By Jenilyn Brhel
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
REYKJAVIK, Iceland – Iceland has enacted a new law that requires all companies and government agencies to pay men and women equally.
The legislation was announced by Iceland’s parliament, which is approximately 50 percent female, on International Women’s Day.
The new law, known as the Equal Pay Standard, requires that all companies with more than 25 employees obtain an official certification showing they provide equal pay for work of equal value. The law is not voluntary, as opposed to many existing equal pay laws currently in existence throughout the world.
In order to remain compliant, companies must analyze their salary structures every three years. The analysis must then be provided to the government for recertification. Companies not in compliance will face penalties including fines.
Iceland has been at the forefront of the push for wage equality. However, despite strides that have been made in recent years, gender pay gap problems have not been eliminated.
Demonstrations occurred in October 2016 to protest the wage gap. In one instance, thousands of women coordinated a walk-out from their jobs at a coordinated time of 2:38 pm. Women’s rights groups calculated this to be the time when women stopped being paid for equal work and began working for free.
Ms. Valdimarsdottir, one of the organizers of the walk-out, said “We have come a long way and we are in the forefront of gender equality in the world. But we are so far from having equality in Iceland.”
Iceland has maintained the best overall score on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report for the past nine years. This report measures wage differences between men and women in areas such as health, economics, politics and education in 144 countries. Iceland ranks 5th in the report for wage equality.
The law is largely supported by the general population in Iceland, with just 21 percent in opposition.
While critics say that the cost of audits will be expensive, many proponents believe that the law will be of greater benefit to society as a whole. “This is a cost that… we decided that… would be of benefit to society and that was of more benefit than… saving companies money” said Brynhildur Heidar- OG Omarsdottir, managing director of the Icelandic Women’s Rights Association.
Iceland has vowed to eradicate the gender pay gap entirely by 2022.
For more information, please see:
CBS News – Women of Iceland are now Required to Earn Equal pay to men – 3 January 2018
The New York Times – Iceland Makes Companies Prove That They are not Paying Women Less – 3 January 2018
NPR – New Law in Iceland Aims at Reducing Country’s Gender pay gap – 5 January 2018
