** The annexes to the present document are on file with the secretariat and are available for consultation.

Annexes**

Introduction

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 18, 1979, entered into force in Denmark on May 21, 1983. The responsibility for the implementation of the obligations expressed in the articles of the Convention rests with the government, but could not be accounted for without the participation of institutions, organizations, groups and individuals engaged in the field of gender equality.

Each chapter corresponds to the different parts of the Convention, and as has been the normal procedure, Danish NGOs were invited to comment on the report. These comments are to be found at the end of the report, as the NGOs have specifically requested that their reports be forwarded to the commission attached to the main report.

Greenland and the Faroe Islands

As parts of the Kingdom of Denmark Greenland and the Faroe Islands are self-governing territories.

The sections in this report pertaining to fields of responsibility assumed by Greenland and the Faroe Islands have been prepared by the Greenlandic and the Faroese authorities and are to be found in Annex A1 and Annex B1 respectively.

Annex A (A2) on the Greenland Self-Government arrangement has been prepared by the Greenlandic and the Danish authorities.

Chapter 1: The Framework for Working towards Equality

Article 1: Foundation

Gender equality is a pivotal element of Denmark’s democracy and a basic principle of Danish politics. It is an element based on respect for human rights and on fundamental freedoms in all areas of society — in political, economic, social, cultural and civil spheres of life.

Denmark aims at securing de jure as well as de facto gender equality for women and men. Women and men have the same rights, obligations and opportunities in all fields of society. This is clearly stated in section 1 of the Danish Act on Gender Equality, which reads that “The purpose of this Act is to promote gender equality, including equal integration, equal influence and equal opportunities in all functions in society on the basis of women’s and men’s equal status.” The purpose of the Act is also to counteract direct and indirect discrimination on the ground of gender and to counteract sexual harassment.

The national focus of the equal gender work reflects the international commitments that Denmark has assumed in connection with the ratification of the CEDAW Convention as well as other UN documents, such as the Beijing Platform for Action.

Article 2: Constitution and legislation

Denmark has for the past many years adopted several laws aimed at empowering women — for instance: Already in 1857, unmarried women beyond 25 years of age were given equal rights with regard to legal majority and inheritance. In 1908, women were given the right to vote in municipal elections and in 1915 universal suffrage. Married women had full control over their own wages already in 1880. Danish women have unrestricted rights to sexual and reproductive rights. Contraception was legalized in 1880. In 1966, the birth control pill was released. Abortion was legalized in 1973. Denmark has laws which prohibit gender discrimination as well as laws that promote gender equality and equal opportunities. In 1976, Denmark got a low on equal pay. The first law on equal treatment in employment was introduced in 1978, while legislation on gender equality outside the labour market was introduced in 2000. This law is still in force and applicable to both public authorities and private companies.

As a result, it can be stated that today we have formal equality for all — except from conscription, which currently only applies to men. Women, however, have had access to the military since 1973.

In order to ensure full formal equality in the future, all new legislation must be screened for gender equality implications to avoid direct or indirect discrimination on grounds of sex.

Article 3: Basic Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

All female and male citizens must have equal opportunities to pursue their goals in life, and neither gender nor other factors must become a barrier for this pursuit. Through a range of legal acts women’s rights to participate in society and to decide freely over their lives and sexual and reproductive rights have been ensured. However, despite much effort, women still face challenges in life, including domestic violence, trafficking, lack of equal pay and underrepresentation in decision-making in management. Also, due to traditional gender roles and stereotypical expectations girls, boys, women and men still tend to make gender based choices regarding e.g. education, careers and in the home that might limit the full use of their competences.

For this reason, the Government is committed to promoting further progress on gender equality in order to promote de facto equality for all and has initiated a range of activities, hence achieving amongst others the following results:

There has been a significant decrease in the number of female victims of domestic violence over the last 10 years, and the public opinion concerning domestic violence has changed — it is no longer regarded as a private matter, but as a public concern (see article 12). Furthermore, the institutional set-up for the support of and identification of victims of trafficking has been successfully implemented (see article 6).

Basic freedom is also a matter of having equal choices in life. Social control or traditional gender roles and perceptions of what women and men can do should not restrict women and men. For this reason, the Government has initiated a range of activities to enhance less gender-based educational choices as well as campaigns and debates on gender stereotypes (see article 5).

The government is for the 3rd time running the so-called “Rights campaign”— targeted minority women and men since the men’s acceptance of gender equality is an important prerequisite for the improvement of gender equality of women. The aim is to inform them of their rights and possibilities in relation to work, family, economy and health and that the women and men can use the information to act against the barriers for gender equality they meet in their life, including expectations from their family on roles and values. An evaluation of the 2nd campaign showed that the campaign provided the women who participated with useful information.

There has been a considerable change in the gender-based division of work between women and men domestically. Time-use studies prove that in 1964, women used 4 hours more than men on domestic chores each day whereas the difference in 2009 was 45 minutes. This allows women to participate more freely and full time on the labour market.

Denmark takes fully part in the EU’s ongoing follow-up on the Beijing platform for action through the adoption of council conclusions including under the Danish EU presidencies; in 2012 through council conclusions on critical area K (Women and the Environment) and in 2002 on critical area D (Violence against Women). The latter resulted in seven indicators which so far have formed the scope for three nation-wide monitoring surveys on violence against women (every fourth year) in Denmark.

The Government is convinced that gender equality cannot be achieved without the inclusion of men — both as partners for the empowerment of women and as important actors for eliminating gender- based discrimination of men. For this reason, efforts have been made to establish male panels and male networks in order to define in which way men can be included in the work.

Gender equality in the public sector

Since 2000, it has been stipulated in section 4 of the Act on Gender Equality that “Public authorities shall within their respective areas of responsibility seek to promote gender equality and incorporate gender equality in all planning and administration”. From the gender equality reports, which state and local authorities are obliged to submit to the Minister for Gender Equality bi-annually, it appears that the authorities have obtained results. Between 2009 and 2011, the number of female CEO’s in state institutions (with more than 50 employees) has increased by 11 percentage points (14% to 25%), in the regions by five percentage points (19% to 24%), and in the municipalities by two percentage points (23% to 25%).

When it comes to gender mainstreaming of citizen-related services/initiatives, all ministries have developed gender equality policies within their own remits as a result of the interministerial action plan on gender mainstreaming 2007-2011. Still, authorities in the state and especially at local level face challenges with gender mainstreaming of citizen-related services, and the Government has launched a new strategy for gender mainstreaming of public authorities’ initiatives early 2013. The strategy contains three approaches.

Improved gender equality assessments; A more systematic approach to gender equality assessment of bills and other citizen-related initiatives in the state and municipalities, and a better gender balanced composition in public companies/institutions. Improved guidance and knowledge dissemination; New improved web-site (with good practices and gender mainstreaming tools), professional guidance on gender equality assessments, establishment of a new cross-ministerial network and a Nordic survey on best practices. Improved monitoring; Improved and simplified concept for the preparation of the gender equality reports, making the reports easier for authorities to use as tools for monitoring and improvement of the gender equality measures, as well as monitoring of the authorities’ efforts to bring more women into management.

Article 4: Equality bodies and Special Measures

The Minister for Gender Equality

The Minister for Gender Equality coordinates the Government’s work on gender equality between women and men. The individual ministers responsible are in charge of gender equality within their own remits in regard to both special initiatives and general initiatives.

The tasks of the Minister for Gender Equality are among others to: Develop the Government’s gender equality policy, place focus on special action areas, coordinate the gender equality efforts in the Government and implement the gender mainstreaming strategy, perform national tasks in relation to the EU, the Nordic countries, the UN and the Council of Europe, perform international tasks in relation to the Nordic countries, the EU and the UN, draw up an annual report and a perspective and action plan for gender equality for the Folketing (Parliament), collect gender equality reports from state institutions and the municipalities, represent gender equality views on relevant committees, administer the Act on Gender Equality and monitor gender composition on councils, boards and committees, and provide secretarial assistance for current cross-ministerial groups and so forth.

The Ministry of Gender Equality

The Ministry of Gender Equality performs the function of secretariat to the Minister for Gender Equality servicing the Minister with the different tasks listed above. The department has a staff of 16. Funding for the operation of the Department of Gender Equality is allocated in the Finance and Appropriation Act. In 2012, a total of DKK 14 million was allocated. Furthermore, the Department of Gender Equality administers funds allocated for the action plan to combat trafficking in women 2011-2014 (DKK 85.6 million), funds for the action plan to combat violence in intimate relationships 2009-2012 (DKK 35 million), as well as DKK 8 million allocated to promote gender equality between women and men with a non-Danish ethnic background covering the period 2009-2013. Recently, another DKK 20 million has been allocated for the period 2010-2013 to support local projects promoting gender equality.

