List of issues and questions in relation to the ninth periodic report of Denmark *

General context

1.Please provide information and statistics on the current situation of women in the State party, including in Greenland and the Faroe Islands, disaggregated by sex, age, disability, ethnicity, national minority group status and nationality, in order to monitor the implementation of the Convention and target 5.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals, to end all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere (CEDAW/C/DNK/9, para. 20 and annexes 1 and 2). Please also provide information on any new policies, strategies, programmes or action plans adopted for the promotion of women’s rights and the advancement of gender equality in the State party, including a national action plan on combating violence against women (para. 28) and whether the strategy and action plan against violence, 2014–2017, for Greenland will be renewed and whether it will include measures to address gender-based violence against women (para. 212).

Legislative, policy and institutional framework

2.With reference to the Committee’s concluding observations on the eighth periodic report of the State party (CEDAW/C/DNK/CO/8, para. 12), and in view of information provided in the report of the State party (para. 16), please provide information on the steps taken by the State party to reconsider its decision not to incorporate the provisions of the Convention into its national legal order. Specifically, please provide information on the concrete measures taken to ensure that women in Greenland and the Faroe Islands have the same equality protections as their counterparts in mainland Denmark and that intersecting forms of discrimination are recognized in equality legislation (CEDAW/C/DNK/CO/8, para. 12).

3.With reference to its previous recommendations (CEDAW/C/DNK/CO/8, para. 14) to take measures to facilitate the development of gender mainstreaming tools for legislation and for context-specific strategies for gender mainstreaming at the municipal level, including in Greenland and the Faroe Islands, please elaborate on the 2019 amendment to its anti-discrimination and gender equality legislation to remove the obligation of municipal governments to develop and implement gender equality policies and to change the frequency of gender equality reports from two to three years at the municipal level and its impact on gender mainstreaming efforts in the State party, including in Greenland and the Faroe Islands (paras. 14–15). Given the continuing and growing tendency for gender neutrality in the State party’s legislation, policies and programmes, please provide information on the results of evaluations of the impact of this approach in terms of promoting women’s rights and achieving equality, including whether any temporary special measures have been adopted to ensure substantive equality between women and men (paras. 10–11, 40 and 279). Please elaborate on how incorporating the issues of promoting women’s rights and the advancement of gender equality into the portfolio of the Minister for Food, Fisheries, Gender Equality and Nordic Cooperation has enabled the State party to maintain them as priority issues and to ensure that they are given sufficient attention.

Access to justice and legal complaint mechanisms

4.Please provide information on any cases in which the Convention has been invoked by individuals, applied directly or referred to, in court proceedings in the State party and indicate the number, nature and outcome of all cases of discrimination against women, including intersecting forms of discrimination, the sanctions applied to perpetrators and the remedies, including compensation, provided to victims.

Discriminatory gender stereotypes and harmful practices

5.With regard to the Committee’s previous recommendations (CEDAW/C/DNK/CO/8, para. 16), please provide further information on measures taken since 2015, including awareness-raising and educational campaigns, to address discriminatory gender stereotypes with regard to women and girls, including those experiencing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination relating to ethnicity, age, disability or other characteristics. Please also provide information on any evaluation of the impact of such efforts and those described in the report (paras. 38–44, 122–123 and 145–151).

6.Please provide information on efforts to project positive and non-sexualized images of women and to eliminate stereotypical images and attitudes regarding the roles of women and men in the family and society in the mass media. In view of the measures taken by the State party to combat harmful practices, please provide information, including data, disaggregated by age, ethnicity, national minority group status, nationality, disability and relationship between the victim and perpetrator, on the prevalence of female genital mutilation, child and forced marriage and crimes committed in the name of so-called “honour” (paras. 194–199). Please also inform the Committee whether the bill prohibiting the construction of an artificial hymen has been adopted (para. 179).

