Study on non-legislative initiatives for companies to promote gender ...

76 Gender equality initiatives
In Sweden, there is a prize which is unique insofar as it is a trade union that awards
companies. When searching for relevant non-legislative initiatives to promote gender
equality in the workplace in Europe, no such similar prize could be found.
In 2003, the Swedish prize “Guldnappen” (the golden pacifier prize) was initiated by
Unionen, a trade union for professionals in the private sector. Guldnappen came into
existence as a reaction to the fact that many of Unionen’s members had lost their jobs
or been discriminated in other ways while on parental leave. The objectives of
Guldnappen are to encourage companies that facilitate the combination of parenting
and working, to ensure that there are no conflicting interests between work and family
and thereby make workplaces family friendly. One important aspect of the project is to
influence the public opinion in this matter. With Guldnappen, Unionen wants to help
employers seeing opportunities instead of impediments. The prize addresses the
65,000 companies the trade union members are working in, which is within a broad
range of areas in the private sector. Members of Unionen nominate their workplace on
the trade union’s website where they fill in an application form. Formal requirements for
participating are collective agreement and an equality plan, and the companies have to
pursue workplace equality audits, and annual wage surveys to prevent differences in
wage between men and women (which is an obligation of all firms in Sweden with ten
or more employees).
When nomination is closed, a project team of internal experts from Unionen takes a
closer look at all companies that fulfil the obligations. The team scrutinizes how the
equality plan is handled, and how visible and trustworthy the gender equality work is in
practice. The team inspects how close the work place cooperates with the trade union
and the support of the management in the matter, and then presents a few potential
winners to the management of Unionen who finally appoints first, second and a consolidation
prize. All nominated companies are honoured with a diploma, and nominees that
do not have a satisfactory equality plan are contacted by the management with the aim
to help them in their work.
Every year, Guldnappen has a different theme related to actual issues within the work
of Unionen. The theme of 2008 was the role of males in companies; in 2009 the theme
was leadership, as business managements have much power when it comes to normsetting
in companies. It is worth mentioning that in 2008 there was no winner as the
management did not consider anyone nominee a creditable winner.
In Denmark, the prize “Balancedagen” (the balance day) awards best practices
concerning work-life balance. Enterprises to be considered for the prize have to
describe their efforts in achieving a better work-life balance and have to focus on their
work-life balance goals and policies as well as activities and results. The prize is
awarded in three categories: family-friendly enterprise – best at work-life balance;
family-friendly manager; and familiy-friendly enterprise – upcoming star. The prize is
awarded by the Centre of Work Life Balance (CBAF) in Kokkedal.
Similar prizes addressing work-life balance can also be found in Slovakia, Estonia,
Spain, Hungary, Norway and Germany. Some prizes are also supported / (co)funded
by EQUAL and ESF, including Cyprus, as well as Germany.
A very interesting point regarding prizes for reconciliation of family and work are the
prizes in some of the former socialist Central and East European countries. Full time
employment for women was standard in socialist times, as education was seen to be a
public duty due to ideological backgrounds. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, social