7.1.1 Nordic gender equality cooperation
The Nordic Council of Ministers is the Nordic governments’ collaboration forum.
Gender equality has been included in the Nordic cooperation project since 1974. Forty years of Nordic gender equality cooperation were marked in 2014. The common culture, history and democratic traditions of the Nordic countries have enabled the development of close
collaboration.
This work is led by the equality ministers of the different countries, who comprise the Council of Ministers for Gender Equality. Norway is due to chair this council in 2017, and the Ministry of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion will have primary responsibility in this regard. One of the main cooperation topics has been equal rights and status for women and men in the labour market. Attention has been focused on traditional gender roles and pay differences. The opportunity to combine family life with work is regarded as an important prerequisite for gender equality. Challenges relating to gender equality in working life remain in all the Nordic countries. In the years ahead, the Nordic Council will also work actively to encourage the participation of men and boys in the gender equality debate and initiatives.
The Nordic Council defines gender equality as the equal distribution of power, care and influence. Women and men must have equal rights, duties and opportunities in all areas of life, and society must be free of gender-based violence. Respect, equality, understanding, quality of life and identity are the fundamental values underpinning gender equality.
Norway supports joint statements and priorities relating to Nordic gender equality cooperation. Gender equality topics on the Nordic agenda also have influence outside the Nordic region. Norway’s primary international arenas for presenting its work in the area of gender equality are the annual meetings of CSW and the UN General Assembly.
The Nordic Council promotes the exchange of experience between countries.
Although the approaches adopted by the individual Nordic countries vary, there are many common reference frameworks and gender equality goals.
The Nordic Council of Ministers has adopted the cooperation programme Together for Gender Equality – a stronger Nordic Region for the period 2015–2018. The programme defines several key priorities for cooperation during the period: to contribute to more efficient and richer national work on gender equality in the Nordic countries; to support the Nordic countries in fulfilling their international obligations on gender equality and to create synergies across the Nordic region; to contribute to increasing knowledge of gender equality among people, parliamentarians and governments; and to support all sectors within the Nordic Council of Ministers in the work to promote gender equality.
The cooperation programme emphasises the importance of sustainable development focused on diversity, and that men and boys must be included in gender equality efforts. The countries have undertaken, in the context of this cooperation, to focus particularly on gender equality in the public space, as well as welfare and innovation.
7.1.2 Gender equality cooperation in the Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an inter-governmental organisation formed in 1949. Norway was a founding member of the Council, which currently has 47 members. The Council’s supreme policy body is the Committee of Ministers, which is composed of the foreign ministers of the member states. The Committee of Ministers has adopted the Council of Europe’s Gender Equality Strategy 2014–2017.
A number of specialist committees prepare matters for consideration by the
Committee of Ministers. Since 2014, the European Committee for Social Cohesion, Human Dignity and Equality has been responsible for cases concerning gender equality, anti-discrimination, family, children, poverty and other welfare and social policy issues. A separate commission prepares topics related to equality between women and men for this committee.
Norway has ratified the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which has been implemented in Norwegian law through the Human Rights Act. Norway is therefore obliged to afford its citizens the rights granted by the convention, and is bound by the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). All inhabitants of Council of Europe member states may submit complaints to the ECtHR in their own language if they believe that their rights under the ECHR have been violated.
In addition to the ECHR, the Council of Europe has adopted other conventions which establish independent monitoring mechanisms in fields such as economic and social rights, minority rights, torture and human trafficking. The Council of Europe also has a dedicated Commission against Racism and Intolerance, as well as a Commissioner for Human Rights. A new and important instrument for efforts to combat violence is the Council of Europe
Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, known as the Istanbul Convention, which has now been ratified by 18 countries. The
convention establishes a comprehensive, integrated regulatory framework for preventing and combating violence against women and violence in close relationships, and contains a broad spectrum of preventive measures and assistance and support measures for vulnerable persons.
