The wage difference between the sexes has moved in opposite directions in at least one field, and the Prime Minister has promised that the government will respond.
As is the case with most other countries in the world, women in Iceland are on average paid less than men for the same work. A poll conducted by Icelandic labour unions last month showed, for example, that a man working a full-time job brings home about 347,000 ISK. A woman working the same job for the same number of hours makes about 261,000 ISK.
New evidence has now come to light which indicates that not only are men being paid more than women in the same professions; their wages might even be moving in opposite directions. Men belonging to the Society of Business Experts and Economists, RÚV reports, have seen a 1.7% pay raise. At the same time, women belonging to the organisation have seen their wages drop by 1.9%.
Conservative MP Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir asked Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir in parliament about the wage gap yesterday. The Prime Minister admitted that the government’s plan of action has so far not yielded results. However, she said, the government will do everything it can to close the gap, including demanding major players in the employment market to take the matter more seriously. No specifics were given as to what that might entail.
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