“I’m strong! I’m courageous! I am powerful!” Encouraged by their mistress, the little kindergarten students scream these words, while launching logs. They occupy half of the courtyard, the other being reserved for boys – which prevents them from monopolizing the entire central space and relegating girls in the corners, as in most schools. From football to doll, whether cataloged as male or female, the games are practiced here indifferently by all children.
This Icelandic school applies the Hjalli educational model, like sixteen others in the country. Recently broadcast on France 24, A documentary by journalist Mélina Huet reveals how these establishments apply not to lock up children in gender stereotypes. Margret Pala Olafsdottir, the pedagogue that has developed this method was decorated by the government for its contribution to the construction of a more joint society.
In fact, Iceland broke almost all records in this area. She for more than ten years she has been at the top of the ranking on gender equality of the World Economic Forum. Its parliament is the most feminine in Europe, with 47.6 % elected officials. The employment rate of Icelanders is very high (77.5 % in 2021, against 67.5 % in the euro zone), and parental leave is taken almost in equal parts between the two parents.
Binding laws
But what is the secret of the volcanic island? Each year, as International Women’s Right Day approaching March 8, all eyes turn to Iceland to try to unravel it. “Many factors come into play,” lights up Eliza Reid, her First Lady, who publishes the work on the question The secrets of the Sprakkar. These women who change the world (Michel Lafon, 288 pages, 19.95 euros). “The principal of them is the widely shared consciousness that working towards more equality benefits everyone. That it is not for women to the detriment of men, but a decisive progress to build a better society for the whole of those who live there. “
In Iceland, this consciousness is old and undoubtedly due to the small number of inhabitants (370,000), relatively homogeneous. But not only. Its laws are as much more restrictive than elsewhere. Since 2018, Icelandic companies with more than 25 employees and administrations are in fact forced to comply with an equal employment equality standard. An independent body checks that they meet the criteria defined by law and grant them certification, to renew every three years. Those who do not respect them incur a fine of 50,000 crowns (330 euros) per day, at most. A system much more effective than the penicaud index in force in France, not very controlled and easily bypasses.
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