In addition, it defines acts which states are obliged to make criminal offences. Norway signed the convention in the summer of 2011, and is currently preparing to ratify it.
For more than 50 years, the European Court of Human Rights has expanded, defined and developed the rights in the ECHR through its case law. The court’s judgments are binding on all members states under international law, meaning that ECtHR case law has a bearing on the development of Norway’s gender equality policy. The Committee of Ministers evaluates and monitors national implementation of ECtHR judgments by members states.
7.1.3 Gender equality cooperation in the EU/EEA context
Norway’s cooperation with the European Union is regulated by the EEA Agreement and other agreements with the EU. Norway’s commitments under the EEA Agreement constitute guidelines for the development of Norway’s gender equality policy.
European gender equality cooperation encompasses, among other things, development and implementation of regulations, programme cooperation, research and international
collaboration projects, and exchanges of information and experience as a basis for policy development in the EU/EEA and at national level by member states. Norway has a strong tradition of participating actively in informal EU meetings of ministers, the expert groups and advisory committees of the European Commission and hearings of the European Parliament.
Norway chairs the EFTA Working Group on Gender Equality, Anti-Discrimination and Family Policy, which mirrors the work done by EU expert committees and high-level groups. The objective is to protect the EFTA countries’ interests in terms of both influencing EU policy development and preparing for the potential incorporation of new EU directives into national law.
The EU has a comprehensive regulatory framework and institutional apparatus in place to ensure implementation by member states. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the European Court of Justice are the key instruments with respect to human rights. Other bodies with specific mandates, such as the European Institute for Gender Equality, have also been established. The EU’s Special Representative for Human Rights was appointed in 2012.
The EFTA Court, which hears cases from the EEA/EFTA countries, gives great weight to the case law of the European Court of Justice in its assessments. The EEA
Agreement is based on the principle of legal harmonisation throughout the EEA, and it is rare for the two courts to adopt different views. The EFTA Surveillance Authority is responsible for monitoring the individual EEA/EFTA countries’ implementation of and compliance with the EEA Agreement.
In the period 2007–2013, Norway participated in multi-year EU programmes in the areas of employment and social policy, gender equality and anti-discrimination
(PROGRESS)4, and the DAPHNE programme to prevent and combat violence.
The EU has adopted new multi-annual framework programmes for the period 2014–
2020 which set priorities to help achieve key targets in the Europe 2020 growth and
employment strategy. The new EU programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) for the period 2014–2020 is a continuation of EURES and elements of the PROGRESS programmes. The EaSI programme, which is intended to support achievement of the EU’s objectives of promoting a high employment rate and combating unemployment among young people, providing social safeguards, fighting social exclusion and poverty and improving working conditions, will promote gender equality and fight discrimination across its objectives. The promotion of equality between women and men and gender mainstreaming constitute one of the nine objectives of the new Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme 2014–2020.
In 2014, Norway extended its involvement in cooperation on the EURES jobseeker platform and, in 2015, on employment and social policy under the EaSI umbrella
4 PROGRESS is an abbreviation of Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity.
programme.5 As part of the EaSI programme, seminars are arranged to facilitate mutual learning through the discussion of policies member states consider to be effective
domestically. These seminars may also cover gender equality issues. Norway has previously arranged seminars on the employment of women. The United Kingdom has presented a system for setting minimum pay, Northern Ireland has focused on challenges relating to single parents, while Malta arranged a seminar in 2015 on encouraging more women to join the labour force by subsidising day-care facilities.
Norway seconds national experts to the European Commission, to work on new framework programmes in which Norway participates. Gender equality is a key topic in ERASMUS+, the EU programme for education, training, youth and sport.
EEA Grants
The EEA Grants scheme is Norway’s contribution to the reduction of social and economic differences in newer EU member states and Greece, Spain and Portugal. Grants are used to promote fundamental European values such as democracy, human rights,
anti-discrimination and gender equality. The EEA Grants scheme also promotes contact and cooperation between Norway and the 16 recipient countries in central and southern Europe.