The Board of Equal Treatment

The Board of Equal Treatment deals with complaints related to discrimination on the grounds of gender, race, colour, religion or belief, political opinion, sexual orientation, age, disability, or national, social or ethnic origin. The Boards jurisdiction is based on the Act no. 387 of 27 May 2008 on the Board of Equal Treatment. The Board makes decisions on the basis of this legislation. Any citizen can file a complaint to the Board of Equal Treatment. Decisions made by the Board are final and binding for both parties. In certain situations, the Board may decide that the complainant is entitled to compensation (e.g. in case of unjustified dismissal). The Board of Equal Treatment bases its decisions on written information received from the complainant, the defendant (the person/event complained about) and the secretariat. The Board publishes its decisions in an anonymized form.

The Board is composed of three judges who form the presidency and nine members who have a law degree. The Board members are all appointed by the Minister for Employment. All members hold expert knowledge on labour market regulations and discrimination.

The Danish Institute for Human Rights

The Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) was recently appointed equality body in relation to gender by the Danish Parliament. This means that from now on, DIHR is mandated to promote, evaluate, monitor, and support equal treatment of women and men without discrimination on the basis of gender. Anyone who believes they have been discriminated because of their sex can contact DIHR for guidance and assistance.

The competence of DIHR to include equal treatment in relation to gender is constituted by a new founding law — the amendment of the act governing the Establishment of the Danish Centre for International Studies and Human Rights. The law stipulates that: “The Danish Institute of Human Rights is to promote, evaluate, and monitor equal treatment of women and men without discrimination on the basis of gender, including the provision of assistance to victims of discrimination to have their complaints dealt with, with due regard for the rights of the victims, the associations, the organizations and other legal entities, to initiate independent analyses on discrimination and to publish reports and to make recommendations on issues relating to discrimination.”

Denmark’s Centre for Information on Women and Gender (KVINFO)

KVINFO is a nationwide information, documentation and cultural centre which communicate the findings of gender studies to a broad general public. KVINFO communicates knowledge of the significance of gender differences and strives to make women’s knowledge, experience and expertise visible. The core of the centre’s activities is the library which has the status of a research library. Furthermore, KVINFO has set up an expert database containing the CVs of more than 1100 women experts. The database is a tool to find highly qualified women in Denmark within all the knowledge areas of society.

NGOs

Denmark has a long history of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) taking active part in the work to promote gender equality between women and men — especially Danish Women’s Society and Women’s Council in Denmark. The latter is an umbrella organization for 46 women’s societies and organizations with a total of more than 1 million members; they strive to ensure women’s rights and influence everywhere in society.

The primary function of the above-mentioned NGOs is to act as a watchdog vis-à-vis public initiatives and policies, as well as to participate actively in the public debate in order to promote gender equality between women and men, which also involves disseminating knowledge about the CEDAW Convention.

NGOs and experts are often consultation parties regarding new initiatives from the Government, e.g. proposals for new laws, action plans and so forth. Generally, the inclusion and cooperation between NGOs and Government is highly appreciated and considered very important.

Article 5: Priorities. Sex role stereotyping and Participation

The Government has prioritized a range of issues, including domestic violence, trafficking, social control, women’s participation in management, men and gender equality, migrant women and men, young people and gender equality, the segregated labour market and the wage gap (find the annual action plans, priorities and concrete activities here: http://miliki.dk/english).

In recent years, increasing emphasis has been placed on the issue of the gender-based educational choices made by young women and men. These choices are part of a still rather traditional pattern of gender-based expectations and gender roles. The Government is aware of the importance of breaking down these patterns hence enabling the individual to make their own choices based on competences not gender, in order for women to be able to fully participate in all spheres of society.

Different initiatives have been launched — find below some examples of projects.

In 2011, the pilot project “More Girls in Natural Sciences and Technology” was implemented. An external evaluation of the pilot project concluded that the project successfully had engaged the girls, and 78 per cent of the girls answered that the project had positively changed their view on seeking a career within technical fields or natural sciences.

In 2012, ten different projects on gender equality in the education system were launched. The projects are to contribute to the prevention of the highly gender segregated choice in terms of education and contribute with knowledge on how to maintain more boys in the educational system.

As part of the Danish presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2012, special focus was placed on the problem regarding the gender segregated educational choices and the increasing drop-out of boys from the educational system. The issue was presented at council level with the adoption of a council conclusion. Also, experts from different European countries gathered in Copenhagen on 16 May 2012 for a seminar organized and hosted by the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. A paper including a summary of the recommendations along was presented at the EU Council and can be found at http://miliki.dk/ligestilling/nyheder/nyhed-om-ligestilling/artikel/anbefalinger-om-det-koensopdelte-uddannelsesvalg/.

In 2011, the website “the future is yours.dk” was launched as part of a campaign focusing on breaking the gender segregated educational choice. The site is aimed at elementary school students who are about to make their first choices about their future education and occupation. The site uses role models and presents young men and women who have all made an untraditional educational choice and are content with it. The website can be found at www.fremtidenerdin.dk.

In 2011, the website “change job.dk” was launched as part of a campaign focusing on breaking with the gender segregated labour market. The site contains recommendations and tools for practitioners and decision-makers on how to break with the gender segregated labour market, including how to reemploy and recruit unemployed men into traditionally female dominated areas. The website can be found at www.skiftjob.dk.

Article 6: Special issues. Prostitution, trafficking and Code of Conduct

Prostitution

For a general description of the issue of prostitution, please refer to Denmark’s 7th periodic report.

As mentioned in the 7th periodic report, the Competence Centre for Prostitution was set up in 2005 as part of the Government action plan “A new life” initiating a holistic approach to the issue of prostitution. In 2011, the efforts of the Competence Centre for Prostitution were included in the guide to the Law on Social Services which regulates activities within social work in Denmark. Efforts within the field of prostitution are still included in one of the following five types of intervention: 1) Social support and health care to persons engaged in prostitution, 2) Knowledge production, 3) Developing methods within social work, 4) Counselling and instructing municipalities, and 5) In-service training of professionals working with vulnerable young people.

“Exit prostitution” 2012-2015

“Exit prostitution” is a four-year project which is expected to be implemented in the four largest municipalities in Denmark. The project constitutes the first efforts to develop a comprehensive strategy towards supporting persons in leaving prostitution. It is based on existing knowledge, and the effects of the project are systematically measured.

On a municipal level, the objective of the project is i) to support persons who wish to leave prostitution in settling without prostitution and ii) to support particularly vulnerable persons in prostitution to improve their current life situation. The target group must participate in Critical Time Intervention (CTI). CTI is an individually adapted, holistic and multidisciplinary effort to support persons in prostitution. The support is divided into phases focused at treatment as well as social and employment-related activities, including the acquisition of suitable housing, individual social support, treatment as well as financial stabilization and counselling on dealing with debt etc.

Each user is allocated a case manager who renders support to the CTI user throughout the process.

DKK 46 million has been allocated to the project.

Psychology pool

As to the request from CEDAW on establishing support programmes and social rehabilitation programmes in 2007, 26 women were referred to a psychologist. In 2012, 37 women were referred to a psychologist for a total of 11 hours each (for further details please refer to Denmark’s 7th periodic report).

Unavailable gender segregated data on prostitution

For a detailed description of the different types of prostitution in Denmark, please refer to Denmark’s 7th periodic report.

In 2011, the National Research Centre for Welfare carried out a survey on prostitution in Denmark. The survey contains, among other things, an estimated number of persons engaged in prostitution.

•1,633 persons were engaged in massage parlour prostitution

•595 persons with foreign background were engaged in street prostitution

•903 women were engaged in escort prostitution

It has not been possible to make a reasonable estimate on all subgroups. As the accounting method has changed since the previous account, these numbers cannot be compared to estimations from previous years.

Code of Conduct

In early 2004, Defence Command Denmark implemented a code of conduct. The purpose of the code of conduct is to guide the personnel who participate in international operations on how they are expected to relate to and show respect for the special rules and customs in the countries they are staying in. The code of conduct is effective both when the personnel are on duty and in particular when they are on leave. In the code of conduct, it is stated that sexual intercourse with prostitutes is not advisable/permitted (depending on the legislation in the country in question). Furthermore, the personnel are informed that having intercourse with prostitutes contributes to establishing or maintaining conditions which are often completely untenable for the prostitutes. This is regardless of whether the legislation in the country in question permits or prohibits sexual intercourse with prostitutes. In addition, private dealings — including sexual intercourse — that happens in the area of operation with people from the locale society is forbidden. Normally, violation of this rule will cause repatriation.

