Article 3

Gender equality legislation

27. The Gender Equality Act of 1978 was amended by the Act of 14 June 2002, No 21. Most of the amendments relate to working life and the duty to promote equal status between women and men. The following are the most relevant to the enjoyment of the rights set out in the Covenant:

• The duty to facilitate equality between women and men has been extended to cover not only public agencies, but also private employers and employees’ and employers’ organisations.
• A new provision prohibiting sexual harassment and establishing that sexual harassment constitutes discrimination on the basis of gender has been introduced. (“sexual harassment” is defined as unwanted sexual attention that is offensive to the person subjected to it.)

28. The provisions of the 1978 Gender Equality Act relating to gender representation in publicly appointed boards and committees was amended by the Act of 19 December 2003 No 120. Each gender shall be represented by at least 40 per cent in publicly appointed boards and committees. Equivalent provisions apply to deputy board members. The Ministry of Children and Family Affairs may grant exceptions if particular circumstances make it clearly unreasonable to meet these requirements. The Act also amends the Limited Liability Companies Act and the Public Limited Companies Act, introducing a duty for companies to increase the number of women in their corporate boards to 40 per cent. The gender quota applies to all publicly owned enterprises and all public limited companies in the private sector, i.e. approximately 600 companies. The rules applying to public limited companies will not come into effect if the desired gender representation is achieved voluntarily in the course of 2005. At the beginning of 2004, 8.4 per cent of the board members of these companies were women.

29. The Government intends to put forward a bill in 2004 in which it proposes incorporating in Norwegian law the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) by amendment of the Gender Equality Act.

The present situation of women

30. During the 1970s and 1980s, women, including mothers of small children, have entered the labour market at nearly the same rate as men. In 2003, the work force participation among women aged 16-74 was 69.1 per cent, compared with 76.7 per cent among men. Overall, unemployment is rather low, and is lower among women (4 per cent) than among men (4.9 per cent). However, the labour market remains highly gender-segregated and two out of five women work part-time.

31. Women perform nearly 60 per cent of all unpaid housework and care-related work while men perform approximately 40 per cent.

32. Although Norway has long had more than 40 per cent women in government, female representation in elected bodies, i.e. the Storting and municipal councils, appears to have stagnated. Female representation exceeded 30 per cent for the first time in the Storting in 1985 and in municipal councils in 1990. The proportion of women has yet to reach 40 per cent in these two elected bodies. Norway does not have any legal provisions governing the gender balance in political parties or directly elected bodies.

33. Men constitute 84 per cent of all people in positions of power in Norway.

34. Even though there are more female students at universities and other academic institutions, women are in a minority among academic staff. Only 13 per cent of those holding full professorships are women. However, women lead several Sami academic institutions. These include the Sami High School, the Sami Centre at the University of Tromsø and the Nordic Sami Institute.

35. In sum, Norwegian women are well integrated into working and political life, the welfare system ensures that poverty is a relatively marginal phenomenon and single parents, mostly women, are ensured necessary public support. This does not mean, however, that there are no gender gaps and challenges to gender equality. The most important ones are related to the economic sphere, gender-based violence and the interface between gender and other forms of discrimination such as ethnic background, disability and sexual orientation.

36. In the labour market in Norway, there are major challenges related to the de facto gender segregated labour market and the high prevalence of part-time work among women, both voluntary and involuntary. The gender gap in time use in paid and unpaid work is an important factor in the gender pay gap and the gap in pensions between women and men. Therefore, the Government is focusing on gender equality within the family. Another challenge is to protect pregnant women against discrimination in the labour market. As noted above, there are still far fewer women than men in positions of power, despite the fact that many women have a high level of education and long experience. These gaps are more pronounced for disabled women and women with an ethnic background. Women’s rights and the gender socialisation of children in some religious communities are another cause for concern and a challenge.