Programmes and projects totalling approximately EUR 53 million devoted to gender equality and gender-based violence/violence in close relationships are due to be completed by 2016–
2017. Gender equality initiatives funded under the EEA Grants scheme support the EU’s own frameworks and reflect the EU’s strategy for equality between women and men for the period 2010–2015.
In several programmes, Norwegian public bodies are collaborating with the authorities of recipient countries on the design and implementation of the programmes. The Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud is working with the Spanish Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality on measures to make it easier for women and men to combine employment with family life, reduce the gender pay gap, and improve the gender balance on company boards.
In Cyprus, the Secretariat of the Shelter Movement is involved in establishing crisis centres in cooperation with the national authorities, while in Estonia the Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs is working with the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs on gender equality integration and facilitating a balance between family and working life.
The EEA countries and the EU are currently finalising an agreement regarding a new EEA Grants period (2014–2021). Gender equality and gender-based violence/violence in close relations will be among the issues which may be addressed by programmes under the scheme. This will be discussed when entering into agreements with individual recipient countries.
5 See Proposition to the Storting Prop. 1 S (2014–2015) from the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and Recommendation Innst. 15 S (2014–2015), as well as the Proposition to the Storting Prop. 76 S (2014–2015) from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Recommendation Innst. 277 S (2014–2015).
7.1.4 Gender equality cooperation in UN forums
Norway has collaborated with the UN since the organisation’s establishment. A special convention on the rights of women – the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, commonly referred to as the Women’s Convention or CEDAW – was adopted in 1979, and has been ratified by almost all states. Norway is obliged to implement the rights set out in the convention, and to report on its work in this regard every four years. The Beijing Platform for Action – the outcome document of the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995 – is a further, politically binding, reference document for gender equality efforts. The Platform for Action details 12 thematic areas with objectives and actions to be taken to strengthen gender equality and promote women’s rights.6 The member states have undertaken to submit reports every five years. Norway’s latest status report was sent to the UN in the spring of 2014.
Norway participates in the annual meetings of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), and has been elected as a member from 2016. The commission is the political meeting place for authorities, civil society and different UN agencies working on related matters. Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action is a key priority. Norway also attends the annual meetings of the UN Commission on Population and Development, and meetings of ECOSOC when gender equality issues are on the agenda. The UN General Assembly is the UN’s supreme governing body. Norway attends the annual high-level meetings and meetings of the Third Committee, which considers human rights topics including gender equality and anti-discrimination.
The Beijing Platform for Action and CEDAW strongly influence Norway’s efforts to promote the rights of women and gender equality, both nationally and internationally. The Platform for Action and the Convention are binding on the member states, and provide the basis for Norway’s gender equality cooperation and dialogue with other countries. Some states have, however, opted out of important provisions in the Convention by reference to national law or religious grounds.
2015 marks the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action, which was celebrated at CSW’s meeting in March 2015. The rights of women and children, including their entitlement to education, health, water and food, are crucial for the achievement of sustainable, inclusive economic growth and development. The UN Millennium Development Goals, which expire in 2015, have successfully focused international political attention on, and mobilised resources for, poverty reduction, and have helped to secure progress in key areas such as health, education and gender equality. The Millennium Development Goals have supported the realisation of important political, economic and social rights for women.
However, not all of the goals have been achieved, and efforts to attain them will therefore continue under the new sustainable development agenda.
6 The 12 areas are: women and poverty; education and training of women; women and health; violence against women; women and armed conflict; women and the economy; women in power and decision-making;
institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women; human rights of women; women and the media;
women and the environment; and the girl-child.
The UN member states adopted new universal sustainable development goals in September 2015. Like the other member states, Norway has undertaken to comply with and report on achievement of the goals, including those relating to gender equality.