Gender equality

Key figures:

4 out of 10 students at universities and university colleges are men

2 out of 3 women are employed

40 per cent of employed women and 14 per cent of employed men work part-time

7 out of 10 managers are men

89,3 per cent of children aged 1-5 had a kindergarten place in 2010

40 per cent of board members in public limited companies are women. In private limited companies, 17 per cent of the board representatives are women

6 out of 10 Storting representatives are men

Explanation of terms

Employed are people engaged in income-generating work.
The labour force is the total of those in employment and unemployed.
Public limited company (plc): A company in which none of the members are personally liable for the company's debts. A public limited company normally has more shareholders than a private limited company (ltd) and is governed by stricter rules with regard to the composition of the board and the share capital.

Gender Equality Index

Statistics Norway has developed a Gender Equality Index for Norwegian municipalities. The indicators include kindergarten coverage for children aged 1-5 years, percentage of female municipal council members, percentage of women/men aged 16 and above with higher education, percentage of women/men aged 20-66 in the labour force, and average income for women/men.

To the index: The Gender Equality Index for Norwegian municipalities

Time use

Time Use Survey 1971-2000:
Statistics Norway has developed statistics to see how women and men spend their time.
More here

Focus on:

Gender equality

Statistics and analyses that reveal the similarities and differences between women and men in different areas of life are important tools in the work towards gender equality. This web site presents some of Statistics Norway's material on this subject. The web site also contains statistics that show how women and men live in Norway today.

Roughly as many women as men have higher education. But women and men's choice of studies follows traditional patterns. While women tend to choose teaching, health and care services, men tend to choose technical subjects and natural sciences.

From the mid-1970s, the employment level for women has increased dramatically. Today there are almost as many women as men in paid work. However, there are still clear distinctions between female and male occupations, and women are much more likely to work part-time than men.

Although more women are becoming managers, only 1 out of 5 executive managers are women. Women manifest themselves most frequently among the middle managers, particularly in teaching, health and social services.

Women's average monthly pay was 85.0 per cent of men's in 2008. The differences in pay vary considerably according to industry, educational background and age.

In line with increasing education and employment levels from the mid-1960s, women are having children later in life. Since 1986 and until today the average age at first birth has increased from 25 to 28 years.

Women spend less time and men spend more time on domestic work today than at the beginning of the 1970s. But women still spend most time on domestic work.