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Equal pensions – sustainable welfare systems

The project mapped and evaluated the pension systems in the Nordic countries, to see how they impact gender equality. The results were collated in a report, together with suggestions for improvement. The report was presented at a Nordic summit meeting on equal pensions and disseminated to relevant Nordic target groups in several ways. Parallel to the project, an information campaign was carried out, aimed at young people in the Nordic countries. The campaign highlighted how life choices affect a future pension.

The project seeked to increase knowledge about how the design of pension systems in the Nordic countries affect economic equality between women and men. This knowledge is vital in making future pension reforms fair and sustainable. It will also reinforce the trust in the mutually financed welfare systems of the Nordic countries.

The project created opportunities for exchange of experience between women’s organisations and decision makers in the Nordic countries, which furthers the Nordic collaboration as well as the organisation of the Nordic women’s movement.

Establishing a Nordic mentoring network

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.

Economic Gender Equality in the Nordic Region

Economic gender equality is a requirement for a gender-equal society. With a focus on influence and participation, this project focused on the issue of women’s economic situation in the Nordic region. The goal was to facilitate a Nordic discussion on pensions, social insurances, the labour market and salary differentials from a gender equality perspective. Both private and societal aspects of the Nordic gender equality challenge were addressed through a total of four seminars, one in each country.

The project involved several women’s organisations via the umbrella organisation International Alliance of Women (IAW). The project raised the level of knowledge about Nordic gender inequality among policymakers, authorities and actors in civil society. The seminar in Finland was held during the election campaign and enabled the Feminist Association Unioni to reach out with the issue to a broad public.

Post 2015 – What happens next?

In the year 2000, the leaders of the world ratified the UN’s eight Millennium Development Goals with an aim to reduce global poverty by half in the 15-year period that followed.

The purpose of this project was to promote a Nordic dialogue on the most important future challenges in 2014. By arranging a seminar on the UN Millennium Goals at the Nordic Forum in Malmö, UN Women wanted to bring attention to the fact that poverty affects certain groups more than others.

Since 70 per cent of all people below the absolute poverty line are women, the gender equality perspective must be made a central aspect of the world’s work to reduce poverty. The seminar about Post 2015 at the Nordic Forum contributed to increasing the knowledge about the topic among representatives from the UN’s women’s committees, who could bring their new knowledge to their respective national governments for continued work to make a difference. One issue that was agreed upon is that violence against women as well as women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights are of particular importance in this work.

Updated 21 November 2019