Gender-based violence against women

7.With reference to its previous recommendations (CEDAW/C/DNK/CO/8, para. 18 (a)), please provide information on measures taken or envisaged to develop a unified data collection mechanism on gender-based violence against women, with data disaggregated by age, ethnicity, national minority group status, nationality, disability and relationship between the victim and perpetrator, including on domestic violence, that also extends to Greenland and the Faroe Islands. In view of information before the Committee on the gap between the high prevalence of cases of sexual violence and the low number of criminal convictions of the perpetrators, please also indicate measures taken to address the underreporting of cases of gender-based violence against women and girls. In view of information before the Committee that the need for privacy is reportedly not always ensured when women who have been victims of rape provide testimony to the police, please provide information on any measures taken to provide for consistent compliance with the requirements of the guidelines of the national police in this regard across mainland Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands (para. 82).

8.In view of its previous recommendation (CEDAW/C/DNK/CO/8, para. 18 (c)), please also report on: (a) whether the amendment of the Criminal Code to introduce an offense of psychological violence has been operationalized, including whether police and prosecution authorities have opened investigations and prosecutions; (b) whether the ministerial working group has identified the need for new initiatives in this area and, if so, their main features (para. 80); (c) the main findings of the study conducted by the Danish Centre for Social Science Research on the subject (annex 1); and (d) the recommendations of the panel of experts on sexual assaults and abuse (para. 84).

9.Please indicate the steps taken to revise the legal definition of rape, including marital rape, in the Criminal Code so that it is based on lack of consent of the victim, rather than on use of force of the perpetrator, following the review conducted of other States parties’ legislation on rape (para. 85), and to address the reported significant discrepancies in the length of criminal sentences imposed on perpetrators of rape between mainland Denmark and the Faroe Islands on the one hand and Greenland on the other. Please provide information as to whether the recommendations to complete the amendments expected to be carried out on the crime of rape in the Criminal Code of the Faroe Islands and to ensure that the definition of rape in the legislation of the Faroe Islands is brought into line with international standards so that rape is criminalized in all circumstances, including within marriage, made in the context of the second cycle of the universal periodic review (A/HRC/32/10, paras. 120.32 and 120.33), have been implemented, in view of the acceptance of those recommendations by the State party (see A/HRC/32/10/Add.1).

Trafficking and exploitation of prostitution

10.Please provide updated data, disaggregated by sex, age, disability, ethnicity, national minority group status and nationality, on the number of reported cases of trafficking in persons, prosecutions, convictions and sentences imposed on perpetrators, in which women and girls were victims of trafficking in the State party, as country of transit and destination, since the consideration in 2015 of the State party’s previous report, including information on such cases in which the State party authorities have cooperated internationally with countries of origin, transit and destination (CEDAW/C/DNK/CO/8, para. 20). Please clarify the number of women and girls recognized as victims of trafficking who have been compensated by the State party, and whether exclusively non-custodial measures with full access to appropriate medical and psychological support have been provided to the victims, since 2015 (ibid.). Please indicate the gender-sensitive training and capacity building measures taken to ensure that all relevant officials and persons working with potential victims of trafficking, including women and girls, have the necessary skills for the identification of such victims (para. 60).

11.In the light of its previous recommendations (CEDAW/C/DNK/CO/8, para. 22), please provide information on: (a) studies, if any, on the extent of the phenomenon of prostitution in the State party, including data, disaggregated by sex, age, ethnicity, national minority group status and nationality, on victims of exploitation of prostitution; (b) measures taken to reduce the demand for prostitution; (c) exit programmes, especially ones designed for women who are non-nationals, for those who wish to leave prostitution (para. 70); (d) the initiatives aimed at the prevention of prostitution among young women and girls (paras. 69 and 71); and (e) the recommendations of the interministerial working group established with the aim of clarifying the legal framework for prostitution (para. 72).

