This comparative study between three small or medium-sized cities in the Nordic countries was aiming to identify and share best practices to improve labour market integration amongst immigrant women.

Marginalization remains a problem for many immigrant women in the Nordic countries, especially within the labour market. Research shows that labour force participation rates are lower among immigrant women, and that underemployment is more common amongst immigrant women. A pilot study realized at the University of Akureyri (Iceland) showed that immigrant women were one of the most vulnerable groups of people in the labour market in Iceland.

Many women occupy positions that do not fit with their level of education; despite having higher education-levels than men, 30% of immigrant women who took part in a survey in 2016 were in employment that did not suit their background, compared to 8% of Icelandic women. This difference has a direct impact on the income and immigrant women earned significantly less than Icelandic women (or immigrant men), as they were in occupations that did not take their education into consideration.

To address this matter, the project looked at policies and practices within three medium cities in three Nordic countries, namely Finland, Sweden and Iceland. The goal was to identify policies and practices that have an impact on the employment of immigrant women.

The green shift will require innovation and innovation in forestry. A diversity of knowledge and experience is needed. So far, this has been a male dominated industry. We wanted to engage more women and young people into a future in forestry.

Kvinner i Skogbruket in Norway, Spillkråkan in Sweden and Skógræktin in Iceland are all organisations working within forestry. The project carried out a pre-project in 2017, together with the Foundation KUN, which works for gender equality and diversity.

The Project gathered representatives from the four organizations to a three-day seminar to discuss how we can achieve closer co-operation between the Nordic countries. The seminar resulted in a plan for a long-term co-operation.

The main purpose of the NBNP project “Women in the Police” is to focus on gender equality and diversity in police organizations. Special attention is directed towards the possibilities to combine working life with family life, and on discussing the working conditions women, but also men, meet in a male dominated organization. The project will focus on the recruitment processes of the police in the Nordic and Baltic countries from a gender perspective.

A seminar titled ‘Women in the police: from patrolling to leadership’ will be arranged in Riga in 2017.  Best practices and information on national actions taken in the Nordic and Baltic countries to increase the number of women in the police force will be presented and discussed. The aim is to find out whether the gender equality strategies have resulted in more women at all levels in the police. Did the strategies have the desired effect?