FACTS

Fuel your competence, courage, and motivation for change with facts

 

A BRIEF HISTORY OF EQUALITY IN NORWAY

1913: Women's right to vote

1974: The right to inherit agricultural property is now equal, regardless of gender for children born after 1965

1978: Right to self-determined abortion 

1978: The equality act is passed to promote equality and stop discrimination. Discrimination in the workplace is banned.

1980: Men can take their wives' surname 

1981: Gro Brundtland is elected the first female Prime Minister

1983: Women are allowed to serve in compulsory military service 

1990: Equal succession to the throne, regardless of gender

1991: Women can request a divorce without consent of the spouse 

1993: Father quota introduced in parental leave schemes

2002: Changes in the Equality act: Among other things, employers and working life organizations are obliged to implement measures promoting equality

2006: The act on public limited companies requires that listed companies have at least 40% of both sexes on their boards. For companies that were founded before January 1, 2006, the act must be fulfilled by January 1, 2008 

2008: Same-sex marriage law is passed 

Sources: SNL.no, and untitled (ldo.no), Fact list: Equality and women's struggle in Norwegian history - Arbeidslivet.no, Timeline: Important years in Norwegian women's history.

 

STATUS TODAY – NORWAY

• Women earn 87,9% of what men do (2021)
• Men outnumber women in the private sector, with 63,5% of the workforce. There has been no change the last 10 years (2021).
• Share of female board-members are at 19,6% – up by 2,2% in the last 10 years.
• Female CEOs in stock-based companies are at 17%. This is up by 2,4% in the last 10 years (2022).
• Female board-members in public companies are at 42,6 % – up by 1,7% in the last 10 years (2022).
• Female CEOs in public companies are at 9,3 % – up by 1,3% in the last 10 years (2022).
• Female mayors are at 35,4% (2019).
• Of the total gross wealth, men own 62% and women 38%. In terms of value, Norwegian men thus have 1,216 billion more in gross wealth than women. This roughly corresponds to Norway's National Budget.
• Of the capital income, men receive 75% and women 25%. The fact that women choose to invest less of their income in shares, is one of the most important reasons for the difference in capital income.
• Due to the discrepancy in capital income, it is consequently the case that even if men and women had equal wages, women would earn 53 billion less than men.
• Women have only 69% of men's gross income. This shows a greater difference than wages alone.
• On the Oslo Stock Exchange, over 70% of the privately owned shares, and close to 80% of the values are owned by men. In 2021, over 58 billion NOK was paid out in share dividends from both listed and unlisted shares, to be distributed among nearly 369,000 people. Over 80% of the dividends went to men.
• 81% of those who earned over 1 million NOK last year are men.
• Only 20% of all limited companies are set up by women. Out of 31,325 newly established limited companies in 2017, only 6,187 were established by women. The number of women establishing share owned companies has increased somewhat (2,751 in 2010 are up to 6,187 in 2017). But the increase is just as great among men, so the ratio remains stable. Out of 35,240 newly established sole proprietorships in 2017, the proportion of women was 39%.
• There are 941,645 old-age pensioners in Norway today. 141,905 of these are minimum pensioners and a full 86% of these are women.
• 56% of men, and 70% of women consider their knowledge about buying funds to be low. Regarding the purchase of shares, the figures are 64% for men and 80% for women.
• Status in Norway's 200 largest companies
• 84,5% have a male CEO 
• 87% have a male chairman of the board 
• Top management groups consists of 73% men
• Boards have 68% men
• 81% of operative leader positions in the 200 largest companies are held by men
• Since 2021, 35 companies have appointed a new CEO: 8 of them women. 41 companies have appointed a new head of board of directors: 6 of them women.

 

Sources: SSB, Core Likestillingsforskning, Menon/SSB for DNB 

 

STATUS TODAY – INTERNATIONAL 

• According to the World Economic Forum, the global gender gap has been closed by 68.1%. At the current rate of progress, it will take 132 years to reach full parity (2022).
• Ten million girls are at risk of being married off in the next decade.
• One in three women globally has been subjected to physical or sexual violence at least once after the age of 15.
• Women spend on average 2.5 times the hours of men, doing daily housework and childcare. The pandemic has led to more women spending more time on this, and many have lost their jobs.
• At today's pace, equality in politics will take 40 years to achieve. 
• Only 23 countries in the world have a 40% or above female representation  in their parliaments.
• Although women made up 39% of the global workforce in 2019, only  approx. 28% of management positions are held by women.
• 178 countries have discriminatory laws that prevent women from participating in the labor market and the economy on an equal basis with men. In 2021, 23 countries changed their laws to strengthen equality in the field of economics. Only twelve countries have equal statutory rights for women and men. All are OECD countries.
• On average, women have as little as 76.5% of the same statutory rights as men.
• Worldwide, only 25% of representatives in legislative assemblies are women. Only 10 countries have a female head of state (2021).
• Only four countries in the world have more than 50% women in their legislatures. These countries are Rwanda, Bolivia, Cuba and the United Arab Emirates.
• Many countries have different laws for men and women, which determine whether women have the right to work, start their own business, own land or receive inheritance.
• Men almost always own more than women. Worldwide, less than 15% of the land is owned by women.

 

Sources: World Economic Forum (2022), The UN Federation: Equality Between the Sexes at fn.no