Trafficking

For the Danish Government, trafficking in women and girls is a highly prioritized area. The Government has a holistic approach to trafficking focusing overall on prevention in Denmark and internationally, identification and protection of victims and prosecution and punishment of traffickers.

In 2010, an external evaluation of the second national action plan (2007-2010) was conducted. The evaluation concluded that there have been considerable advances in the overall Danish response to trafficking since 2007. An effective institutional system has been developed and a large number of activities implemented. Overall, the evaluation assesses that the implementation of the Action Plan has been characterized by a common, coordinated, and dedicated input from many actors, including social organizations and the police, and today the different actors are familiar with each other’s roles and responsibilities and with trafficking indicators. Together with the interministerial working group and the regional reference groups, the Centre against Human Trafficking (CMM) has contributed to effective coordination, knowledge dissemination, and empowerment of contributing organizations.

Based on the evaluation, the third national action plan for combating trafficking in human beings was launched in June 2011 (2011-2014). The action plan ensures that victim identification is further developed, especially within the group of foreign women in prostitution.

As part of the outreach work, meeting points with health clinics have been set up in three different parts of Denmark. Another important step taken is the guidelines to the prosecution launched in June 2012 regarding when charges can be withdrawn for victims of trafficking for violations that have to do with the persons in question being victims of trafficking e.g. forgery of documents in connection with entry papers.

In 2009, a survey showed that 82 per cent of the population knows of trafficking in women to Denmark and 66 per cent would contact the Police if they had suspicion of trafficking. In 2011, a campaign addressing young (18-25 year old) sex buyers and potential sex buyers was conducted. The campaign called “Ud med bagmændene” (Goodbye traffickers) was carried out via social media, internet and press-related activities.

The Government is currently carrying out a mapping of the demand for prostitution in Denmark with a special focus on human trafficking. The mapping will be finalized during spring 2013, based on the results new campaign activities will be launched in order to reduce the demand.

In March 2012, the maximum sentence for trafficking in the Danish Criminal Code’s specific provision on trafficking (section 262a) was raised from 8 to 10 years’ imprisonment and the definition of trafficking was expanded to include trafficking for petty crimes.

Legislation

Reflection period

As stated in Denmark’s 7th periodic report on the implementation of CEDAW, it appears from section 33 (14) in the Danish Aliens Act that a recovery and reflection period of 30 days are granted to presumed victims of trafficking who do not have permission to stay in Denmark and therefore have to leave. The reflection period can be prolonged up to a total of 100 days if special reasons make it appropriate or if the foreigner accepts an offer of a prepared return and cooperates in the efforts of planning this.

As a part of the Government’s agreement with the party Enhedslisten on the finance bill 2013, it was agreed to expand the period of 100 days to a total of 120 days. The purpose of this expansion is to improve the planning of the victim’s return to the country of origin. On 30 January 2013, a bill which among other things will serve to implement this agreement was presented to the Danish Parliament.

Special rules on expulsion

In general, an illegal stay in Denmark results in expulsion and entry prohibition for a specific period of time. Often victims of trafficking are staying illegally inDenmark when identified. Aiming at such cases, it appears from section 26 a in the Danish Aliens Act that special attention should be paid to whether the circumstances, which would normally result in expulsion, are related to the fact that the person is a victim of trafficking and whether this fact speaks against expulsion.

Residence permit

As stated in Denmark’s 7th periodic report, a residence permit cannot be granted only for the reason that a foreigner has been exposed to trafficking according to the Danish Alien Act. Thus, a trafficked foreigner who risk persecution in his/her home country can be granted asylum, if the foreigner falls within the provisions of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (28 July 1951), cf. section 7 (1) (convention status) in the Danish Aliens Act, or if the foreigner risks the death penalty or being subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in case of return to his/her country of origin, cf. section 7 (2) (protected status) in the Aliens Act.

Residence permit on humanitarian grounds can be granted, if significant humanitarian considerations warrant it, for example if the said person suffers from a serious physical or psychological illness. Residence permit can also be granted, if exceptional reasons make it appropriate. Besides this, temporary residence permits may be granted to trafficked foreigners, if the said persons’ stay in Denmark is necessary in connection with criminal investigations or proceedings. The draft bill mentioned above, which was put forward on 30 January 2013, does also imply an independent provision in the Aliens Act regarding this in order to clarify the rules.

With reference to the Committee’s concluding observation 33, the Ministry remarks that asylum applications regarding gender-related abuse or violence will be assessed after section 7 in the Danish Aliens Act, cfr. above, just like any other asylum application. It is an integrated part of the asylum assessment whether a foreigner has been subject to gender-related abuse or violence of such kind that protection is needed according to this provision. Whether there is a need for protection in the individual case, depends of the specific situation and circumstances of the case, and the asylum assessment is made concrete and individually on this background.

Assisted voluntary return

An offer of a prepared return is given to the presumed victims of trafficking who have to leave Denmark as they do not fulfil the conditions for residence permit or do not apply for such. The offer aims at providing them with a new start upon return to their country of origin. This offer is connected with the extended reflexion period mentioned above and will include activities during the stay in Denmark and activities in the home country.

The Danish authorities have since 2008 been engaged with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in assisting vulnerable migrants in their voluntary return. For further information regarding the agreement with IOM, please refer to Denmark’s 7th periodic report. As a part of the project, IOM monitors, where possible, the reintegration process of the victim of trafficking. With the purpose of analysing strengths and weaknesses of the return programme, the Danish Ministry of Justice published an evaluation of the programme in autumn 2012. One of the results of this evaluation is that the reintegration period offered to victims of trafficking will be extended from three months to six months from the beginning of 2013. The reintegration period for children remains the same (up to six months).

Chapter 2: Public Life

Article 7: Political Rights and Participation

Women in politics

In Denmark, women and men enjoy the same political rights (for further information on the Danish electoral system see 7th periodic report). After the general elections in 2011, women accounted for approximately 39% of the national parliament (68 out of 175 seats). Party chairman of all three government parties are women and there are 11 female ministers (48%) out of 23 ministers in all. At the local government elections in 2009, the proportion of women in the municipality councils became approximately 32% (from a stable figure on 27% since the mid‑eighties) and the number of female mayors rose to 8 to 12 out of 98. In the regional councils, the number of women was 35% after the 2009 elections. At the elections for the European Parliament in 2009, 46% of the 13 elected Danes were women (37.5% in 2004).

Women on committees, commissions and boards etc. in the state and local authorities

As described in 7th periodic report sections 8-9 of the Act on Gender Equality stipulate that public committees, commissions and similar bodies set up by a minister should consist of an equal number of women and men. The proportion of women on reported, newly established committees in the state sector was 44% in 2009, 39% in 2010 and 42% in 2011.

As also described in 7th periodic report, according to section 10a of the Gender Equality Act, municipalities and regions are required to suggest an equal number of women and men for councils, boards, committees, etc. Presented below is the proportion of women (in percentages) in committees, councils etc. since 2007.

	2007	2009	2011
Municipalities	34%	30%	34%
Regions	28%	44%	45%

Source: Biannual Gender Equality Reports from municipalities and regions.

Women in management and on boards

The government is committed to getting more women into management as women are still underrepresented in top corporate jobs and corporate boards in the public and private sector. The proportion of female CEO’s in private companies is only 6.5% and the proportion of women on company boards in the largest publicly listed companies just below 12%. During the last 10 years, the efforts to improve women’s access to management positions and company boards have been based on several voluntary initiatives.

Three corps of ambassadors for more women in management (2007-2011) have been launched by the Minister for Gender Equality in collaboration with the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI). The corps consisted of top-managers in large well-known Danish companies. Charter for more women in management 2008 — January 2013: Evaluations of the charter in 2010 and 2011 show that some of companies work very seriously in terms of developing policies and setting goals and targets figures for more women in management. Operation Chain Reaction (OCR) 2010 — January 2013 with the purpose of getting more women on boards of the largest publicly listed companies in Denmark. 55 leading companies have signed OCR. Figures in December 2011 showed that 34% of these companies have experienced an increase in the number of women board members. A Danish Committee on Corporate Governance has presented recommendations on Corporate Governance for diversity on boards — also in relation to gender.