Participation in political and public life

12.In the light of information that the representation of women in political and public life has been stagnating, or even slightly decreasing, over the past three decades, please provide information on the proportion of parliamentarians who are women, following the general election held in 2019, the number of women members of the European Parliament from Denmark, following the elections (para. 102), and the number of women ministers in the national Government. Please update the Committee on the proportion of women in appointed decision-making positions at the municipality level and on the boards and in management of public or State-owned enterprises (para. 98). With reference to its previous recommendations (CEDAW/C/DNK/CO/8, para. 24), please elaborate on specific measures, such as statutory quotas or incentives, taken for political parties to include an equal number of women and men on their electoral lists, to ensure substantive equality between women and men in political and public life, as well as such measures taken with regard to the foreign service (paras. 104–106) and the armed forces (paras. 107–108), including in Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Please also provide data on the representation of women in the judiciary, other than those provided in paragraph 101 of the report.

Education

13.Please provide information about whether the action plan on science, technology, engineering and mathematics has been adopted, its main features and results obtained in further diversifying educational and vocational choices for women and men and girls and boys (paras. 29, 45, 131 and 268) and describe any additional efforts taken by the State party, and the results thereof, to implement the Committee’s previous recommendations to encourage women and girls to choose non-traditional fields of education and career paths and to encourage and facilitate academic careers by women (CEDAW/C/DNK/CO/8, para. 28 (a) and (b)), including in Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

14.Please provide information on the recommendations contained in the report of the committee mentioned in paragraph 121 of the State party’s report, about the identification of challenges in day care and education relating to gender equality, and any measures taken in follow up to the report, and indicate whether the establishment of comprehensive master’s and doctoral programmes in gender studies have been promoted as recommended in the previous concluding observations (para. 28 (c)). Please provide data, disaggregated by sex, age, ethnicity, national minority group status and nationality, and information on measures taken to ensure that girls with disabilities and migrant girls have access to high-quality education and on any studies or surveys carried out as to whether the 2018 ban on covering the face in public places has had an impact on access to education for migrant girls.

15.In view of information received by the Committee about insufficient prioritization of sexual and reproductive health education at the primary school level and its absence at the higher secondary level, please provide information on the results of the evaluation of the health, sexuality and family knowledge in primary and lower secondary schools conducted in 2019 (para. 40) and about the steps taken in follow up to the results of the evaluation to ensure that girls and boys receive rights-based, evidence-based and age-appropriate sexual and reproductive health education, including on responsible sexual behaviour, at all school levels (para. 41). Please provide information on the extent of harassment, including sexual harassment and new forms of digital harassment such as revenge porn and trolling, in school and indicate the results of measures taken to address the phenomenon (paras. 25, 34 and 37).

Employment

16.With reference to its previous recommendations (CEDAW/C/DNK/CO/8, para. 30 (a)), please provide information on: (a) the rate of decrease of the residual (adjusted) gender pay gap, since 2015; (b) whether the State party intends to move away from the concept of an unadjusted gender pay gap, which reportedly, among other things, does not account for periods of maternity leave and the longer periods of parental leave taken by mothers compared with fathers, to measure progress in narrowing, and ultimately closing, the gender pay gap; (c) whether the State party will take steps to broaden the scope of companies obliged to report annual pay statistics, disaggregated by sex, in order to provide for further transparency and guidance to social partners; and (d) what measures have been taken to define the concept of work of equal value (paras. 30, 139–144 and 208). Please also provide further data and information on the gender pay gap in Greenland and the Faroe Islands, including on the methodology applied for the underlying calculations (annex 2).

17.With reference to its previous recommendations (CEDAW/C/DNK/CO/8, para. 30 (c)), and in view of information before the Committee that more than half of the largest companies in the State party do not have a single woman on their executive boards and management, please provide updated data, disaggregated by sex, on the composition of company boards and management and on the number of administrative orders and administrative fines imposed on companies not meeting the legal requirements of setting target figures and establishing a policy on the gender composition of management, since 2015 (paras. 26 and 90–97). Please also provide information on whether the State party has taken any additional initiatives to boost the representation of women on corporate boards and in management positions following its evaluation of the relevant legislation in 2017 for mainland Denmark (paras. 99–100) and for Greenland (para. 213).

