Icelandic Women Get Even

Iceland not only booted England out of the European Soccer Championship, but also outscores the entire EU in terms of gender equality in rankings by the World Economic Forum, U.N. Women and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The game changer in Iceland is paternity leave — each parent can take three months off work, but it’s a use-it-or-lose it proposition that’s not transferable between them. The effect has seen increased women in employment, decreased gender pay gap, and more equal sharing of domestic work.

Men however, are also entitled to three months maternity leave

The new gender equality laws will require every company with 25 or more staff to obtain a certificate demonstrating that they pay all employees equally “regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexuality, or nationality.”

Thousands of Icelandic women left their workplaces at 2:38pm in October and joined a demonstrated outside parliament to protest the gender pay gap. According to unions and women's groups, differences in pay with men mean that women in Iceland effectively work for free after that time each day.