Rethinking Equal Pay in Sweden in Light of the Transparency Approaches in the UK and Iceland

The question can be raised whether there is a need in Sweden to work with issues of equal pay. The gender wage gap (GWG) statistics in Sweden are fairly consistent. According to the OECD gender wage gap 2014, the Swedish GWG is about 14%. According to Eurostat 2016, the Swedish GWG is 13.3 % (placing Sweden 10th among the 28 EU member states). Causes for the Swedish wage gap of 13.3% have been analyzed as 8 % due to occupational segregation and 2 % public employment. All indications point to the situation that women are mostly paid the same as men for the same work, but that pay equity issues, equal pay for comparable work are not as squarely addressed, with unions often representing male-dominated or female-dominated sectors in wage negotiations, basically reinforcing pay inequity as seen with from Swedish midwives cases discussed below. The recent Swedish legislative initiatives with respect to equal pay are compared here is the recent UK and Icelandic legislative initiatives concerning equal pay and greater transparency as to wages