The law mandates employers to undergo equal pay certification using the Equal Pay Standard, an equal pay management system developed in Iceland. The law took effect on January 1st 2018 and all employers are required to have undergone their first certification by the end of 2021, and then renew their certification every three years. Employers who fail to undergo the equal pay certification are faced with daily fines.

Equal Pay Legislation for Over 50 Years
Iceland has had legislation supposed to guarantee equal pay for men and women for a very long time. In fact, we passed the first legislation mandating equal pay for men and women in Iceland over half a century ago, in 1961. At the time, the members of Alþingi were hopeful that full pay equality would be reached in only six years, in 1967. Perhaps a naive hope, but then again, what can we expect from a legislative body which at the time had only two women members.

Unfortunately, economic gender equality was not reached in six years. So we in Iceland passed a new comprehensive Equality Act in 1976, and one of the articles stated that women and men be paid the same for work of equal value. Alþingi passed yet another updated Equality Act in 2008 with the same provision that men and women be paid equally for equal work. Still, men are still paid more than women, despite legislation which is supposed to guarantee equal wages.

The legislation which took effect in Iceland this year requires companies to prove that they are paying men and women equally, by obtaining an equal pay certification using the Equal Pay Standard. The current coalition government has affirmed its commitment to the equal pay certification, stating in its Agreement: “Deliberate steps will be taken to eradicate gender-based wage discrimination. For this purpose, it will be necessary, amongst other things, to publicise the gender pay-gap more prominently, e.g. in companies’ annual financial statements. It must be ensured that comparable jobs are evaluated in a comparable manner, in accordance with the demands that are made of enterprises according to law and that are supposed to be reflected in the new Equal Pay Standard.”

Requiring companies to undergo certification based on the Equal Pay Standard is a logical next step in our efforts in Iceland to combat gender inequality and the gender pay gap. In current Icelandic law, companies with 25 or more employees are already required to have a gender equality action plan and boards of companies with 50 or more employees are required to have gender parity (60/40 at least).

The Equal Pay Standard
The Equal Pay Standard was written in cooperation between the labour movement, the employers‘ confederation and the Ministry of Labor and Finance in Iceland. The standard is a set of rules and guidelines which analyze the pay structure within a company and show whether or not men and women are paid equal wages for the same or equal value of work within the workplace. When companies and institutions have fulfilled the requirements of the standard, they undergo an audit to make sure women and men are being paid equally, and then they receive a certification that they have complied with the standard.

The Equal Pay Standard was introduced in 2012 and several Icelandic companies had already undergone voluntary certification using this standard. Of course, now, many more companies in Iceland will implement the standard since it is mandatory! However, the standard doesn’t have to be mandatory, but can be implemented by companies in other countries on a voluntary  basis.

The Equal Pay Standard was written to conform to international standards and accepted practices in ISO standards. The standard has already been translated into English, and we hope that other countries will look to the standard and adapt it to their needs.

Women Protest the Gender Pay Gap in Iceland
The gender pay gap adjusted for working hours is now 16% in Iceland, but the unadjusted gender pay gap is much higher. The average wages of women in Iceland are only 72.5%% of the average wages of men.

One of the main reasons women work fewer hours in Iceland than men is that women are performing unpaid labour in the home and for the family. We at the Icelandic Women’s Rights Association believe that we need to look at the larger unadjusted figure to measure the gender pay gap, not the lower figure adjusted for working hours.

Women in Iceland have walked out of their jobs five times in the last 42 years to protest the gender pay gap.

On October 24th, 1975, women all over Iceland left work to demonstrate the importance of women’s contribution to society. This day was popularly called “kvennafrí”, or Women’s Day Off. In 1985, 25,000 women left their work again, to protest income inequality. In 2005, we celebrated Women‘s Day Off for the third time and tens of thousands of women left work the minute they stopped getting paid, at 2:08 p.m. In 2010 women in Iceland again left work, this time at 2:25 p.m. And in 2016, women left work at 2:38.

Today, the average wages of women in Iceland are only 72.5% of the average wages of men. Therefore, women have earned their wages after only 5 hours and 48 minutes, in an average workday of 8 hours. This means that, if the workday begins at 9 a.m. and finishes at 5 p.m, women stop being paid for their work at 2:48 p.m.

We have gained only 40 minutes in twelve years. If progress continues at the same pace, we will need to wait another 35 years before women in Iceland have the same wages on average as men, in the year 2052!

Kjarajafnrétti strax! Income Equality Now!

Brynhildur Heiðar- og Ómarsdóttir
Managing Director

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Around noon more and more people in colourful outfits were gathering in the small park near the railway-station. The predominant colour was red as a sign of anger, but also some bright pink as a symbol of feminism was seen.

Here were women and also some men coming from all walks of life, national organizations of women, professional associations, unions and political parties.

They all came together for a spectacular march requesting “Equal Pay Now”!

For  34 years equal pay has been  anchored within the Swiss federal constitution. However, even today there is a wage gap of  18,9% between women and men. So now the women urgently want the full implementation of this law. They have been waiting for too long.

A difference of 18,9% means an  average yearly shortcoming  of CHF 8000 (at the moment 1 franc is equivalent of 0,93 euro).Women are short of that money now, but  the situation will have a negative impact on their future  pensions.

This was also the main point when the Swiss Association of Women’s Right ADF-SVF was addressing the people participating at the march:

“Women are fed up with waiting, fed up with the reforms at the speed of a snail,fed up knowing that unfair low wages will  endanger future pensions, fed up  being treated badly, fed up  doing the greater part of the unpaid care-work, fed up by so-called which actually  burden women more  and fed up that  women are the poor ones in a rich country.

Yes – this must change!…”

This big demonstration had been organized by 48 organizations, ranging from rural and confessional women’s organizations, all political parties except for the extreme right conservative party, teachers, nurses and other professional associations, unions, the organization of business and professional women, marche mondiale des femmes

Here they all were together united for the International Women’s Day.

This march going through the old city of Berne to the Federal Building, seat of the Swiss government, was very inspiring  both because of convincing slogans and  uplifting rhythms of music bands. More than 12,000 persons were participating (a big success, considering the total population of Switzerland is around 8 millions).

“Liberty – Equality – Solidarity” were the key-words of the day.

Coming to Berne was facilitated by special trains offered free of charge.

Thanks to an excellent management preparing this huge  project the demonstration became a very powerful event widely commented on in the media and voicing strongly the urgent demands of  women.

Of course we all are very happy about this success. However, we are still angry about this scandalous discrimination. So it is urgent that continue the this struggle – and of course ADF-SVF suisse will keep on working for our goals

Martine Gagnebin
President ADF-SVF suisse

Translation U.Nakamura

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