Astrid Elkjær Sørensen

Danish nurses still receive 10-20% less in pay than male-dominated professions requiring a similar level of education. There are many contributing factors to unequal pay, but a recent report from the Danish Institute for Human Rights found that one key reason is the effect of the 1969 Public Servant Reform Act which saw nurses and other female-dominated professions placed at a lower pay level. In recent national negotiations, Danish nurses voted ‘no’ to a pay offer of up to 5% which was set to preserve real wages for public workers over the next three years. A citizens' petition to reform the law in respect of many traditionally female professions has also received the requisite 50,000 signatures for it to make it to parliament.

Listen to a potted history of the Danish immigration policy, 1970-1992 in either English or Danish! This podcast is part of a series where existing material on nordics.info is read out in assorted languages by colleagues and friends. Great for learning Danish or English. / Lyt til historien om Dansk indvandrings- og udlændingepolitik, 1970-1992 på engelsk eller dansk! Denne podcast er del af en serie af podcasts hvor materiale fra nordics.info bliver læst højt på forskellige sprog af venner og kollegaer.

In 1973, the Social Democrat government introduced an immediate stop to labour immigration because of growing unemployment. Immigration was, however, not a particularly problematic subject in the political and public debate in the 1970s. From the beginning of the 1980s, more refugees came to Denmark, particularly from the Middle East and the Global South, where many countries were ravaged by crises, war and civil conflict. In 1983, the Danish Parliament passed a new Aliens Act that was known as Europe’s most liberal. The large numbers of immigrants that subsequently came to Denmark, together with integration problems, led to parliament passing a number of limitations to the Act in 1980s. At the end of the 1980s, immigration became more important in the political and public debate due to, amongst other things, the Progress Party (Fremskridtspartiet) strongly highlighting the issue.

Since the 1960s the Nordic countries have been renowned for their high level of gender equality as they have amongst the world’s highest employment and education rates for women. At the same time the Nordic countries also have greater horizontal segregation by sex than the rest of the EU, that is, most women work in different occupations than most men. The gender segregation of labour is often seen as the main reason behind the gender wage gap in the Nordic region. It can also cause talent to go undetected and higher unemployment rates.