An equal Nordic Region – initiatives in education and working life

The conference will highlight some of the challenges to education and working life, and identify initiatives to make the labour market more equal.

How do we make sure that education and working life promote equality and counteract discrimination? Is it possible to forge a Nordic Region in which narrow gender norms, prejudices and stereotypes do not limit the individual’s opportunities and mobility in education and at work?

Programme

09:15 Registration, mingling and light refreshment.

10:00 Opening

• Music: Daniela Reyes
• Opening address: Marte Mjøs Persen, Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion, (NO)

10:15 Part 1: Equality as a goal for sustainable education and working life

• Speakers:
  • Mari Teigen, Institute for Social Research (NO)
  • Providing the competencies of the future – changing perspectives. With Sara Sundström and Gunilla Evers, Värmland (S)
• Panel discussion: Trends in the labour market of the future – hindering or promoting gender equality? Marte Mjøs Persen (NO), Tomas Berglund, University of Gothenburg (S), Nina Melsom, Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NO) and Kristin Sæther, Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (NO). Chair: Cathrine Egeland, researcher, Oslo Metropolitan University (NO).

11:20 Break

11:35 Part 2: Closing the gender gap in education and the labour market

• Speaker: Hege Nilssen, director, Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs (Bufdir)
• Panel discussion: Young people who have broken with tradition and what they have been through. Speakers include: others, Daniel Tørresvol Stabu, NSF Student (NO), Anna Axelsen, Ambassador for Boss Ladies (DK) and Kimiya Mo, Girls and Technology (NO). Chair: Hilde Sandvik.
• Speakers: Barriers and measures for a better gender balance in education and career choices in the Nordic Region: Angelica Simonsson, Nordic Information on Gender (NIKK)
• Panel discussion: How can educational authorities and employers do more to facilitate choices that break with tradition and provide young people with good training and jobs? Hallvard Hølleland, Secretary of State, Ministry of Education and Research (NO), Christina Øager, Project Manager Boss Ladies (DK), Eirik Gjelsvik, Group CEO Backegruppen (NO), Margrét Halldóra, teacher (IS). Chair: Runa Myklebust, Institute for Social Research (NO)

12:40–13:30 Lunch

• Equality and the green transition: Who is responsible for involving women in the development of new technology?
  • Speakers: Technology training programmes and professions want to involve more women. But are their ambitions matched by women’s experiences of the industry, employers, teachers and society in general? Hilde G. Corneliussen (NO)
  • Conversation with Anne Cathrine Berger, Norwegian Society of Engineers and Technologists (NO), Piia Simpanen, co-founder of the Women in Tech Network in Finland and Nils-Ola Widne, Director, Abelia (NO). Chair: Maria Amelie (NO)
• What constitute positive initiatives to increase the proportion of men in the health and care sector?
  • Associate Professor Gísli Kort Kristofersson, University of Akureyri (IS)
  • Speakers: Mohamed Amaleti, healthcare worker and Labour Party politician (NO), Petra Lindberg, coordinator, Men i Healthcare (SE) and Gunhild Thunem, project manager, the OLE project (NO). Chair: Runa Myklebust, Institute for Social Research (NO).

14:55 Break

15:10 Part 3: The way forward – a joint Nordic direction?

• Summing up (Hilde Sandvik)
• Interview with Anette Trettebergstuen, Minister of Culture and Equality (NO)
• Conversation: How can Nordic co-operation on gender equality be useful in the education and working life of the future? (the gender equality ministers from the Nordic countries)

16:00 End

The conference will be in a mixture of Nordic languages and English. Simultaneous interpreting between Scandinavian and Finnish and Icelandic.

Speech to text interpretation of the whole conference into English.

The conference will be streamed on regjeringen.no (the link will be published here and e-mailed to registered conference participants). You can watch the stream even if you do not register. 

The conference is part of the Norwegian Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2022. The conference is being organised by the Nordic Council of Ministers for Gender Equality and LGBTI (MR-JÄM) in collaboration with the Nordic Council of Ministers for Labour (MR-A) and the Nordic Council of Ministers for Education and Research (MR-U).