Spain has gone from having one of Europe’s biggest pay gaps between women and men, to having one of the smallest.

In 2022, Norwegian women earned an average of NOK 87.5 out of every 100 Norwegian men earned. In principle, this means that every year from 17 November onwards, women work for free. Inequality in pay between women and men is not only a problem in Norway, but is a global phenomenon, where different countries have different pay differences. The reason behind the wage differences is complex, but statistics show that it is, among other things, because more men work in high-income occupations and in the private sector, while more women work in the public sector, work part-time and in care professions. A study from Denmark has also mapped that the wage difference is not initially between women and men, but between mothers and others. Despite good practices on parental leave, women still take the main responsibility for caring for their children, for example during doctor visits, sick days and the like. This leads to women spending more time with their children over the years, and thus being more absent from work. This also limits the possibility of promotion in the career. Great progress Spain has for many years been the country in Europe with the highest pay gap between women and men. This has changed dramatically in the last decade. Through political commitment and increased social awareness, Spain has gone from having a pay gap of 20% in 2010 to 8.6% in 2022. Examples of measures that have proven to work well are the offer of nursery places earlier than before, introduction of good financial compensation , and flexible working hours for parents. In 2020, New Zealand changed the existing legislation from 1972 on the prohibition of wage discrimination on the basis of gender, so that today there is a better process for promoting rights claims, and preventing discrimination in wages and employment conditions in female-dominated professions. In practice, this means that employees and trade unions can, for example, raise wage claims directly to the employer, which previously had to be done through the courts.



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