Nordic Council Of Ministers Policy For Mainstreaming Sustainable Development Gender Equality And A Child Rights And Youth Perspective

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/politiknord2020-719/ Sustainable development, gender equality, and a child rights and youth perspective are overarching areas that are important for all the work done by the Nordic Council of Ministers. The responsibility for considering these applies to everyone who is working in or on behalf of the Nordic Council of Ministers, regardless of policy area. By strengthening this work, we are ensuring that the work of the Nordic Council of Ministers is sustainable, gender-equal, inclusive, representative, and accessible.

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/politiknord2023-724/ In early 2016 the Nordic Council of Ministers established a new cross-sectoral strategy for children and young people. This strategy has now been extended to 2024, with minor updates. The strategy lays down the vision for the Nordic Council of Ministers’ efforts relating to children and young people: that the Nordic Region must be the best place in the world for children and young people.The objective of efforts relating to children and young people in the Nordic Region is to establish good living conditions and improve their opportunity for influence. The right to good living conditions and influence must be promoted equally for all children and young people regardless of their gender, ethnic, cultural or socioeconomic background, age, place of origin, sexual orientation, or disability.

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/temanord2024-521/ This report reviews the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Gender Action Plan (UNFCCC GAP) in the Nordic countries. The UNFCCC GAP aims at advancing knowledge and understanding of gender responsive climate action, and includes activities for gender mainstreaming the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The report finds that the Nordic region demonstrates commitment to integrating gender equality perspectives into climate policies, and summarises best case examples on local and national level. It also suggests that by prioritising capacity building of mainstreaming in climate policies, utilising available sex-disaggregated data for gender analysis, and by enhancing coherence in relevant policy frameworks, the Nordic countries can improve their implementation of the UNFCCC GAP and further pave the way for a just transition to a green economy.

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/temanord2022-507/ The Nordic countries have a progressive gender policy, and requirements to ensure gender equality and balance are laid down in laws and national strategies. However, the knowledge on the links between gender and climate change has been lacking documentation and has not been shared with relevant Nordic stakeholders and policy makers. The report seeks to close this knowledge gap. It provides a comprehensive understanding of how climate change policies affect gender and vice versa, and it is clear evidence of the importance of- and need to engage women and minorities in climate policy making. This is an important step towards implementing a climate change policy without negative effects on gender. The study gives an overview of existing and lacking sex-disaggregated data as well as a status regarding gender equality in decision-making related to climate policy in the Nordic countries.

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/politiknord2021-712/ In an international perspective the Nordic countries have long been progressive in the LGBTI area, but despite the fact that some legislation is in place, there are still many challenges to address before LGBTI people can obtain equal opportunities and rights. In 2020, the Nordic Ministers for Gender Equality initiated a formal co-operation programme under the Nordic Council of Ministers on equal treatment and equal rights for LGBTI people in the Nordic region. This text is a supplement to the Nordic Co-operation Programme for Gender Equality 2019-2022. The supplement governs the Nordic co-operation in the LGBTI area, and describes the most important priorities until the end of the programme period, 31 December 2022.

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/politiknord2021-708/ This Co-operation Programme on Culture Policy describes the most important priorities for the Council of Ministers for Culture in the period 2021–2024. The programme focuses on culture as an all-embracing and supporting force for sustainable development of our societies – particularly regarding the culture ministers’ efforts to attain a green, competitive, and socially sustainable Nordic region. The programme thereby supports the vision that the Nordic region will be the world’s most sustainable and integrated region in 2030.

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/politiknord2022-709/ The co-operation programme fleshes out the Nordic Council of Ministers’ action plan for Vision 2030 and its 12 goals and describes what Nordic co-operation on working life will seek to achieve by 2024. The Nordic Council of Ministers is committed to labour markets that match the requirements of the green transition and progress toward digitalisation and that support freedom of movement in the Nordic Region. The Nordic models for working life are based to a large extent on gender equality, social security and dialogue between the social partners. However, the Nordic labour markets also face significant changes as a result of, for example, new technology and the digitalisation of workplaces, demographic trends and new forms of employment. The co-operation programme identifies the challenges faced and looks at how best Nordic co-operation can help address them.

Promoting gender equality at work is not only a matter of rights; it is the smart thing to do from the perspective of inclusive growth. The Nordic region is a case in point, as it has come to represent the 11th largest economy in the world, not despite policy commitments to gender equality and social justice, but because of it. The Nordic countries have robust economies and good living conditions, where both women and men have high labour force participation rates. However, the gender pay gap is persistent and occupational segregation continues to hinder gender equality. The Nordic Gender Effect at Work briefs share the collective Nordic experience in investing in gender equality including parental leave, childcare, flexible work arrangements, leadership and equal opportunities at work, and seek to make further progress through cooperation.