Indicators for gender equality in municipalities, 2011

The indicators for gender equality have been published since 2008, and in the period up to today we see few and small changes towards more gender equality, both for counties and for the country as a whole. The pattern of regional gender equality has also remained stable. Municipalities in Rogaland, Agder and Møre og Romsdal generally score low on the indicators. We also find low scores in many municipalities in the southeast of Norway, such as Østfold and Telemark. Oslo and a majority of the municipalities in Akershus consistently have high scores. Many municipalities in Nordland, Troms and Finnmark also score high on several indicators.

The education gap increases

The indicator that measures the ratio between men and women's education has the clearest change in the period 2008-2011. Women have higher levels of education than men in all municipalities, and the differences are increasing. The exception is Bærum, which scores 1 on this indicator (46 per cent of both men and women have higher education).

We find many of the municipalities that score lowest on the education indicator in Finnmark and Nordland. Nine out of the 20 municipalities with the lowest scores in education lie in these two counties. In many of these municipalities, the proportion of women with higher education is at or above the national average, while the proportion of men with high education is well below.

Little change in men and women’s part-time work

Despite the fact that increasingly more women than men have higher education, this does not seem to be leading to smaller differences between men and women with regard to part-time work and income. Women’s prevalent part-time work is an equality challenge in a large number of municipalities, and large differences in part-time work in many cases also generate a gender pay gap in the same municipalities. The differences in men and women’s part-time work and income have remained stable since 2008.

Of the 20 municipalities with the lowest scores on the part-time indicator, 13 lie either in Rogaland, Hordaland or Aust-Agder. The low scores on the indicator in this region reflect the fact that many women work part time. In the 20 municipalities with the highest part-time working among women, the share is between 69 and 54 per cent.

Oslo and Akershus score high on the part-time indicator, and have a particularly low proportion of women working part time. Twelve of the 20 municipalities with the lowest share of women working part time are in Akershus. The share of women working part time in these 20 municipalities is between 21 and 28 per cent. Many municipalities in Troms and Finnmark also score higher than average with regard to part-time work. In these municipalities, the high score is the result of part-time work being more common among men.

Gender inequalities in income also in Oslo and Akershus

Many of the municipalities that score low on the indicator for part-time working also score low on the indicator of income distribution between women and men. Naturally, there is a relationship between part-time work and income. Thus we find many of the municipalities that score low on the income indicator in the south and west of Norway, and particularly in Rogaland.

However, we also find relatively large income differences in Oslo and in many of the generally equal municipalities in Akershus, where few women work part time. Bærum is the municipality in Akershus with the largest gender pay gap, despite the fact that the municipality is one of the four municipalities in the country with the lowest share of women working part time. The reason for this is an average income well above the national average for men.

Fewer fathers take long parental leave in Finnmark, Troms and Nordland

As was previously the case, municipalities in Sogn og Fjordane have a high percentage of fathers who take the statutory paternity leave or more of the parental benefit period. Three out of the five municipalities with the highest score in this indicator lie in Sogn og Fjordane. Municipalities in Akershus also score high on this indicator. At the other end we find the lowest scores in municipalities in Finnmark, Troms and Nordland. Fourteen out of the 20 municipalities with the lowest score are in these three counties.

Gender equality in the largest municipalities

All of the six largest cities – Oslo, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim and Tromsø - score high on most indicators compared to other municipalities in their region. For some indicators, however, the cities lie below the average. Oslo stands out as having a lower share of 1-5 year olds in kindergarten. Kristiansand has the most skewed distribution of municipal council representatives and Stavanger scores low with regard to income. However, of the cities, Stavanger scores the highest with regard to distribution of municipal council representatives, followed by Oslo and Tromsø. Tromsø and Trondheim score high on the indicator showing the percentage of fathers who take the statutory paternity leave or more of the parental benefit period. Most of the cities are among the municipalities with most equality in educational level between men and women. This is not the case for Tromsø.

¹ The indicator for "Share of fathers taking the full fathers quota or more of the parental leave in connection with childbirth" has not been calculated correctly for the period 2008-2010. Scores and shares for this indicator for 2011 have, however, been calculated correctly. The correct figures for the whole period 2008-2011 will be available in StatBank at a later date. The indicator "Gender distribution among leaders" has not been updated with the year 2011, but this indicator will also be updated in StatBank when figures become available.