The Equality Platform and Standard project, funded by the EEA Grants 2014-2021 Work-life Balance Programme, promoted on May 24, 2022, between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm, in Oslo, a workshop on equality-promoting policy measures gender in the labour market. The workshop aimed to:
- Present public policy measures that promote equality between women and men in the labour market in Portugal, Iceland and Norway, with a special focus on measures that imply a reporting obligation by employers.
- Share experiences of the project partners, regarding the respective instruments to promote equality between women and men.
The welcome was given by the President of the Equality and Anti-discrimination Ombud - LDO, Bjørn Erik Thon, who highlighted the importance of public policy measures as a tool for correcting asymmetries between women and men at work.
The Portuguese presentation “An Initiative-taking approach to equality planning and equal pay”, by Anita Sares, Heloísa Perista and Antonieta Ministro, addressed the importance of equality plans as strategic instruments to promote equality in companies and measures to promote of equal pay between women and men for equal work or work of equal value that are being implemented in Portugal.
Directorate of Equality representative, Jón Fannar Kolbeinsson, from Iceland, gave a presentation on the obligation to adopt Equality Plans for companies and institutions provided for in national legislation.
The Norwegian presentation “What are the barriers for women in the labor market in Norway?”, by Mari Teigen, research professor and director of CORE – Center for Research on Gender Equality, portrayed the evolution of asymmetries between women and men in the Norwegian labour market, as well as the challenges that still remain to achieve equality.
A second presentation by Norway “Norwegian outlook: Activity and Reporting Duty: Promoting equality and prevent discrimination in the Norwegian labour market, by Lars Kolberg, focused on the companies’ duty to promote equality between women and men and to report foreseen in the Equality Act, and the role of the Equality and Anti-discrimination Ombud in monitoring this duty of companies.
In the afternoon, practical examples from the Norwegian context were presented, considering the duty of companies to promote equality between women and men as well as the duty to report:
- Mesta: Equality, diversity, and inclusion;
- Oslo Economics: How has public employers followed up on the equal pay mapping? Findings from new report;
- KPMG: How has medium and large enterprises dealt with the new legal criteria in the activity and reporting duty?
The Workshop ended at 16:00 with the presentation of conclusions by Ann-Helen Hopland, from the labour market section of the Ombud.
The Workshop was attended by representatives of all partner entities of the project – the Commission for Equality in Work and Employment – CITE, the promoting entity; the Portuguese Quality Institute – IPQ and the Strategy and Planning Office of the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security - GEP/MTSSS, the Equality and Anti-discrimination Ombud - LDO, from Norway, and the Directorate of Equalit (Jafnrettisstofa), from Iceland.