Alþjóðleg ráðstefna um karla og karlmennskurannsóknir, 5. júní 2014
Emerging ideas in masculinity research
ADDRESS by Anna Lilja Gunnarsdóttir, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Welfare
Ladies and gentlemen,
Eygló Harðardóttir, the Minister of Social Affairs and Housing , asked me to give you her best greetings. She is abroad and couldn´t be her with you today as she had planned to.
I would like to begin by welcoming you to the third Nordic Conference on Men and Masculinities, now given the very promising title “Emerging ideas in masculinity research”.
The Conference marks one of the highlights of Iceland's Program in the field of Gender Equality for the Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers – for the year 2014.
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The Icelandic Act on Equal Status and Equal Rights of Women and Men states a very clear aim: To establish and maintain equal status and equal opportunities for women and men, and to promote genderequality in all spheres of society. Working towards this aim includes a close cooperation between governmental administration and politicians, academics and formally organized voices in the diverse movements working for gender equality.
The Act recognises this and proposes increased education and awareness-raising on gender equality as well as increased research in gender studies. Further, the act proposes that work shall be carried out to work against negative stereotypes regarding the roles of women and men. Lastly, the Act states the importance of men's increased participation in gender equality work.
In Iceland, the issue of men and equality has been on the agenda for some time. Already in 1991, the Minister for social affairs at that time, and former Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, established a working group tasked to report on the changing role of men's participation within the family and division of labour in the home.
Later government appointed a panel of men assigned the task to put forth suggestions on how to get men more involved in the issues of gender equality. Without going into details of this work, it is safe to say that ideas put forward about the role of fathers were progressive and had a significant effect on the introduction of the Icelandic parental leave Act, securing men and women the equal right to parental leave. The work also promoted the issue of men's responsibility with regards to gender based violence.
Only last year, In 2013 – a second panel of men delivered results of their work, again looking into ways to get men more involved in the issues of equality. The panel addressed numerous topics, among them: “Men and violence” -, “Men's health and quality of life” -, “Caregiving”-, “Education” and “Gender segregation of the labour market”. The model for their work borrowed from work carried out in Norway – a few years ago.
I'm happy to say that suggestions made by the panel are now being considered for implementation through the Parliamentary resolution establishing the government's new gender equality action programme for the years 2015 and onwards.
Dear guests
Nordic gender equality benefits from the fact that the Nordic countries have a history of close cooperation. This year the Nordic countries celebrate forty years of special cooperation within the field of gender equality.
The gender equality issues prioritized by the Government of Iceland during this year, – in which we head the Nordic collaboration are: “Equality in the labour market”, “Methods of reducing gender-based violence” as well as the “Participation by men in gender-equality work”. – The celebration marking the forty years will take place on August 26th, at a special Jubilee conference - Here in Harpa.
Projects undertaken in previous years have been many. We have come to learn that though gender equality may vary between countries, there is always something we share and take inspiration from. Lessons learned have become lessons shared. And looking at the five countries as a group, it becomes easier to see that the trend towards a more equal society has been constant since the 1970s.
The world economic forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2013 benchmarks gender gaps of 136 countries on economic, political, education- and health-based criteria. Findings show that Iceland continues to be at the top of the overall rankings for the fifth consecutive year. Finland ranks in second position, and Norway holds the third place. Sweden remains in fourth with Denmark (8) not far behind. These are certainly flattering results – but as we know there is still much work to be done. Continued cooperation and dialogue is essential in the tasks ahead.
The Nordic action plan on gender equality constitutes the framework for Nordic cooperation in gender equality work. The plan is issued by the Nordic Council of Ministers and presents an opportunity for sharpening the focus on certain priorities. One of the prioritized themes for the period 2011 to 2014 has been - “men's and boys' participation in the gender equality work”.
Experience has shown that it is not enough to put forth aims to increase men's involvement in– we must put forth a convincing argument for the shared benefits of equality, benefits enjoyed by both men and women – and society as a whole. We must understand what works and what does not.
Dear guests,
It is here academia plays such an important role.
One of the important objectives of gender studies – in particular, and what also has been the objective of Men's studies– is to ask and answer questions about the role of men in society – what do men do? And in what ways does this affect the dynamics between; expectations, opportunities, choices and eventually the chances of men and women achieving a better quality of life.
These questions can be– and are asked– in relation to many of the most pressing issues concerning modern societies. This is evident, both in the body of work of our distinguished Key-note speakers,Raewyn Connell and Michael Kimmel, and also in the many different, but connected, topics for discussion during this conference. Topics ranging from: “Care Policies& fatherhood” to “Pop Culture”, from “Men in History” to current “Business Masculinities”.
On behalf of the Ministry of Welfare responsible for administering Iceland's Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2014, I would like to use this opportunity to thank the organizing committee, representing the University of Iceland, The Centre for Gender Equality in Iceland and The Nordic Association for Research on Men and Masculinities.
I wish you a successful conference and fruitful discussions.
Thank you