Indicators for gender equality in municipalities, 2015

The indicators for gender equality were published for the first time in 2008. From one year to another the changes are relatively small, but over time some of the indicators have had a significant development – developing indicators are often changing towards more gender equality, with higher scores today than eight years ago. Because of a new data source for some indicators as of 2015, there is uncertainty about the quality of the part-time indicator. The indicator is therefore not included in the 2015 publication, but will be published when it has been quality assured.

70 per cent of fathers using paternity quota

The proportion of fathers who took full paternity leave or more increased in every county from 2014 to 2015. In 2014, there was a decline in the proportion of fathers who took full, or more than full, paternity leave. It thus appeared that the proportion was stagnating, but in 2015 there was an increase of 2 percentage points. On average, 70 per cent of fathers took the quota or more of the parental benefit period in 2015. In comparison, the average was 60 per cent in 2008. 

The highest score on the paternity-leave indicator went to Sogn og Fjordane, where 76 per cent of the fathers took the full quota or more in 2015. The lowest scores went to Østfold, Finnmark and Telemark, which have had the lowest scores since 2008. In Telemark, however, the proportion of fathers who took full paternity leave had a significant increase in one year, with a 4 percentage point increase in fathers taking full paternity leave or more. 

Oslo has the fewest children in kindergarten

In 2015, an average of 90 per cent of all children in Norway went to kindergarten. In Troms, which has the highest score on the kindergarten indicator for 2015, 93.4 per cent went to kindergarten. Along with South and North-Trøndelag, Troms has scored high on this indicator since 2008. Like all previous years’ scores, Oslo has the lowest on this indicator, with 86.5 per cent of children under six years going to kindergarten. Oslo, however, has had a slight increase each year. 

The largest increase in the proportion of children in kindergarten is found in Aust-Agder. Since 2008, the county has had an average total increase of 6 percentage points. In 2008, Aust-Agder scored second lowest, while in 2015 the proportion of children in kindergarten was slightly above the national average.

This is mainly due to the possibility that Aust-Agder had for expansion. Almost all municipalities in the county have expanded, some of them dramatically. 

Geographical variations in men and women's education

The proportion of women with a higher education is on average higher than for men on average for the entire country, but the gender gap varies widely between counties, and within counties. In the big cities, the disparities between men and women's educational level are lower than in towns and smaller cities. In Trondheim in Sør-Trondelag, for example, there are only 3 per cent more women than men with a higher education, while in the remaining 24 municipalities in Sør-Trøndelag, the proportion of women with a higher education on average is 9 percentage points higher than for men. This not only says something about women’s high level of education compared to men, but also that more women with a higher education live in rural areas, while men with a higher education probably prefer to live in the cities. 

Biggest gender disparities in higher education in Finnmark

The gap between the proportion of men and of women with a higher education is the smallest in Oslo and Akershus, and highest in Finnmark and Nord-Trøndelag. Finnmark has the lowest proportion of men with a higher education in the country, with a share of 20 per cent. In Oslo, the proportion of men with a higher education is more than twice as large as in Finnmark. In Østfold, 28 percent of the women have a higher education. This is the lowest proportion among women, but at the same time about the same as the national average for men. 

Many female managers in Oslo

On average, the proportion of female managers decreased marginally from 2014 to 2015. In Oslo, however, the proportion of female managers is relatively large at 40 percent. Also in Finnmark there is a large proportion of female managers, with 39 per cent. Vestfold and Vest-Agder had the lowest score on the indicator for gender balance in managerial occupations. In both counties, 31 per cent of all managers were women. 

Gendered public sector

The indicators for gender distribution among employees in the public sector show that women dominate, as in previous years. On average, 70 per cent of all employees in the public sector are women, and this proportion has remained almost unchanged since the indicator was first published in 2008. Here too, there are major disparities between the different counties. In Rogaland and Møre og Romsdal the proportion of men in the public sector was only 24 and 25 per cent, while in Troms and Oslo the proportion of men was 35 and 37 per cent. The distinction between Rogaland, which scored lowest, and Oslo, which scored the highest, is 13 percentage points. 

More gender balance in the private sector

There is greater gender balance among employees in the private sector than in the public sector. Men dominate in the private sector, but their dominance is not as big. On average, there are 63 per cent male employees in the private sector, while nearly 37 per cent are female. The proportion of women in the private sector is highest in Akershus, Hordaland and Buskerud. 

Income disparity is as big

The indicator for income here includes more than just salaries, but still provides a picture of who holds more and less of the financial resources of the household. Average gross income increases for both sexes every year, but the actual income disparity has been almost unchanged in recent years. In the last four years, the average score for the entire country on the income indicator has remained stagnant. 

Gender balanced income in Finnmark

The gender disparity in average gross income is the lowest in Finnmark, which means Finnmark scores highest on the income indicator. One explanation is that men’s income in Finnmark, compared with men in other counties, is the lowest in the country, while women in Finnmark have relatively high incomes. Since 2008, the income disparity between men and women decreased the most in Hedmark, Telemark and Vest-Agder. 

Oslo, Akershus and Rogaland are the three counties where both men and women have the highest income, but they are also among the nine counties who score lowest on the income indicator. This means that the disparity in men's and women's income here is the greatest. Rogaland scores lowest compared to all the other counties.