New legislation regarding women in company boards and management positions

The voluntary approach has influenced the development in Denmark in a positive direction, but still there is room for improvement and as a result of that, the Government’s bill on more women in company boards and management positions was passed in the Parliament 14 December 2012. The model consists of four elements, targeting both private-sector companies and public-sector companies: 1) The 1,100 or so largest companies are required to set a target figure for the proportion of the under-represented gender in the supreme management body (board of directors or the like). 2) The 1,100 or so largest companies must have a policy for increasing the proportion of the under-represented gender at the management levels of the companies in general. 3) Companies must report on the status of fulfilment of the target set out in the annual report, including, if so, why the companies failed to achieve the target set. Moreover, companies must explain the policy in the annual report, how the policy is implemented and what has been achieved. If the companies fail to do so, they may be fined. 4) Regardless of size, state-owned companies must set targets and prepare a policy to increase the share of women in management. Local and regional authorities are encouraged to prepare common guidelines for how to increase the share of women in management at regional or local level.

Women in armed forces

Since 2006, young women at the age of 18 have been invited to participate in the Armed Forces Day along with young men at the same age (for further information see 7th periodic report). The initiative has proven to be a successful way of improving the recruitment of women to the military service. Out of 6,119 conscripts 419 women signed on for conscription in 2007 — a 100% increase compared to 2006. Likewise, we see a significant increase of women who sign for conscription in 2012 where 879 women signed out of a total of 4,901. Focus on recruitment and retention of women to and in the Armed Forces has been emphasised by the publication in April 2011 of the Ministry of Defence’s Diversity Policy which sets out a number of initiatives to retain women in the Armed Forces, including awareness on management levels, drawing up of action plans and analyses of the possibilities of differentiated career paths. It is to be expected that these initiatives will improve the recruitment and retention of women in the armed forces.

Article 8: Representing Government. Women Ambassadors

Women have the same right and opportunity as men to represent the Danish Government at the international level. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a staff of 2,540 employees (including all staff categories, i.e. also part-time student assistants etc.) of which 855 persons work in Copenhagen. Without locally employed staff the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a staff of 1,281 employees. In January 2013, women made up 49 per cent of all non-locally employed staff. 710 non-locally employed staff members (excluding management level) had an academic degree. 42 per cent of these staff members were women.

The number of women being appointed at senior level is steadily increasing. At management level (head of department or ambassador), the share of women has increased from 19 per cent in 2007 to 24 per cent in 2013. In the latest nomination round for ambassadors and head of department, 30 per cent of the positions went to women. However, only 18 per cent of the applicants were female.

Article 9: Citizenship/Nationality

As stated in previous reports, the Danish Nationality Act is in full accordance with article 9 of the convention. Thus, the Danish rules of nationality contain no provisions relating to the automatic loss of nationality upon marriage or in the situation where the spouse changes nationality. Furthermore, it makes no distinction between women and men with regard to loss of Danish nationality.

With regard to subsection 2, a child will acquire Danish nationality if born to a Danish father or a Danish mother. If the parents are not married at the time of birth and if only the father is a Danish national, the child will only acquire Danish nationality if born in Denmark.

Chapter 3: Education

Article 10: The education system and gender in general

The education system and gender in general

In the educational sector the overall precondition is equality regardless for example gender and ethnic origin. All educational opportunities are open to all citizens. Women are doing better than men in the Danish education system (figure 1). 88 per cent of women who graduated from the Danish primary school in 2011 are expected to achieve vocational qualifications. For men 81 per cent are expected to do the same. Regardless of ethnic background women do better than men in achieving vocational qualifications.

Figure 1Expected final education qualifications of a 9th class youth cohort by gender, 2011

Source: The Ministry of Children and Education (Profilmodellen 2011).

Day care

All children in Denmark have equal access to day care facilities and are entitled to a day care place from the age of 26 weeks until they start school. The parents get a grant for the payment of day care from the municipality. The guaranteed full-time day care supports the parents in participating in the labour market while having small children and thereby supports both women’s and men’s opportunities on the labour market. There is an even gender distribution within the day care system. 83.1 per cent of the boys from 0-5 years old and 82.7 per cent of the girls are enrolled in day care. The gender distribution is based on the 96 per cent of the children in day care, where we know the gender. Fewer immigrants and descendants from non-Western countries than ethnic Danish children in the age group 0-9 years are enrolled in the day care system (14 percentage points fewer).

All day-care facilities must prepare an educational curriculum that describes the local goals of the day-care facility in respect of children’s learning. The educational curriculum must contribute to ensuring that all day-care facilities focus on each child’s potential and skills independent of for instance the gender of the child.

Primary and Lower Secondary Education

There is an even gender distribution in the Primary and Lower Secondary Education. In the school year 2011/12, 51.3 per cent of the pupils were boys and 48.7 per cent girls. The girls’ grades in the mandatory exams for the summer 2012 for the pupils who completed the “Folkeskole” (public school) are in average better than the boys’ (0.6 grade points difference).

The objectives of the Folkeskole are inter alia to reduce and prevent gender stereotypes. It is stated in the objects clause of the act on the Folkeskole that the teaching and the daily life in school shall build on intellectual freedom, equality and democracy, and the school shall prepare the students for rights and duties in a society based on these values.

The teaching in the subjects of the Folkeskole, in particular social studies, history as well as health, sexuality and family knowledge, aim among other things at enabling the pupils to relate to and discuss gender roles, gender stereotyping and equality. For example women’s suffrage is one of 29 mandatory events to be covered in history, building on which the instruction should cover gender equality more generally. The binding learning goals for both social studies and history include principles of equality in general which is to form a starting point for discussions of equality in specific contexts, including gender equality. In health, sexuality and family knowledge, the mandatory learning goals include learning about the impact of gender stereotypes on oneself and groups and enabling students to understand and form an informed opinion on influences on identity, gender roles and sexuality, including from cultural norms, media and peers.

Gender stereotyped educational choices

In Denmark, the proportion of girls and boys taking a long-cycle higher education is equally large, and the trend is that girls enter the educational system to a higher degree than boys. Girls’ and boys’ choice of education is, however, highly gender segregated, see above. Therefore, in 2011, the Minister for Gender Equality launched the website fremtidenerdin.dk for the purpose of drawing attention to gender-based educational choices which would enable young people to focus to a greater extent on their competencies than on their gender when choosing education and job.

The influence and importance to professional career and education guidance of cultural values, including gender aspects, is also part of the curriculum of the career guidance counsellor’s education.

The government has financed ten different projects in 2012 and 2013 on how to get more boys to complete an education and how to reduce gender segregated educational choices. In 2011 the government completed the pilot project “More girls in Natural Sciences and Technology” where girls from the Lower Secondary Education system participated in a training fair where they made agreements about trainee service at leading companies within technical fields or natural science. An external evaluation of the pilot project concluded that it had successfully engaged girls, and 78 per cent of them responded that the project had changed positively their view on seeking a career within technical fields or natural sciences.

General upper secondary education

General upper secondary education in Denmark comprises four different programmes qualifying the graduates for higher education. The overall male-female graduate ratio of the programmes was 44-56 in 2011. However, male-female ratios that are quite different. The perspectives of the STX and the HF programmes are quite wide and have about a 41-59 and a 38-62 male-female graduate ratio respectively, whereas the HHX programme has a commercial perspective and a 53‑47 male-female graduate ratio, and the HTX programme has a technical perspective and a 76-24 male-female graduate ratio.

As part of the structural changes in the STX programme in 2004, a compulsory basic natural science course was created. This course, “naturvidenskabeligt grundforløb”, has been instrumental in changing the introduction to science for girls, hence increasing the number of girls graduating within science subjects. Statistics have shown an 8% increase of students graduating with highest level of mathematics and physics and chemistry on at least standard level (2007-2011). This general increase in the science graduates has occurred without losing the girls, as the distribution between the sexes are on a similar level. The main influence of women’s choice of education has been found to be their teacher. The goal is therefore to strengthen “naturvidenskabeligt grundforløb” further to create the best possible environment for obtaining an equal gender distribution in science educations.

Vocational Education and Training (VET)

In Denmark, women and men have equal access to vocational education and training (VET) which is targeted at the individual pupil to ensure high completion rates, regardless of gender. All students have access to student grant, trainee pay and reimbursement of travel, and boarding schools, also regardless their gender. The education alters between school education and employment in a company. Vocational training reflects the labour market, thus some VET courses attract more pupils of one gender than of the other. However, no pupil is prevented from choosing a specific education due to gender. The sex ratio is almost equal in VET. Since 2008, all VET colleges have drafted an annual action plan in order to increase the completion rate among both women and men.

