in this field.’

The organisation needs to deal with the problems

What’s most surprising is not that the problems exist, but rather that the development seems to be headed in the wrong direction, he points out. Both the minister in charge and the university itself have signalled that open recruitment processes shall be the norm. Nevertheless, the share of informal recruitments increased from 8 per cent in the first half of the studied 10-year period to 30 per cent in the second half. And Aarhus is not alone – a recent review reveals similar patterns at several other Danish universities.

‘Sometimes there may be good reasons to fill vacancies without an open recruitment process, but the finding that the proportion is so high indicates that the organisation needs to deal with the problems,’ says Wullum Nielsen.

The observation that informal recruitment processes on average are less beneficial for women is old news, he says. One reason for this bias is that male managers tend to prefer candidates who are more like themselves. Another is that female academics are often less visible to decision makers since their ties to those with power in the academic world are generally weaker.

As part of his PhD project, Wullum Nielsen also explored how the use of bibliometrics to measure a researcher’s individual merits affects the gender equality.

‘I’ve looked closer at the so-called Danish bibliometric research indicator, which goes by its Danish acronym BFI. According to my study of Aarhus University, male and female researchers have equally good citation rates. It therefore seems fair to assume that they should achieve about the same BFI scores. However, men generally score higher in the BFI system. The main reason for this is that men are more likely to publish their research in scholarly journals that yield higher scores,’ he says.

Better to read than to count?

One plausible explanation for this bias is that the BFI system ranks journals in male-dominated research fields higher and consequently tends to assign higher scores to male scholars’ publications. It is well known that the female representation in the committees making these assessments is low, Wullum Nielsen points out.

‘It may seem like a good idea for gender equality to measure in the organisation. Clearly presented objective data makes it easier to point to discrepancies. But it’s not that easy. If the assessment criteria are determined in favour of the dominant group, the results will help reinforce the imbalance, contrary to what’s intended.’

Wullum Nielsen sees it as problematic that bibliometrics has gained such importance in the assessment of individual scholars’ achievements. Since external factors can have a strong impact on a researcher’s bibliometric score, in particular early in the academic career, it would be reasonable to assess somebody’s potential in some other way – for example by reading their publications instead of merely counting them.

Wullum Nielsen’s PhD dissertation is titled New and Persistent Gender Equality Challenges in Academia. He will spend the next two years doing research at Stanford University, with professor Londa Schiebinger.

‘I will mainly focus on how gender equality in academia affects the research content and the knowledge that’s produced,’ he says.

The conference in Riga, scheduled for 7–8 October, will focus on the concrete problems that the Nordic and Baltic countries are currently facing in their work against human trafficking and other forms of gender-related violence. According to detective inspector Berglind Eyjólfsdóttir, chair of the Nordic-Baltic Network of Policewomen, there is a great need for cooperation.

‘It’s not just about sharing experiences and improving methods, it’s also about networking. I think it’s important that those of us who work with these issues get to know one another – it will make it easier to contact each other in our daily work.’

She says that the perpetrators are often one step ahead of the police and can quickly change their methods. This means that the police must always keep updated.

‘Discussing these issues helps us understand the situation in the other countries. It’s an eye-opener,’ says Eyjólfsdóttir.

The conference in Riga is part of the project Gendered Violence – Nordic-Baltic Dialogue. Earlier this year the network met in Copenhagen for a first seminar. So, more concretely, how can the cooperation improve the work of the police? Eyjólfsdóttir mentions a human trafficking case in Iceland. A woman was identified on a flight to Reykjavik. At first the police thought she was involved in a drug-related crime, but eventually it turned out she was a trafficking victim from Lithuania.

‘Two colleagues had recently been to a study visit organized by NBNP in Lithuania. That made it much easier to contact colleagues there and work on the case together.’

What’s the biggest challenge in the work against human trafficking?
‘One challenge is how to identify the victims; another is to find ways to work with them. The latter can be difficult, since the victims are often afraid of authorities and the police,’ says Eyjólfsdóttir.

This is an article about one of the projects granted funding through the Nordic Gender Equality Fund.

‘We have benefitted a great deal from the Nordic co-operation. At this point we’re hoping to be able to contribute more and show what we do to a larger audience. Another aim is to bring more attention to the Nordic co-operation here in Iceland,’ says Hugrún R. Hjaltadóttir, adviser at the Icelandic Centre for Gender Equality. 

