Initiative

Initiatives on gender equality and equal pay

Summary of the initiative

The Agency for the Modernisation of Public Administration is an agency within the Ministry of Finance. One of its objectives is to administer the state’s general responsibility as an employer with respect to HR, collective agreements, leadership and management, employment law, pay and pension. The Agency negotiates and concludes collective agreements with the trade unions representing the approximately 185,000 employees in the State sector and takes part in the legislative preparatory work within its entire area.

Addressing the gender role and supporting work life balance: As an employer, the government has concluded a collective agreement, as part of the 2008 collective bargaining in the public sector. On parental leave, the new agreement introduced the 3x6 weeks of paid parental leave beginning after the first 14 weeks of the mother’s leave. Six weeks for each parent and six weeks they can share as they want. However, if for example the father does not make use of his six weeks, they will not be transferred to the mother, and vice versa.

On February the same year, the Agency for Modernisation of Public Administration also signed with the Central Federation of State Employees´ Organisations (CFU) a new agreement for 2008 - 2011. In this agreement, the conditions of families with children have been improved. The scheme of absence to care for sick children has been extended from 1 to 2 days and the parental leave scheme has also been extended. With 6 weeks of parental leave now earmarked for the father this constitutes an important step towards increased gender equality.

Furthermore, State sector workplaces are under a general obligation not to discriminate on the basis of gender. Gender equality is therefore regulated by law and is a part of the cooperation agreement in the state sector and the social partners of the State sector regularly update a joint guide on maternity/paternity leave with the aim of supporting the state sector workplaces in their administration of the regulation.

Promoting women in decision-making: The Agency for Modernisation of Public Administration has run courses for managers and pre-managers for several years. The participants are on a general scale divided equally between men and women, which indicate that both sexes are being encouraged to seek management positions on an equal basis.

Tackling the gender pay gap: In 2008 the agency for Modernisation of Public Administration and unions agreed on the framework for a tripartite Pay Commission for the public sector (Lønkommissionen). The Pay Commission comprises of representatives from the unions, and the public employers associations representing the municipalities, the regions and the state. It examines equal pay between men and women, as well as between the public and private sectors.

The commission finished its work in May 2010 and concluded that there is equal pay in the Danish public sector. Men and women who carry out the same jobs are paid the same. This is also reflected in the fact that the number of disputes regarding equal pay within a 20-year period was registered to under 10. The commission however also uncovered differences in salary levels between men and women, who work in different sectors and fields. Differences can add up to 15-20%. These differences in salary levels are however not a violation of the regulations on equal pay. They express a societal and complex problem that affects the entire labour market and has developed over a long period of time.

In answer to these challenges, the Agency for Modernisation of Public Administration provides an extensive database to extract data on developments in salaries and additional pay divided between men and women.