[ad_1]
Culture and Gender Equality Minister Abid Raja says he is concerned about weaker groups when Norwegian working life returns to normal. A recent study shows that one in five dismissed feels discriminated against in the dismissal process.
MINISTRY MEETING: Equality Check, here by founder and co-owner Isabelle Ringnes, has interviewed both Abid Raja and her Swedish colleague Åsa Lindhagen about the research they have done.
Krister Sørbø
published:
Equality Check, founded by Isabelle Ringnes and Marie Louise Sunde, conducted a survey on how the crown crisis has affected people’s daily lives.
Here, 20 percent of respondents said they felt they had been discriminated against in the firing process.
The most common reason why women claim is gender, while the most common reason for men is age.
– These are alarming numbers, so it is important that they come out. Even in the crown crisis, discrimination in Norway is prohibited, says Minister of Culture and Gender Equality Abid Raja (V), who was interviewed by the Equality Check duo on Monday.
GRUNDAMDUO: Marie Louise Sunde and Isabelle Ringnes started Equality Check in 2018.
Krister Sørbø
Gender difference
Equality Check describes itself as a kind of Tripadvisor for jobs. Based on employee evaluation of their own workplace, one can search companies and organizations to see how well they rank on a number of different criteria of gender equality.
When the Norwegian crown crisis began, Sunde and Ringnes decided to find out more about how it works in the world of work, both in Norway and Sweden.
Equality control
This resulted in 404 responses from Sweden and 275 from Norway. Very few to call the findings representative of the entire country, but enough to shed light on the differences.
– We find it interesting to see the differences between the satisfaction of women and men with the way the employer has dealt with the crisis, says Marie Louise Sunde.
In the survey, about 20 percent of women responded that they had not been given enough information and that the layoffs had not been well communicated. 4 percent of men have responded the same.
– This may be because one has communicated differently to women or because women have experienced what has been communicated differently. Which of the two do we not know based on our survey, but we think it is important for employers to know how to communicate?
LIVE: Equality Check published the interview with Raja live from her own Instagram profile.
Krister Sørbø
Worried minister
Nav figures show that since March 9, around 374,000 Norwegians have applied for unemployment benefits at the time of termination. And despite a small decrease in the total or partial unemployment rate, more than 400,000 are still registered as job applicants.
More numbers can be found in the E24 coronavirus overview
Abid Raja says he is concerned about what employment will be like for disadvantaged groups when society returns to normal.
– It only takes a little crisis before women’s rights are again in jeopardy, to quote Simone de Beauvoir. So we have to monitor the situation closely and see how it unfolds.
In April, the Ombudsman for Equality and Discrimination, Hanne Bjurstrøm for E24, confirmed that they had started hearing about employers who started firing older people and pregnant women, who had justified this because these people are at risk and, therefore, they need protection.
“But the general rules also apply in a crisis, and employers must remember that,” said Bjurstrøm.
CORONA EFFECT: Equality Check examines how the corona virus has affected people’s daily work.
Krister Sørbø
– Extra responsibility on the employer
– What do you think behind the survey that 20 percent say they have been discriminated against in the process of dismissal?
– It’s a shame, of course, one wishes that no one felt it at all. But that’s it, so we present this data and hope that more companies will take notice and take action where they see that has been the case, says Isabelle Ringnes.
– What do you think is the most important finding in this study?
– In addition to the differences between how satisfied women and men are with the way the employer has handled the crisis, it is interesting that some (34 percent, newspaper note) say that the basis for the dismissal has not been disclosed. Sunde says.
– Indicates that when “shit hits the fan”, most people get enough of their employees and employers. Then, an additional responsibility falls on the employer to remain calm and remember that the need for information can almost never be met.
