Iceland continues to lead the way when it comes to gender pay equality.
Under new legislation which came into effect on Monday 1^st January 2018, companies with more than 25 employees will need the government to certify their equal pay policies. This will involve evaluating every job undertaken at the company, with certification only being granted if the organisation can demonstrate that men and women are being paid equally for the same job. If companies fail to show pay equality between men and women, they will be subject to fines. Iceland has been ranked the best in the world for gender equality by the World Economic Forum for the past nine years, however Ms Dagny Osk Aradottir Pind (board member of the Icelandic Rights Association) explained that whilst awareness of the country’s gender pay gap had increased significantly over the decades, and existing legislation stipulated that pay should be equal between men and women, this wasn’t filtering through in practice. The new measure is designed to encourage employers to be more proactive when it comes to addressing their gender pay gaps.

The World Economic Forum’s 2017 Global Gender Gap Report can be found here. The United Kingdom is ranked at number 15.

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