The three web portals are operated jointly by national knowledge centres for gender issues in the Nordic countries, including the Danish Centre for Gender, Equality and Diversity (Kvinfo), the Information Centre for Gender Research in Norway (Kilden), the Centre for Gender Equality information in Finland (Minna), the Swedish Secretariat for Gender Research (NIKK) and from now on the Icelandic Centre for Gender Equality (Jafnréttisstofa).  

‘We are thrilled to have Iceland on board. It is important that the portals cover all initiatives, events and opportunities across the entire Nordic region,’ says Josefine Alvunger, communications officer at NIKK in Sweden.

GenderKalenderN lists Nordic and international conferences, meetings, seminars, PhD courses and more. The idea is for all units to contribute with information from their particular country in a central database. All information can also be shared via Facebook and Twitter.

The two other portals, GenderJob and GenderFund, work in the exact same way but focus on gender-related jobs and funding opportunities. GenderJob lists job vacancies related to gender and gender equality in the Nordic region and elsewhere. GenderFund should be of interest to anybody looking for research grants, project funding, stipends etc. And GenderkalenderN keeps track of everything from feminist culture festivals to research policy conferences at the EU level. The portals are inter-Nordic and share a focus on gender and gender equality.

In 2014 the Nordic countries have cooperated in their work for gender equality for 40 years.
How far have we really come? What does Nordic gender equality mean to you, and how can we be even better when it comes to gender equality? These questions are asked by the Nordic Council of Ministers, in their presentation of the newly launched movie contest on the theme of Nordic Gender Equality.

Are you 15-25 years old? Participate in our movie contest; the prize is 25 000 Danish Krone!

The movie can be no more than 3 minutes long and be able to upload to YouTube. It’s fine to make the movie on a tablet or smartphone – creativity is more important than the technical quality.

A jury will select 10 finalists based on the following criteria:

• Inspiration for other young people regarding gender equality in the Nordic countries
• Kreativitet och kunskap

After this Facebook-users will vote for the winner and second place.

First place: 25.000 Danish Krone

Second place: 5.000 Danish Krone

Winners will pay taxes on the price money.

Gender researchers in different countries have a lot to learn from each other, says Jo Krøjer, researcher at Roskilde University. Krøjer is the coordinator of the conference Voices in Nordic Gender Research scheduled for 5-7 November.
‘Our goal is for the conference to offer many exciting discussions and new meetings,’ she says.

Can you tell us more about which themes will be discussed at the conference?
‘We’ll focus on seven themes, all of which are described on the conference website. We are for example going to have round-table discussions on structural racism and Nordic identity. The biggest theme, in terms of the number of papers received, is The Gain and Pain. Life in Welfare Societies. Here researchers are going to discuss the feminist progress made in the Nordic region, but also the price we have paid for it.’

What do you mean when you say that the feminist progress has come at price? 
‘We see for example that women’s ability to participate in the labour market has improved thanks to the positive developments within child and elderly care in recent decades. Now we can ask ourselves whether the development in the welfare institutions in the last few years, with economic and structural changes, has put the wellbeing of children and old people at risk. The salaries and working conditions are not always good at these institutions, so the price is also paid by those who work there.’

Why do we need a Nordic gender research conference?
‘Since the countries are fairly similar, the research results in one country are meaningful also for the other countries. We need to get better at seeing what researchers in the other countries are doing. We are to some degree focusing on different things. For example, Sweden has come a long way within gender equality research, while the Danish research has a strong focus on the development of methods.’

Who will be at the conference?

‘150 people have registered. Most of them are researchers but there will also be some practitioners. All Nordic countries, except Greenland, will be represented and we will also have guests from the Baltic States, South Africa, Australia and the U.S. The participation will be broader than expected although some countries are underrepresented. Finland is one example. We hope the conference will be a recurring event, and that Finland can host it next year. That would make it easier for Finnish researchers to participate.’

What effects do you hope the conference will have?
‘This is NORA’s first Nordic gender research conference, but we hope there will be many more! We hope the participants will meet researchers and practitioners who they haven’t had the opportunity to talk to before. Maybe the conference will lead to more Nordic research projects being launched in the future. This is of course only something we can wish for, but at least the conference increases the chances for cooperation.’

This is an article about one of the projects granted funding through the Nordic Gender Equality Fund.

The report is produced by researchers Stine Thidemann Faber, Helene Pristed Nielsen and Kathrine Bjerg Bennike, commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

The survey presents research on changed living conditions as a result of global changes, declining economic growth, migration, depopulation and fewer jobs in professions traditionally considered male. Young women especially move to larger cities in pursuit of higher education. These are challenges of great impact not only on the vitality and unity of the region, but also on the men and women who live there and their mutual social relations, the researchers conclude.