18.Please indicate: (a) whether there are any plans to extend the period for paternity leave, including through the possibility of more non-transferrable parental leave, childcare leave and flexible working arrangements between mothers and fathers (para. 47), in particular in Greenland (paras. 208 and 243); (b) whether the bill tabled in the parliament of the Faroe Islands to extend the period of parental leave by an additional week for mothers and fathers each has been adopted (para. 306); (c) the impact of measures contained in the gender equality plan to encourage fathers to take a larger share of the parental leave entitlements in the Faroe Islands (para. 307); and (d) whether the State party intends to reintroduce the maternity equalization scheme for maternity, paternity and parental leave for self-employed persons, of 2014 (CEDAW/C/DNK/CO/8, para. 6 (b)), which reportedly never came into force. Please provide data, disaggregated by sex, age, ethnicity, national minority group status and nationality, and information on measures taken to improve access for women with disabilities and migrant women to the labour market (para. 136) and on any studies or surveys carried out as to whether the 2018 ban on covering the face in public places has had an impact on access to employment for migrant women. In view of information before the Committee of the steady increase of cases of sexual harassment in the workplace, please provide information, including data, on the measures taken to prevent and combat the phenomenon and their impact, other than the legislative measures mentioned in the report (paras. 42 and 83).

Health

19.Please provide the Committee with the national guidelines on maternity care issued in 2019 (para. 167) and information on the results of the pilot project initiated by the Health Authority to implement countrywide outreach on antenatal care for disadvantaged women, including those belonging to ethnic minority groups (para.178). Please report on the underlying causes for the high abortion rate in Greenland (para.257) and the low abortion rate in the Faroe Islands (para. 319) and, with reference to the Committee’s previous recommendations (CEDAW/C/DNK/CO/8, para. 32), please indicate whether the Government of the Faroe Islands has amended its legislation regulating abortion since assuming legislative powers on the matter in July 2018 and, if so, please inform the Committee of the contents of such amendments in comparison to the Law on Abortion in force in mainland Denmark (para. 318). Please provide further information on the studies indicating greater health risks and risks of marginalization and poor well-being among lesbian, bisexual and transgender women (para. 50).

HIV/AIDS

20.Please provide information on the number of women living with HIV/AIDS in the State party, disaggregated by age, ethnicity, national minority group status and nationality, and the impact of the initiatives described in the report (para. 175) aimed at preventing new cases of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, especially among migrant women belonging to ethnic minority groups (CEDAW/C/DNK/CO/8, para. 34). In view of information before the Committee of the high occurrence of sexually transmitted diseases in Greenland, which disproportionately affect girls and women, please provide information on the underlying causes and prevention measures taken.

Women and climate change

21.Please provide information about the measures taken to integrate disaster risk reduction into development processes and to counter the adverse impact of climate change, in particular with respect to Greenland. Please indicate how the State party plans to incorporate a gender perspective into national strategies on disaster management and relief and recovery, in line with the Committee’s general recommendation No. 37 (2018) on the gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction in the context of climate change.

Marriage and family relations

22.Please provide further information on the new system for handling family law cases, adopted in 2018, under which conflict management and mediation before the Agency of Family Law is envisaged for the better protection of children involved in family law cases, and clarify whether women or girls could be subjected to mandatory reconciliation or mediation procedures in cases of domestic violence (para. 190). Please elaborate on the measures taken to ensure, on a basis of equality between men and women, the same rights and responsibilities as parents, irrespective of their marital status, in matters relating to their children, with the interests of the children being paramount in all cases. In view of its previous recommendations (CEDAW/C/DNK/CO/8, para. 42), please provide further information on the main features of the legislation on the handling of property during divorce, aimed at redressing economic disparities between women and men upon dissolution of marriage, which entered into force in 2018 (para. 191), and elaborate on the case law concerning property rights during and upon dissolution of a de facto relationship (para. 192).

Sustainable Development Goals

23.Please provide information about the measures taken to integrate a gender perspective into all efforts aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.