Access to higher education

Admission to higher education in Denmark is based on the qualifications of the applicants. The applicants are admitted through two quotas: quota 1 and quota 2. In quota 1, acceptance is based on the general point average (GPA) from upper secondary education. In quota 2, applicants are selected through an assessment based on individual relevant qualifications of the applicant. Gender does not constitute a specific qualification and the educational institutions are not allowed to select applicants based on their gender.

As shown in table 1, the majority of entrants to higher education programmes in Denmark are women.

Table 1New entrants into higher education by gender and origin, 2005-2011

Gender	Origin	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Men	Danish origin	22 257	21 433	22 051	21 370	24 425	28 145	29 636
	Immigrants and descendants	3 913	3 713	4 328	4 970	5 881	6 585	6 551
Total	26.685	25 619	26 850	26 907	30 990	35 671	37 883
Women	Danish origin	28 550	29 082	29 806	27 971	31 606	34 928	36 447
	Immigrants and descendants	4 629	4 695	5 451	5 899	7 166	7 925	7 698
Total	33 680	34 323	35 850	34 585	39 670	43 924	45 902
	Share of women	55 . 8%	57 . 3%	57 . 2%	56 . 2%	56 . 1%	55 . 2%	54 . 8%
All		60 365	59 942	62 700	61 492	70 660	79 595	83 785

Source: Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education based on data from Statistics Denmark.

Note: For a small number of students origin is unknown. They are included in the total.

Some higher education programmes have a gender imbalance. Women are overrepresented at welfare education programmes, such as nursing and kindergarten educator programmes. Men are overrepresented in the technical sciences. There is no national strategy or initiatives to ensure that the underrepresented gender applies for admission to specific programmes. However, educational institutions can choose to run targeted information campaigns.

Completion of higher education

More men than women drop out of higher education programmes. Institutions’ initiatives to ensure that more students complete their higher education programme address both women and men. Women with other ethnic backgrounds than Danish complete higher education programmes at the same level as other Danish women. The number of men with other ethnic backgrounds than Danish admitted to higher education programmes is lower than the number of other Danish men and completion rates of men with other ethnic backgrounds than Danish are also lower than other Danish men.

Table 2Drop-out rates from higher education by gender and origin, 2005-2011

Gender	Origin	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Men	Danish origin	20 . 0%	19 . 0%	14 . 0%	20 . 0%	20 . 0%	21 . 0%	21 . 0%
	Descendants of immigrants	23 . 0%	23 . 0%	17 . 0%	26 . 0%	27 . 0%	27 . 0%	27 . 0%
	Immigrants	34 . 0%	33 . 0%	29 . 0%	35 . 0%	34 . 0%	32 . 0%	32 . 0%
Total	21 . 0%	20 . 0%	15 . 0%	22 . 0%	22 . 0%	22 . 0%	22 . 0%
Women	Danish origin	17 . 0%	17 . 0%	17 . 0%	20 . 0%	19 . 0%	19 . 0%	19 . 0%
	Descendants of immigrants	18 . 0%	17 . 0%	20 . 0%	24 . 0%	22 . 0%	23 . 0%	22 . 0%
	Immigrants	27 . 0%	26 . 0%	26 . 0%	29 . 0%	28 . 0%	27 . 0%	27 . 0%
Total	18 . 0%	18 . 0%	17 . 0%	21 . 0%	20 . 0%	20 . 0%	20 . 0%
All		20 . 0%	19 . 0%	16 . 0%	22 . 0%	21 . 0%	21 . 0%	21 . 0%

Source: Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education based on data from Statistics Denmark.

Students are entitled to public financial support for his or her further education — regardless of social standing. If students have a child during or shortly before their education, they can get special financial support. A mother can get one year extra support, and a father can get half a year extra support.

Women in academia

Gender equality continues to be a high priority in the world of Danish research. To this effect, the former Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation held a round table discussion on “women and research” in 2009 where Danish universities and research institutions participated. The discussion resulted in several specific initiatives and a brochure on “best practice” that serve as encouragement and inspiration to other institutions. Today all Danish universities have similar gender equality initiatives specific to the university.

Table 3Number of professors, associate professors and assistant professors & postdocs at the universities in Denmark in 2000, 2006, 2009 and 2011, by gender and level of appointment

	2001		2006		2009		2011
	Men	Women	W-%	Men	Women	W-%	Men	Women	W-%	Men	Women	W-%
Professor	941	74	7.3	1 200	162	11.9	1 428	262	15.5	1 516	294	16.2
Assoc. prof.	2 927	817	21.8	2 708	907	25.1	2 959	1 188	28.6	3 051	1 218	28.5
Asst. prof./postdoc	768	432	36.0	1 119	738	39.7	1 642	983	37.4	1 783	1 216	40.5
Total	4 636	1 323	22.2	5 027	1 807	26.4	6 029	2 433	28.8	6 350	2 728	30.1

Postdocs are not included in 2000.

Source: Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education.

Research funding

From 2008 to 2009, the Danish Council for Independent Research had an instrument called “Female Research Leaders”. The instrument was targeted women at minimum associate professor level. After this initiative, the Council decided to focus initiatives aimed at female researchers in the Sapere Aude programme. The program aims to strengthen talented researchers, to encourage more women to become research leaders, and also to qualify Danish researchers for European elite researcher grants. The programme was launched in 2010 and will continue in 2013.

In March 2013, the Danish Council for Independent Research will organize a conference for the council members. The theme of the conference is Gender in research. An element in this conference is to follow up on the council’s initiatives for female researchers in the last decade.

T able 4Success rates by gender, 2005-2009 (%)

The Danish Council for Independent Research	Main appl i cant	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Success rates for number of applications*	Women	32	32	26	24	16	15	14
	Men	35	40	33	32	20	19	16
Success rates for amounts applied for**	Women	15	17	14	12	9	11	10
	Men	18	21	19	16	14	14	14
The Danish Council for Strategic Research
Success rates for number of applications*	Women	15	20	21	11	8	11	9
	Men	23	21	30	20	17	13	15
Success rates for amounts applied for**	Women	10	18	21	12	6	9	9
	Men	17	17	26	20	19	15	14

*Number of grants divided by number of applications.

**The amount granted divided by the amount applied for.

Source: Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education.

As shown in table 4, the success rates for female applicants are lower than for male applicants at the Danish Councils for Independent and Strategic Research. Moreover, fewer women than men apply for research grants at the councils. Less than one third of the applicants are women. This corresponds roughly to the share of females in the academic staff at the Danish universities. It should be noted that there is a limit to the Ph.D. age in specific instruments in the Council’s calls for proposals. However, maternity leave can be subtracted from the period with a factor 1.5. One year of absence thus counts as 1.5 years of absence to take into account the difficulties of returning to research after having had children.

Article 11: The Situation in the Labour Market

Women in the workforce in Denmark

Women constitute 48 per cent of the entire workforce. Women’s participation rate is lower than men’s. The participation rate for women was 71.5 per cent in 2011. In comparison, men’s participation rate was 75.7 per cent. The gap between women’s and men’s participation rate has continuously been narrowing. In 2011, it was 4 per cent. In 2006, it was 6 per cent.

In 2011, the workforce, which includes all employed and unemployed persons, totalled 2.76 million full-time persons. Women accounted for 1.36 million of these, which corresponds to 48 per cent of the entire workforce.

Table 1

Participation rate by gender, 2001-2011

2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
82.9	82.7	81.6	81.3	81.0	81.2	81.8	81.8	78.9	76.5	75.7
76.0	76.2	75.2	75.3	75.0	75.3	76.2	76.3	73.5	72.4	71.5
6.9	6.5	6.4	6.0	6.0	5.9	5.6	5.5	5.4	4.1	4.2

The participation rate for immigrant and ethnic minority women is lower than for ethnic women, but increasing. In 2011, the participation rate for immigrant and ethnic minority women was 50.8 per cent. Women irrespective of their ethnic background do better than men in the education system. Ethnic minority women follow the success of ethnic Danish girls.

Unemployment rate

Women’s unemployment rate has been lower than men’s during the economic crisis. However, during 2012, men’s and women’s unemployment rates follow the same pattern.

Figure 1Unemployment rate in per cent by gender, Jan. 2007-Oct. 2012

Ban on discrimination

•Gender discrimination has been forbidden in all walks of life since 2000.

•On the labour market, gender discrimination has been forbidden since 1978.

