Work is divided into paid and unpaid work; unpaid work is often performed by women, affecting their opportunities and earnings in paid work. Job evaluation is used to compare different jobs based on factors such as skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions. Despite this, there is a risk of gender bias, with jobs traditionally done by women being undervalued and therefore paid less. The Nordic labour market is highly segregated by gender, meaning that women and men often work in different sectors and occupations. Female-dominated occupations, for example in health and social care, generally have lower pay than male-dominated occupations, such as engineering and construction. This segregation contributes to the gender pay gap and makes it harder to achieve economic gender equality.
The gender pay gap can be discussed in different ways. The unadjusted gender pay gap shows the difference in average pay without taking factors such as age and education into account. The adjusted gender pay gap, on the other hand, takes these and other variables into account, showing the gap that persists outside the influence of these factors. Structural pay gaps and value discrimination mean that occupations dominated by women are undervalued and paid less than equivalent occupations dominated by men, contributing to the overall pay gap.
The report is based on a survey sent to key stakeholders in the Nordic countries, including government agencies, employer organisations, trade unions and researchers. The survey aimed to gather experience and knowledge about equal pay for work of equal value. The results of the survey were complemented by literature reviews and thematised under three main headings:
Gender segregation in the labour market:
General patterns: Many respondents pointed to the gender-segregated labour market as one of the main causes of the gender pay gap. Female-dominated occupations are systematically undervalued.
Segregation between and within sectors: There are clear differences between the private and public sectors, but also within the public sector. Female-dominated occupations in the public sector are generally characterised by lower pay compared to other occupations.
Measures to counter segregation: Proposals from the respondents include information campaigns, active recruitment measures and career guidance to promote less gender-stereotyped career choices.
Problematising voices: Some respondents highlighted that the work environment and pay influence career choices, and that there are structural barriers to breaking gender segregation that are not addressed by individual-oriented interventions.
Other explanations – Care responsibilities and pay negotiation:
Care responsibilities: Parental leave and part-time work are unevenly distributed between women and men, which negatively affects women’s pay. Proposed solutions include incentives for more equal distribution of unpaid care and domestic work.
Pay negotiation: Starting salaries tend to be set lower for women than men, contributing to the pay gap. The implementation of the EU Pay Transparency Directive is mentioned as a possible way forward.
The Nordic labour market models:
Pay formation in general: There is a consensus on the strong autonomy of the social partners, but different views on how specific elements such as frontline labour model (frontfagsmodellen/märket) should be handled, which express conflicts of goals and interests between the social partners as well as between sectors. A fundamental problem lies in the different conditions between the private and public sectors.
Suggestions for action: To close the gender pay gap, it is clear that efforts of a kind and scale that are not currently being undertaken are needed. This involves political reforms for structural change, as well as the social partners shifting their focus from declarations of gender equality to specific measures that can lead to change. The balance between statutory and collective bargaining regulation needs to be discussed.