Faroese Parental Leave Reform & the Gender Equality Commission

The Faroese parental leave scheme, in place since 2001, was extended in 2020 from 48 to 52 weeks. Under current rules mothers take the first 14 weeks, fathers have a dedicated 4-week quota, and the remaining 34 weeks can be freely shared between parents, in principle allowing fathers to take equal or greater leave. Oversight of gender-discrimination complaints, including in employment and leave-taking, sits with the Gender Equality Commission (Javnstøðunevndin), an independent body established under the Faroese Equality Act of 1994.
In practice, uptake remains starkly gendered: Faroese fathers use only about 4 of the 52 available weeks, while mothers use roughly 48, largely because the lower-earning parent takes the bulk of paid leave under the scheme's benefit ceiling. Mai Laksáfoss Simonsen, head of the Gender Equality Commission, has publicly argued that the 2022 increase in the monthly payment ceiling, from 25,000 to 27,000 Danish kroner, is still too low, and that a ceiling of at least 45,000 kroner (about €6,050) is needed before fathers' leave becomes financially viable for most families.
The case is a clear, honestly documented example of a formally gender-neutral leave law producing a strongly gendered outcome, openly acknowledged and criticised by the very statutory body responsible for gender equality oversight - useful both as a leave-policy model and as a cautionary lesson on the limits of leave quotas without matching wage-replacement levels.

Read the full analysis: https://www.javnstoda.fo/about-the-gender-equality-commission