The Directorate of Equality (former Centre for Gender Equality) opened in September 2000 and is located in Akureyri. It handles administration of equality in Iceland in accordance to act. 10/2008: An Act on Equal Status and Equal Rights of Women and Men, act 85/2018: An Act on Equal Treatment irrespective of race or ethnic origin, and act 86/2018: An Act on Equal Treatment in the labour market.
The role of the Directorate is defined in article 4 of the 10/2008 act. The agency runs by the control of the Prime Minister's Office.
Key words: #gender #equality #education #consulting #arctic
Among the Directorate‘s various tasks are monitoring of the implementation of the before mentioned acts, informing on equality as well as to conduct training and consulting services to individuals, companies, corporations, and government agencies at all levels. Furthermore the Directorate is to monitor the development of equality in the society, by collection of information and through research.
Main Arctic Projects
The Directorate of Equality participates in international work and research on Gender and Equality Issues, not the least in the Nordic and West-Nordic countries. In 2012, The Directorate co-managed a pilot project on establishment of a website on gender issues. The website’s focuses on gender equality issues in Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The project runs under the Nordic Council of Ministers.
- The web on West-Nordic gender equality issues is available here.
Equality is a subject of debate and research in the Arctic as elsewhere in the world. In the Arctic Human Development Report AHDR, published in 2004, one of the chapters introduced and discussed gender equality in various areas of the Arctic. It gives quite comprehensive overview over how the genders have been affected by the developments and changes in the different parts of the Arctic area.
- AHDR's chapter on gender equality in the arctic is available here.
The Directorate's website
- The Directorate‘s website is www.jafnretti.is
The website of The Directorate of Equality, offers information about the organization and its staff, as well as news, articles and reports. Additionally current projects are introduced and web-links can be found on various webs of Icelandic and foreign organizations and companies with relation to equality and gender issues.
Main publications and reports
On the Directorate‘s website an extensive collection of publications is available on gender equality issues, both in Iceland as at international level. The material is issued by the Directorate as well as other sources, both domestic and foreign. These include reports with not the least reference to the arctic area or parts thereof, such as a report on a study of welfare, relevant for young West-Nordic women, as well as a report on the different impacts of climate change on the genders.
The Directorate of Equality in social media
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