Part 3 The beginning of succeed were needed many key factors

Part 3 The beginning of succeed were needed many key factors. As gender equality’s first place, Iceland need many factors behind this accomplishment too. Being the top country in gender equality requires the cooperation from many factors such as political system, society and culture, and education system because these factors impact on every spheres of equality between gender in iceland.
The first factor is political and legislation systems. Legislation is required to achieve gender equality because human rights are often defined and guaranteed by law, for instance, through conventions and international law. Most countries in the world have a political consensus about the importance of gender equality. However, discrimination based on gender is already illegal in many countries, the legislation is far from effective. Women are still paid less than men in every country in the world. So, women are going to participate in politics more than before. As political participations play an increasing role in the running of institutions of government, and are significant actors in democratic processes, it is important that women are enabled to represent their aspirations and assert their political interests. Iceland is the first country that take the fight against the gender pay gap. “Itso has one of the most gender equal parliaments in the world, with 48 percent of lawmakers being women in 2016.” Moreover, the Iceland’s gender equality legislation is up on the equal status and equal rights for women and men, No 10/2008. The objective of the act is to create and maintain equal rights and opportunities for women and men. For equalising the status of both genders everywhere in the community, Iceland government set a gender equality’s pay policy. The government wants to make it compulsory for all companies to develop a certification scheme for gender pay equality. Due to this legislation, Iceland is the first country in the world to ban pay discrimination on the basis of gender.
“Despite an equal pay act that dates back to 1961, Icelandic women still earn less than men between 14% and 20%. So the president and her association were one of many campaign groups to back a plan that finally resulted.” Public and private companies employing at least 25 full-time employees will have to obtain government certification of their equal-pay policies. The companies will get a certification after they confirm that they will pay wages to men and women equally. Companies and agencies that fail to do so, they risked to being fined. “The fines are set at around $500 per day in the current legislation.” The new law don’t mean that companies must pay everyone doing the same job the exact same salary. Many basic factors like experience, performance and other aspects are determined worker’s wage. However, the companies have to show that the differences in wages are not due to gender.
The second factor that determined Iceland’s gender equality success is social and cultural system. Iceland became the best place in the world for women because the country has topped the World Economic Forum’s gender equality index. For family life issue, Iceland has the best maternity and paternity policy in the world. ” In the past, Iceland is a seafaring country, women had to stay at home while their husbands traversed the oceans. Without men at home, women played the roles of farmer, hunter, architect, builder. They managed household finances and were crucial to the country’s ability to prosper.” However, women in Iceland today are highly educated, a high percentage hold managerial positions and they don’t give up their careers for having children. Many in Iceland see the women’s strike of 1975 as a defining moment in the gender equality struggle. “On the women’s day off, most of women in Iceland stopped work and refused to do any household chores. Schools and nurseries were closed. Fathers were left with no choice but to bring their kids to work.”. This shows how Iceland women’s power be in Iceland’s society.
In 2000, an parental official law was created by government. “It is known as the Icelandic act on maternity or paternity and parental leave. The law increased parental leave from six to nine months.” a parental leaves are covered for birth, adoption, and foster care for all employees in Iceland, even those who are self-employed paying 80% of earned salary to new parents. “Today, fathers have an rights to three months leave, mothers have three months and three months can be shared between the two. That brings the total leave to nine months.” This makes Iceland women return to work after giving birth faster than before, they also return to their pre-childbirth working hours faster. Men get at least three months’ paternity leave, and 90% of them take it. After taking the three months’ leave, men continue to be importantly more with their children and do more housework. This gives them time to become comfortable with child-rearing, encouraging them to share the workload with their partners. Parents split the time of leave equally for ensuring that their children will grow up with equal care from both parents.
For equality in labor market’s issue, women previously had little perceived importance, including investors’ rights and trade liberalization. companies’ boards in Iceland must include at least 40% women workers. Because of the corruption and financial collapse in 2009, the government try to include more women in seats of power to reduce corruption. “In the article 15 of the act on equal status and equal rights of women and men states that no public company board or government council or committee may have less than 40% gender equality. The law also states that any company with more than 25 employees must have a gender equality program in place, which will review goals every three years.” Since women’s paid employment rates were raised to the same level as men’s, women have higher role in the economic system participation. Besides, another important rule for equal society making is sexual discrimination banning. A belief that women are just sex objects to men should be eliminated. In Iceland, pay for sex is illegal. “In 2007, the government amended the law arguing that most people who turn to soliciting sex have no other option or were coerced by others. So instead of penalizing victims of poor circumstances who are often forced into prostitution, the law places criminalization on those who pay for sex, and third parties involved.” This rule helps women from being forced to be a prostitute.
The last factor for being the best country for gender equality is education system. Iceland is well-known all over the world for its high level of education system. The educational structure openly advocates an equal opportunity for all, regardless of sex, economic status, religion, and cultural or social background. This is why Iceland’s education is one of many factors for becoming a global gender equality’s leader. “Since 2011 equality is one of six pillars of education in the Icelandic national curriculum guide for all school levels.” The government make an effort to create conscious mind of equality at an early age. The government believes that teaching children about equality is necessary to ensure a truly equal society. Hjalli method is a program which is now applied in about 20 nursery and primary schools in Iceland. Separating boys and girls at school in order to allow them to flourish fully is the program’s objective. “All activities are the same for everyone. toys, educational tools and clothes are unisex.” So, it helps children to learn how equality between men and women be. After kids grow up with equal time from parents, gender equality learning continues. “Article 23 of the act on equal status and equal rights of women and men mandates that gender equality must be taught in schools throughout all levels of education.” All sports, classes, and forms of schooling from early education through university must include and practice gender equality. “Educational materials and textbooks shall be designed in such a way as not to discriminate against either sex.” Taking the principles of gender equality root in Iceland’s children minds through education has given Iceland’s people a good attitude towards sexual differences.