•Both direct and indirect discrimination is forbidden. Especially discrimination during pregnancy and maternity leave is forbidden.

•Harassment and sexual harassment are considered discrimination on the grounds of gender.

The enforcement of the ban on discrimination still takes place within the system set up for the settlement of industrial disputes, the ordinary civil courts of law and the Gender Equality Board. Most of the cases dealt with concern dismissal during pregnancy and maternity, sexual harassment and equal pay cases.

The gender-segregated labour market and the pay differentials

The gender-segregated labour market is considered the most important reason for the pay differentials between women and men. Therefore, the two gender equality challenges are dealt with together.

•A little more than half of all female employees and about 21 per cent of men are employed in the public sector. A larger number of men are employed in the private sector. In local government, there are more than three times as many female as male employees. By contrast, there are slightly more men than women employed in the state sector.

•On average, men earn more than women. The naked pay differentials reflect among other things differences in the trades they work in, differences in the jobs they perform, and differences in the personal characteristics such as educational level and work experience. Today, discrimination is a minor problem.

Pay development for women and men

In 2011, the hourly earnings (exclusive of inconvenience premium) were DKK 252.4 for men employed in the private sector against close to DKK 215.5 for women, cf. Figure 2. That corresponds to a pay differential of 17 per cent.

Figure 2Pay differentials (earnings exclusive of inconvenience premium per hour performed) for employees in the local government, state and private sectors by gender, 2011

Source: Statistics Denmark — www.statistikbanken.dk.

In November 2008, the Danish National Centre for Social Research published an updated version of a report on wage differences between men and women, first published in 2004.

The 2008 report analyses the wage differences between men and women in the period 1996-2006. The first report from 2001 concluded that men on average earn 12 to 19 per cent more than women, depending on the method applied. The 2008 report finds that this wage gap has not changed during the 10 year period. The Danish National Centre for Social Research is updating the analysis in the spring 2013. The result is expected in September 2013.

Concrete Initiatives on the gender-segregated labour market and equal pay

In relation to the Government’s gender equality strategy, the following concrete initiatives have been taken since the seventh report:

The Government’s effort on equal pay and the gender-segregated labour market is very complex and is conducted in dialogue with companies and the social partners in recognition of the fact that promoting equal pay takes place at the workplace and during the collective bargaining.

The Equal Pay Act provides protection against discrimination, and the courts of law, the Board of Equal Treatment and industrial arbitration deal with such cases. Since the seventh report, the courts of law have dealt with three cases and the Board of Equal Treatment has dealt with six cases.

The Social Partners are aware of their crucial role in this field, so it is thoroughly debated how companies and employees may change their attitudes in order to admit more women to well-paid male dominated jobs. This approach makes it possible to deal with equal pay, the gender-segregated labour market, and the reconciliation of working life and family life at the same time.

The debate takes place among other things at equal pay seminars organized by the Ministry of Employment where researchers and experts discuss various gender equality subjects. Examples of gender equality subjects are: the significance of the gender-segregated labour market to pay differentials between women and men; what is the significance of taking maternity leave to the individual woman’s pay conditions; and corporate gender-segregated pay statistics.

As of 1 January 2007, all major enterprises are required to draw up gender-segregated pay statistics. It means that many enterprises for the first time are required to work on equal pay. Cooperation on equal pay in the enterprises becomes a top priority. Therefore, it is the enterprises that already have gathered experience from joint consultation committees that are to draw up gender-segregated pay statistics. It is only major enterprises that are required to do so. The legislation is to be revised in order to include a bigger number of companies and to give the employees more knowledge about the pay situation of women and men in their company.

Maternity, paternity and parental leave

•On average, women received maternity benefits in 276 days in 2010, whereas men received paternity and parental benefits in 26 days on average. Men’s paternity and parental leave constitutes 9 per cent of the entire leave.

•In some cases, the person concerned gets paid by the employer in connection with confinement. In these cases, benefits are paid to the employer.

The rules on maternity, paternity and parental leave were amended in 2002 and extended in order to improve the parents’ leave conditions in connection with childbirth. Reference was made to the regulations in the sixth and seventh report. The regulations have not been amended since 2002, but the Government is considering earmarking some of the benefits during parental leave in order to ensure that both parents are entitled to their own benefits during parental leave. The economic compensation is full benefits for 12 months which amount to DKK 208,000 pr. year in 2013. Furthermore, a large and increasing number of employers provide pay during leave in connection with childbirth for a large part of the leave period.

Mothers’ and fathers’ use of maternity, paternity and parental leave

In 2006, a total of 148,073 persons received benefits in connection with the birth of a child. Out of these, women accounted for 68.1 per cent. On average, women received maternity benefits in 27.2 weeks in the course of 2006 whereas men received paternity benefits in 3.7 weeks on average, cf. Table 1.

Table 2Total leave with benefits in connection with childbirth measured in days, etc. 2004-2010

	2004	2006	2008	2009	2010
Father’s leave	18	22	26	26	26
Mother’s leave	272	275	276	277	276

Source: Statistics Denmark.

When the leave period is calculated per child in the year of the birth and the following year, the father’s share was 9 per cent and the mother’s 91 per cent in 2010, cf. Table 2. It is expected that fathers will make use of parental leave to an increasing extent, as pay during parental leave for both parents is becoming increasingly prevalent.

In 2006, a state equalisation scheme in connection with childbirth was introduced. All employers are required to contribute to the scheme even if they do not provide pay during maternity/paternity and parental leave, nor have any employees who are to take a leave period in connection with the birth of a child. The objective of the scheme is to ensure that it is not only women-dominated trades that have to bear the payroll costs during the leave period. In 2013, the equalisation scheme is extended to include self-employed persons.

Part-time work/reduced hours/working hours

•In 2011, there were more women than men who worked less than 37 hours per week. By contrast, there were more men than women who worked 37 hours or more.

•In 2011, the average weekly working hours for women were 32.1 hours whereas men worked on average 37.7 hours a week.

The Convention on Migrant Workers

The Convention on protection of Migrant Workers and their families is not ratified in Denmark. The number of people living and working outside their countries of origin is estimated to have increased since 1975. Denmark has not ratified the convention, adopted by the UN in 1990, due to the uncertainness of the consequences for the regulation of social protection.

Women Entrepreneurs

Since taking office in 20011, the Danish Government has put a lot of attention on promoting entrepreneurship. It has implemented more than 50 different initiatives through five action plans. The initiatives are focused on improving entrepreneurial conditions in Denmark. The initiatives are all general as favourable conditions are conducive for everybody. It is not a political priority to have entrepreneurial objectives targeted specific groups. Therefore Denmark does not have public schemes for promoting or supporting women entrepreneurs.

In the last European Social Fund program period (2000-2006), quite a number of Danish projects supported by the fund were directed at women. The experiences gathered from these projects are collected and will be used for the purpose of future initiatives and programmes. In the program period 2007-2011 projects with a strong focus on equal opportunities were prioritized.

In Denmark, around 25 per cent of the entrepreneurs are women. The share fell slightly between 2001 and 2004. The figures cover all new enterprises including companies, sole proprietorship and partnerships.

	2001	2002	2003	2004
Male	74 . 6	74 . 7	75 . 4	75 . 9
Female	25 . 4	25 . 3	24 . 6	24 . 1
All	100	100	100	100

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor can be used to compare Denmark with other countries. From their survey, it can be seen that 3.30% of Danish women in 2006 were engaged in early stage entrepreneurial activity — whereas the figures for Sweden and Norway was 2.43% and 5.87%, respectively. UK was 3.61% and the Netherlands was 3.60%. The Danish share is a little below the average for the 19 European countries that participated in the GEM analysis.

There are a number of different reasons for the lower number of female entrepreneurs. One reason is that a large proportion of Danish women tend to take an education that leads to employment in the public sector where entrepreneurial opportunities are limited. Denmark does not have a specific policy on promoting female entrepreneurs. Women have the same opportunities to take use of the general promotion of businesses as men, although the Danish Government has a certain focus on promoting female entrepreneurs in Denmark since it gives potential for growth. Thus, the Danish Government has financed the initiative “Women can” which contains examples on how women have established successful businesses.

Over the last years, 1 out of 4 entrepreneurs has been a woman. Since 2007, the share of female entrepreneurs is around 28 per cent. Thus, Denmark is at the same level as Norway and Sweden. The starting point is that women are encouraged to start up a business but by using the same possibilities and initiatives as other entrepreneurs — this way we do not operate with two parallel systems.

