The presidency of The Nordic Council of Ministers rotates on a yearly basis between the five Nordic countries. The country of presidency for 2023 is Iceland with a focus on social sustainability in the Nordic region, the rights of LGTBI people, and a gender perspective on climate work. The projects, activities and priorities of the presidency will constitute one of the frameworks for the work of NIKK during the year.
Equality is one of the cornerstones of the Nordic cooperation and will continue to be high on the agenda during the presidency of Iceland in 2023. Among the questions in focus are valuation of jobs and the gender-segregated labour market.
Another priority for the Icelandic presidency is to safeguard acquired rights and to challenge existing prejudices. There has been a setback in the living conditions for LGBTI people in the Nordic region during recent years, and particularly transgender people have been severely affected. This has been pointed out by the Nordic ministers for equality. In 2023, the Icelandic presidency will elucidate the working life conditions for transgender people.
Two new areas of work within the Nordic collaboration will be initiated during the Icelandic presidency:
Research shows that transgender people encounter a variety of obstacles in life. The aim of this project is to shed light on life conditions for transgender people in the Nordic countries, with a focus on working life. The purpose is to promote a dialogue and to identify needs and action that can be taken to aid improvement.
National studies on working life conditions for transgender people focus on a variety of matters but can generally provide a clear picture of conditions for transgender people in their working life in the Nordic region. By combining these results, the project will usefully contribute to filling knowledge gaps in the Nordic region. The aim of the project is thus to:
NIKK will carry out the work of this project during the period January 2023 – March 2024.
The overall goal of the project is to promote a dialogue amongst the Nordic countries and between representatives of employer organisations and trade unions, encouraging an exchange of experiences and knowledge about how to handle the wage gap. A central question for the project is the focus on equal pay (equal pay for the same or similar types of work), which has been discussed in the Nordic countries to a point where we instead need to argue for equal pay for equivalent types of work.
This will be done through:
NIKK will carry out this project during the period March 2023 – autumn 2024.
Several projects initiated by previous presidencies will continue this year:
An initiative running over several years started in 2022 concerning conditions and quality of life for senior LGBTI persons, particularly in their encounters with healthcare and social services in the Nordic countries.
NIKK has been commissioned to compile a report on these matters to be presented during the autumn of 2023. The following questions will be studied in the project.
Äldre LGBTI-personers livsvillkor – NIKK
In 2022, the Norwegian presidency initiated a project aimed to increase knowledge about mental health issues among men by studying reasons for the problems, and their consequences, from a life cycle perspective.
NIKK’s task is to produce a compilation of Nordic research in order to document and analyse existing knowledge in the Nordic countries. This will facilitate exchange of knowledge between the countries and between different fields of knowledge.
Unga mäns psykiska ohälsa – NIKK
For the period 2021-2023, the Nordic Council of Ministers has given NIKK the task of administering the promotion of research on sexual harassment at work. Focus is on preventive measures and methods for intervention, and will be carried out through studies and comparisons of different sectors of work. Two calls for proposals for research funding have been announced during 2021.
Nordisk forskningssatsning om sexuella trakasserier – NIKK
The Norwegian presidency initiated a project in 2022 on challenges related to equality occurring in the Nordic fishing and aquaculture industries. The project is to contribute to increased knowledge concerning the representation of women and men in various parts of these industries in the Nordic region, as well as how to deal with existing issues related to equality. The project is led by NORDREGIO and is carried out in cooperation with the Nordic Council of Ministers for Fisheries, Aquaculture, Agriculture, Food and Forestry (MR-FJLS). The final conference for the project will take place in Tromsø in the autumn of 2023.
Laks og ligestilling/Salmon and equality | Nordregio
The Nordic ministers for equality have set up a Nordic roadmap with the purpose of acting and reacting against the anti-gender-movement that has gained ground in the Nordic countries and globally.
One part of this is that the Nordic ministers for equality will be meeting at the session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 67) in March 2023 for discussions on a Nordic solution to enable all people to live a life free of sexual harassment, offence and violence in the digital world.
Pushing back the push-back: Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence (norden.org)
In conjunction with the UN women’s meeting in March 2022, the Nordic ministers for equality made a joint commitment for equality in a green Nordic region. The commitment continues until 2024.