Gender Equality

The comparison between the Nordic States (Scandinavia) and the United States.
Nordic States (Scandinavia)

Similarities

When it comes to maternity leave the parents who are

adopting a child or having a child gets a maximum of 480
days. In 2012, 24% of the leave was taken by the men.
NO
In the election in 2010, 45% of the places in the Swedish
Parliament were taken and being controlled by women.

YES

In 1998 the Act on Violence Against Women was introduced

and put into play.

People who are gay are given the same amount of rights.
They accept LGBT. Laws such as neutral gender weddings,
adoption by gay/lesbian and prohibition of discrimination
based on the sexual gender are some that have been passed.
There is still room for improvement in these areas and more
things can be done to spread equality through this subject.
It is mandatory to have 40% of each sex on the boards of
public companies that are listed. This helps promote the rights
and views of women

Women can become priests and there has even been an

archbishop who was a female. This has been in effect in
Sweden since the middle of the 20th century.

YES

NO/YE
S

NO

NO

United States
In the United States, mothers of expected
children or adopting children are allowed
12 weeks of leave, which is 84 days. The
fathers arent really granted any leave.
We have had a total of 44 women in the
Senate since the establishment of the
body in 1789. The first women was
elected into the Senate was Hattie
Caraway in 1932.
In the U.S there are two laws that prohibit
violence on women. Violence Against
Women and The Family Violence
Prevention and Services Act are the laws.
In the U.S. there have been 37 states that
have allowed same sex marriage. All the
laws related to family, marriage or antidiscrimination depend on the state.
Hopefully soon all the states in the U.S.
will pass this law.
It is not a requirement for any board of
companies to have men and women.
Some boards of companies do include
women and men, but it is not called for it.
Looking at the U.S. in a religious point of
view and are educated in religion you
should know that there are never women
who are priests or archbishops. Females
can be nuns, but not priests.

A Quick Summary
Every state is not going to be the exact same as the United States and when I dove into
researching more about how Nordic States (Scandinavia) and how it compares to the U.S. based on the
gender equality, I definitely found so really interesting facts and statistics. The Nordic States focuses a lot
on the rights of women. Womens rights in both places that I looked into have evolved greatly since the
past. Scandinavia has rights that the U.S. hasnt fully compromised to yet. Laws such as legalizing same
sex marriage. The United States has taken steps because some states have allowed it, but not every
state. Scandinavia not only focuses on women, but also men. When a woman leaves for maternal reason
they get a certain amount of day, like the women in the U.S., but the Nordic States look at the males
needs and time off as well.
The United States and the Nordic States arent completely different because they do share things
in common. They both have laws that abolish the violence on women and protect women on violent acts. I
learned that both places with similarities and differences are very good places and in ways can still can be
improved by spreading the awareness of gender equality.