Iceland’s labor market displays a distinct gender divide

In 2014, for the sixth year in a row, Iceland topped the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index. The index measures the relative gaps between women and men across four key areas: health, education, economy, and politics. Iceland achieved a score of 0.8594 on a scale of 0 (inequality) to 1 (equality). Strikingly the Nordic nations dominated the first five positions (Finland was second, Norway third, Sweden fourth, and Denmark fifth).

However, whilst Iceland’s labor market displays an impressive level of equality—Statistics Iceland calculates that of the 177,700 people on the Icelandic labor market, 52.2% are men and 47.8% are women—the distribution of men and women by sector reveals a distinct gender divide.

As reported in Iceland Review Online, over 42% of women in Iceland are employed by companies or institutions in just two sectors: education and health care or social services. Most men—15.2%—hold production-related jobs.

Mbl.is reports that the ratio of women to men working in education in 2014 was 76.8% to 23.2%. Whilst in the health care or social services sector that ratio was 81.8% women to 18.2% men. On the other hand, in the production sector, male workers outnumber female workers by 68.8% to 31.2%.

In 2010 Iceland introduced a 40% quota for women in board positions by 2013, but with women still seemingly dominating gender-specific professions such as teaching and the caring professions, it is difficult to see how such a quota might ever be achieved.

Nina Smith writes that whilst women are equal to men in their level of formal education, even countries with a long history of strong equal opportunity and female-friendly policies, such as the Nordic countries, do not have enough women with this kind of experience.

She suggests that if the main policy objective is to get more women into powerful positions in private companies, politicians might need to change their focus from imposing quotas at the top of organizations to the much broader task of getting a more equal gender division of careers within the family.

Related articles:
Gender quotas on boards of directors, by Nina Smith