Inger René of the Conservative Group told the Wednesday debate that gender equality has not worked very well in the Nordic Council.

“We have a long way to go before we achieve gender equality in Nordic work,” René said before presenting data showing that the majority of all Committee members are men. “Five out of six members of the Elections Committee are men, for example. If we are serious about gender equality we have to clean up our own back yard,” she added.

The Icelandic Minister of Social Affairs, Árni Magnússon would like to revise the whole Nordic health and care system.

“There are major differences between men and women in terms of health and mortality data and we need to organise health care on that basis,” he said. He also drew attention to the success of Icelandic parental leave legislation. 85&#37 of fathers now take the three months leave that cannot be transferred to the mothers.