To make use of the potential among female entrepreneurs and new female entrepreneurs, the Danish Business Authority has initiated “Women can”. This initiative is anchored in regional growth centres and implemented in collaboration with a number of the players within this field.

Among the Danish initiatives are:

•The publication “Woman can” containing examples on businesses established by women.

•The website “virksomhedskvinder.dk” containing offers to female entrepreneurs, gender specific statistic, role models, cases and events.

•Regional courses on development for female entrepreneurs to clarify growth potential and strengthen their development.

•Events with role models.

•Interventions targeted at young students focused on innovation and entrepreneurship.

•Yearly updates of gender specific statistics.

Statistics show that women and men differ in certain areas:

•Female entrepreneurs have a longer education and less business experience than men when they start up their business.

•More women than men start up business in industries with low growth potential.

•Women often change industry when they start up business. Therefore they lack industry knowledge which reduces the growth potentials and survival.

•Every 10 female entrepreneur is a single parent compared with only 2 per cent of men.

•There is a higher share of female entrepreneurs than men who are without job the year before the start up their business.

•Most women are compared to men employed in the public sector. The vast majority of entrepreneurs — regardless of gender — come from the private sector. Few take the plunge from the public sector to entrepreneurship.

Article 12: Health

In Denmark, women and men have equal access to health care services. The government continuously evaluates the prioritisation of gender related health issues and prevention programmes addressing health issues, particularly related to women’s health, e.g. a national screening programme for breast cancer for woman aged 50-69 was initiated in 2007.

HPV vaccine for cervical cancer

Since 1 January 2009, all girls between the age of 12 and 14 are offered the HPV vaccine for cervical cancer free of charge as part of the childhood immunisation programme. In addition, catch-up programmes targeted at girls and young women born after 1984 have been carried out — also free of charge.

Fertility

Women’s fertility has increased from 1.4 children per woman in the middle of the 1980s to 1.9 in 2006. During the same period, the average age for women giving birth increased from 27.7 years in 1985 to 30.2 years in 2005 and to 30.9 years in 2011. The average age for first-time mothers was 28.9 years in 2005 and 29.1 years in 2011. The percentage of mothers aged 35 or older was 20.3 per cent in 2009, 20.8 per cent in 2010, and 21.4 per cent in 2011. The number of live births has decreased from approximately 65,000 in 2008 to 59,000 in 2011. In 2010, approximately 30,000 treatments (both insemination and in vitro fertilisation) were initiated which resulted in 4,200 births and 4,700 children. As a result, approximately 8 per cent of the live births were initiated with assisted reproduction.

Maternity care

A new set of National Guidelines to Maternity Care were published in 2009 and updated in 2012. The guidelines form the basis of the services offered to pregnant women and their families by the Danish public health care system, including issues related to health promotion, prevention, and medical treatment in relation to pregnancy, birth, and postnatal care. The Danish maternity care is differentiated. Thus, special services are available to vulnerable pregnant women and their families.

Right to abortion

Since 1973, women in Denmark have had a right to legally induced abortions. According to the health care act, women have the right to an induced abortion before the end of the 12th week of pregnancy. The abortion rate in Denmark has been declining since 1989; from 16.5 abortions per 1,000 women in 1989 to 12.2 per 1,000 women in 2006. From 2007-2010, the induced abortion rate was constant at approximately 16,000 a year. Of these, 96 per cent were within 12 weeks. In 2010, the induced abortion rate was 13 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-49. Also, the number of women under the age of 20 having induced abortion is decreasing — from 17.7 induced abortions per 1,000 women in 2008 to 15 per 1,000 women in 2010. Among women aged 20-24 — the group with the highest rate of induced abortions — there has been a slight increase and in 2010 there were 25.6 abortions per 1,000 women. From 1999-2003, an action plan was implemented to decrease the number of induced abortions. DKK 20 million was granted to this plan. The action plan was continued from 2004-2007 where DKK 14 million was granted to continue ongoing activities. These activities focused on providing information to the general public and identifying vulnerable groups, e.g. young people and immigrants from non-western countries.

As a follow-up to the above-mentioned action plan, DKK 19.2 million has been allocated (from 2008-2011) to support initiatives to reduce the number of induced abortions and sexually transmitted infections. From 2011, funding has been allocated to continue activities targeting youth and ethnic minorities. Furthermore, funding has been allocated to strengthen the counselling of women seeking induced abortion. In 2011, “prevention packages” (see further below) were developed, incl. a package on sexual health, which provides recommendations for initiatives to strengthen sexual health education to children and young people, as well as recommendations for initiatives targeting adult, elderly and disabled persons. Funding is planned for 2011-2015.

Prevention packages

As part of the Government platform 2012, the Danish government will launch national goals for the state of health. These goals will set the frame for all participants, including the healthcare services, social and employment services departments, environmental management department, and school management in the municipalities. The aim is to make the municipalities focus on health in all policies, service departments and sectors. The national goals will address the underlying determinants and risk factors — tobacco, inappropriate use of alcohol, physical inactivity, obesity, and mental health. Focus will be on inequity in health where impaired social conditions and poor educational background are important determinants. The recommendations describe in detail which health promoting and preventive measures the municipalities should implement over the next 10 years. The prevention packages focus on how municipalities can ensure that e.g. adolescents, ethnic minority groups and vulnerable groups receive the necessary advice, information and treatment.

Life expectancy 2012

In 2011, life expectancy for Danish women was 81.6 years, and, on the average, women lived 4.3 years longer than men (77.3 years) in 2011. In 2000, the difference between women’s and men’s life span was 4.7 years. From 2000-2011, the life expectancy for women increased by 2.4 years (from 79.2 to 81.6 years), while men gained 2.8 years (from 74.5 to 77.3 years).

Tobacco smoking

The number of daily smokers in Denmark is declining — from 43 per cent in 1990 to 17 per cent in 2012 (15 year +). 5 per cent reported to be occasional smokers. The number of smokers among men and women is equal. The share of heavy smokers (15 or more cigarettes a day) has also declined for both men and women. In 2012, the level of heavy smokers was 7 per cent of women and 9 per cent of men. Age standardized death caused by lung cancer is slowly decreasing for men, and after a steady increase over the past 30 years for women, we now see a small decline in 2011. Death caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is increasing for both genders.

Health and prevention for foreign women

Over the last years, disease prevention and health promotion targeted at ethnic minorities have been a highly prioritized area in many municipalities, especially those with large cities. Several initiatives have been implemented. Women have been the direct target of several initiatives, including on reproductive health and family health in general. In many municipalities, peer educators of different ethnic origin have been trained with the intent to create health promoting networks among women living in socially disadvantaged communities by offering e.g. physical activities and lessons in childcare and nutrition.

In relation to antenatal care, several hospitals with a high proportion of ethnic minorities in their uptake areas offer special group consultations for non-Danish speaking women or consultations with midwifes especially trained in working with ethnic minority women. The National Health and Medicines Authority has initiated a pilot project across the country implementing outreach antenatal care for socially disadvantaged women, including ethnic minorities. In 2011, the Red Cross and other partners opened the first free walk-in health clinic for undocumented migrants. The staff at the clinic is all volunteer doctors, nurses, midwifes etc.

HIV/AIDS

Every citizen in Denmark has equal access to knowledge, information treatment and care, including in the field of HIV and AIDS. Between 1990 and 2011, 1688 women were diagnosed with HIV in Denmark (27% of all); 2/3 of which were of non-ethnic Danish background and born abroad. Most of the HIV positive immigrants living in Denmark have been infected in their country of origin. In 2011, 74 women were newly reported as having HIV and 19 women with AIDS. To improve interventions targeted at ethnic minority groups, the Danish NGO, AIDS Foundation, runs an ethnic secretariat called Cross-Over which is publicly funded and works towards strengthening ethnic equality in the area of HIV/AIDS, other STIs and unwanted pregnancies. Cross-Over offers counselling on e.g. HIV/AIDS via telephone or in person at any location agreed upon with the counsellor. Cross-Over’s project engages in partnerships with ethnic minority associations and organizations. Cross-Over supports the partner organizations with both health professional aspects and financial assistance, and the partner organizations contributes with knowledge on specific cultural and linguistic matters relevant to the project. Projects have included, for example, “Information about reproductive health to Somalis in the Copenhagen area”.

Checkpoints in Copenhagen, Odense and Aarhus offer anonymous and free of charge HIV testing and counselling by specially trained peers within an hour for all persons with another ethnic background than Danish. Counselling can take place in Danish and English or in Turkish in Copenhagen, and in French in Odense.

