Iceland: it's now illegal to pay male more than women for the same job

Iceland: January 1, it’s now illegal to pay male more than women for the same job

On January 1, Iceland implemented a new law that makes it illegal for companies to pay male employees more than women for doing the same job. As a result, Iceland is now the first country in the world to ensure equal pay between men and women. the new legislation mandates that any company or government agency with 25 or more staff members will have to obtain government certification of their equal-pay policies

Companies that fail to comply will be fined.

”Women have been talking about this for decades and I really feel that we have managed to raise awareness, and we have managed to get to the point that people realise that the legislation we have had in place is not working, and we need to do something more,” said Dagny Osk Aradottir Pind, a board member with the Icelandic Women’s Rights Association.

“It’s a mechanism to ensure women and men are being paid equally,” she added. “We have had legislation saying that pay should be equal for men and women for decades now but we still have a pay gap.”