Sexual harassment and sexism in the hotel, restaurant and tourism industry has long been a problem. In this project, relevant Nordic trade unions joined forces to review the research in the area and share best practices.

A fact sheet produced within the framework of the project, Not on the Menu, described the situation in the industry. A conference was also held (June 2015) with the overarching objective to make a joint Nordic effort to address the issue of sexual harassment and sexism in the industry and to strengthen the ability of trade unions to promote gender equality in the workplace.

The project has also facilitated dialogue with employers at the European level. The trade unions were enabled to develop and share examples of successful practices. The Icelandic Federation of General and Special Workers (SGS) and the Institute for Gender, Equality and Difference (RIKK) have after the end of the project period initiated efforts to facilitate continued research on how sexual harassment in the hotel, restaurant and tourism industry is affecting salaries and status in the Nordic labour market.

The Nordic gender equality model has been widely acknowledged in recent decades, also outside the Nordic region. Gender equality is the ultimate goal in all Nordic countries, yet the path to get there varies.

The Nordequal project aimed to create a network for gender equality studies in a Nordic comparative perspective. Researchers and scholars from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland participated in the network. The purpose of the initiative was to create a platform for long-term sharing of experiences among researchers, practitioners and politicians at the Nordic level. The goal was to arrange four seminars in 2014 and 2015 where challenges and opportunities in contemporary Nordic gender equality practice and policy would be discussed. The seminar series was centred around the increasing complexity in Nordic gender equality policy, for example in relation to the tensions between state feminism and a more business- and market-oriented type of feminism. Two concluding seminars were held in 2016.

In April 2014, the Nordic Council issued a recommendation to introduce gender equality certification of Nordic schools and preschools. In connection with this, a project titled Mapping Promising Nordic Practices in Gender Equality Promotion at Basic Education and Kindergartens set out to stimulate discussion and cooperation regarding the implications of the recommendation for schools and preschools. The aim of the project was to create a forum for sharing of best practice.

The project resulted in a report proposing concrete certification criteria and presenting examples of successful work, which also facilitated further development of existing efforts.

The Nordic sharing of experiences yielded great value and the project continued after the publishing of the report in 2015 with the development of a tool for e-learning.

NORA – Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research – is a scholarly journal focusing on Nordic gender research. When the Roskilde and Aalborg Universities held the editorship of the publication, which is published in English, they applied for funding to host a conference in Roskilde in November 2014. The purpose of the conference was to enable Nordic researchers and others with an interest in gender research to share the latest studies and findings with each other. The conference yielded eight keynote lectures and a large number of papers on or related to Nordic gender research within a broad spectrum of theoretical and empirical subject areas: gender equality and the welfare state, knowledge and concepts related to body and embodied experiences, feminist strategies, sexuality, normativity and identity politics.

The conference contributed to increased knowledge about NORA and strengthened the ties among Nordic researchers and research environments. It was also decided that a Nordic gender research conference will be arranged every three years. The planning of the 2017 event began already at the end of the conference.

Gender equality-promoting organisations targeting men and masculinities have been formed in several Nordic countries since the early 1990s. Examples include Men for Gender Equality in Sweden, Reform in Norway, Profeministimiehet in Finland and White Ribbon in Denmark.

The purpose of this project was to create a Nordic network for gender equality-promoting organisations targeting men and masculinities with an overarching aim to contribute to non-discrimination and social justice. The network met several times in 2014 and 2015 to discuss further development and to support the formation of organisations in Nordic countries lacking entities of this type. The network has continued its cooperation after the end of the project period.

The purpose of this project was to address issues related to gender equality policy in the Nordic region, such as men’s violence against women, discrimination in the labour market and the workplace, distribution of resources and welfare, and to review the ability and role of courts in the promotion of gender equality.

This was accomplished through a two-day conference in late spring 2015. The conference targeted Nordic researchers and doctoral students with an interest in law and gender in legal research, education and cooperation. The conference facilitated sharing of experiences and development and knowledge at the Nordic level.

Gender-based violence is a global problem that is usually confronted only locally or nationally. The project Gendered Violence – Nordic-Baltic Dialogue aimed to establish Nordic-Baltic police cooperation focusing on the work against trafficking, men’s violence against women and men’s violence against other men. The goal was to increase the capacity of law enforcement to combat trafficking and gender-based violence and to build expert networks. Another ambition was to facilitate sharing of knowledge and experiences in relation to these themes.

Mentoring has proved to be an effective method for career and leadership development, and for helping more people enter the labour market. The method differs depending on the target group, and when this project started there was no network where different models could be discussed and further developed.

Thus, the project aimed to establish such a network – primarily to develop knowledge about mentoring and to disseminate and share methods, but also to document the already existing knowledge. A joint seminar meeting for Nordic actors was held in autumn 2014 and the network was officially launched in spring 2015.

The interest in feminism and gender equality is rising across the Nordic region. The Nordic Forum in Malmö 2014 attracted 30 000 guests from all Nordic countries. However, there is still a need for more knowledge about gender equality and the national and international commitments that the Nordic countries have made for gender equality. The project A Gender Equal Nordic Region aimed to take advantage of the engagement and knowledge that the Nordic Forum resulted in, with the target group consisting of adolescents in upper secondary school.

Educational material including a teacher’s guide was developed within the project. The material was based on the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Beijing Platform for Action, the conclusions from the Nordic Forum and other information and facts about gender equality. The material was initially introduced in ten upper secondary schools in Sweden, Denmark and Iceland, but was eventually distributed to all 1 124 upper secondary schools in Sweden, 33 in Iceland and 150 in Denmark. A launch conference was held in Reykjavik. The work to further disseminate the material in the Nordic countries has continued after the project period.

So-called ‘exit’ programmes have been set up in several Nordic countries. The purpose of these programmes is to help women and men in prostitution to leave the sex industry. The project Exit Prostitution Work in the Nordic-Baltic Region aimed to gather knowledge from the support efforts that were made in the Nordic-Baltic region. In a next step, the ambition was to provide relevant organisations and decision-makers with information and education. This was accomplished through a workshop in London, a conference and communication through media.

The conference It’s Time to Pay! Are Prostitution Policies Failing the Most Vulnerable? Was held in Helsinki in 2015. The project also resulted in reinforced cooperation in the work to help sex workers leave the prostitution industry in the Nordic-Baltic region. The planning of an international conference on the same theme in Tallinn in 2017 was also initiated.