Violence against women

In Denmark, violence against women is an infringement of the Danish Criminal Code, and the Government regards violence against women as a serious gender equality problem. Denmark has established a national support system allowing all women who are victims of violence or threats of violence shelters, psychological, social and judicial services, health treatment and labour market support. The social and health services that are triggered by domestic violence are defined by law e.g. shelters for women. For women in shelters who have children a special framework for support concerning rehabilitation, schools, and safe conditions for the children, housing, relation to job etc. are established by law. Also, the judicial system takes the necessary actions to punish perpetrators and support the victims. During the last years, private organizations dealing with counselling of men who have a violent behaviour in intimate relations temporarily have been funded by the state.

In addition to these permanent services, three national action plans to combat violence in intimate relations against women have been launched since 2002. In general, the action plans focus on: Support for the victims, treatment of perpetrators, training of professionals, and collection and dissemination of knowledge. An external evaluation of the action plans state that the plans have had a positive effect. Victims have become more aware of their rights and the different possibilities for receiving support and counselling. Likewise, professionals and perpetrators have become more aware of the possibilities for treatments for violent behaviour and as a result more perpetrators receive treatment. The different initiatives in the action plans have contributed to an improvement of the knowledge about violence in the family. This knowledge has to a certain extent been disseminated to the relevant authorities and professional. The institution set-up with an interministerial coordinating working-group is regarded by authorities and NGOs as important and successful.

Furthermore, the evaluation states that the widespread efforts of the action plans have contributed to breaking the silence surrounding domestic violence and have added to the decrease in the number of female victims of domestic violence.

Violence against women (age: 16-74)

	Violence in general	Violence in intimate relations
2000	64 000	42 000 (2.5 %)
2005	70 000	33 000 (1.7 %)
2010	83 000	29 000 (1.4 %)

Dating violence against women (age: 16-24)

	Dating violence against women
2007	13 000 (4.7 %)
2011	9 500 (3.2 %)

The action plans are implemented by a cross-ministerial working group led by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Ecclesiastical Affairs.

The external evaluation of the action plans also showed that: Victims have become more aware of their rights and offers for support/advice; professionals and perpetrators have become more aware of possibilities for treatment (of violent behaviour) and as a result of that more perpetrators receive treatment; the action plans initiatives have contributed to an improvement of the knowledge about violence in the family. The knowledge has to a certain extent been disseminated to relevant authorities and professionals and the institutional set-up with an interministerial coordinating working group is regarded by authorities and NGOs as important and successful.

Examples from the current action plan of efforts to eliminate domestic violence:

•A major capacity-building effort directed at various groups of personnel in the municipalities can be noted as a great success. The day-long course within various themes regarding violence in the family is offered for free to all 98 municipalities in Denmark until 31.07.13. As of 01.12.2012, 61 municipalities have booked the course, 44 courses have been held and all together 3,018 municipal professionals have attended the course.

•In addition to the course for municipal professionals, an e-guide with essential information about violence in the family has been developed. See: http://www.servicestyrelsen.dk/udsatte/vold-i-familien. Here focus is on information on how to spot signs of violence and act on knowledge or suspicion of violence in a family that they meet through their work.

•A “Give violence against women the red card” campaign was running from June 2011 to March 2013. The campaign has been developed by the Ministry of Gender Equality in cooperation with the National Football Association and male players from the national football team and the national handball team. The campaign is supported by local football clubs. The campaign has a site on Facebook where people can support the message that violence against women is unacceptable. The 2011 campaign gathered around 850 “likes” on Facebook and the 2012 campaign so far has gathered 5,800 “likes”.

•Funds have been allocated for a chat and a telephone hotline for young people exposed to violence from a girl- or a boyfriend. In this context, the volunteers who staff the hotline have been trained. An evaluation shows that girls are more inclined to use the hotline than boys and that youngster down to the age of 13 experience dating violence.

•With funding from the Minister for Gender Equality, LOKK (National Organization of Women’s Shelters in Denmark) has developed an app for smartphones on dating violence for girls and boys between 13-24 years. The aim of the app is to inform about and prevent dating violence. The app has been a huge success. In the first three months of the project, the app was downloaded 4,644 times (three times more than expected for a whole year) and there were more than 4,000 clicks on prominent banners on dating violence on websites for young people. Finally, short movies on dating violence posted on YouTube have been viewed 34,534 times (the original target was 800 views).

Police filter against child pornography

The internet providers in Denmark, Save The Children and the National Police have had a very good cooperation in running the so-called “Child Sexual Abuse Anti Distribution Filter” since 2004. As of today, access to approximately 3,200 illegal websites is being blocked by Danish internet providers. The filter makes it possible to block websites with illegal content that are not hosted in Denmark. The Danish police are exchanging information with other law enforcement agencies around the world on a regular basis regarding illegal websites and are also contributing to the Interpol “Worst of” list.

Article 13: Gender Equality in Other Areas of the Financial and Social Life

The right to family benefits

As mentioned in Denmark’s 7th periodic report the Danish legislation contains no official definition of family policy, but the expression is usually used about measures to support families with children. Present Danish family policy covers a far broader field than previously and thus solves not only income support problems, but increasingly intervenes with prevention and rehabilitation.

Family allowance

The family allowance comprises a tax-free financial assistance to persons with children under the age of 18 must be living in Denmark. Special rules apply to the EU member states and certain other countries. The child must not be supported by public funds, for example if public authorities have placed the child in care. At least one of the persons having custody of the child must be fully liable to pay tax in Denmark, and the recipient must have had at least 2 years of residence or employment in Denmark in a 10-year reference period prior to each benefit instalment to receive the full benefit (a shorter period gives entitlement to a reduced family allowance).

Child allowance

Please refer to Denmark’s 7th report for a detailed explanation on child allowance in Denmark.

As is the case for family allowance (see above), the recipient must have had at least 2 years of residence or employment in Denmark in a 10-year reference period prior to each benefit instalment to receive the full benefit (a shorter period gives entitlement to a reduced child allowance).

Article 14: Rural Women

Most women residing in rural areas in Denmark hold jobs in sectors other than the agricultural one. Their lives are not distinctly different from those of women in urban areas. Overall women residing in rural areas cannot be regarded neither as a vulnerable group, nor as a group with a high risk of being subject to violence and discrimination.

Living standards for families in Danish rural areas are in general similar to living standards in urban areas. Women in rural areas have the same rights as everybody else in Denmark: Free admittance to schools and education for all, access to free medical assistance, to free social services assistance etc.

Thus, concerning all issues listed in article 14 (subparagraph a-h), it can be concluded that women residing in rural areas enjoy the same rights and opportunities as other Danish citizens. Consequently, there is no need to apply special measures to abolish discrimination.

Chapter 4: Legal Capacity and Marriage and Family

Article 15: Legal Capacity

Men and women are equal before the law and enjoy equal rights to hold property. Men and women have the same right of access to the judicial system and to receive equal treatment before the courts.

Article 16: Marriage and Family Relations

Denmark has since the 7th periodic report to CEDAW intensified the efforts against forced marriage and other honour related violence. Efforts include awareness-raising and securing the rights of minority women with regards to gender equality.

Denmark has among other things launched a four-year programme for frontline employees on how to deal with honour related conflicts. Other initiatives include the establishment of i) a shelter for young couples escaping from forced marriage or other honour related violence, ii) a professional corps of mediators, iii) a team of young role models with ethnic minority background to advise on honour, marriage etc., iv) launched mentor projects and an attitude campaign, and v) a national advice unit for municipalities.

Social control among immigrant youths is widespread

Accordingly, in July 2012, the Minister of Social Affairs and Integration launched a National Strategy against honour related conflicts. The strategy consists of more than 30 initiatives and aims to ensure a decrease of young people who are exposed to honour related conflicts and to provide young people with a better understanding of their fundamental rights. There are seven main areas: cooperation among municipalities — and NGOs, education of professionals, a special effort against “re-education-journeys”, support for young people, attitude changing and information campaigns and international cooperation.

A study conducted by the Danish National Centre for Social Research in 2011 concluded that non-legally binding religious marriages are widespread among some minority groups. For some minority women, it is difficult to obtain their legal right to leave the religious marriage although it is based on a non-legally binding marriage contract. Accordingly, the Danish Government in 2012 drew up an action plan to prevent force and repression in relation to non-legally binding religious marriages. The objective is to prevent forced religious marriages among adults as well as minors and support women in obtaining their equal rights to dissolve the religious marriages.