Iceland Demolishes Gender Pay Gap, Bernie Sanders Wants US To Follow

Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) was all praise for Iceland after it passed a law making it illegal to pay men more than women for doing the same job.

After the law came into effect in the Nordic country Monday, Sanders called upon the United States to follow in that country's footstep and took to Facebook to express his views.

In his post Wednesday night, Sanders wrote, “We must follow the example of our brothers and sisters in Iceland and demand equal pay for equal work now, regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexuality or nationality. As we fight back Republican efforts to revert women’s rights to second-class, it is important to not lose sight that our real goal is to move forward and expand women’s rights.”

Replying to the FB post, user Jon Gwynne pointed out that the U.S. has a similar provision but which is hardly followed.

He wrote, “Sorry but…no. The US Equal Pay Act of 1963 has this beat by more than 50 years – No employer having employees subject to any provisions of this section [section 206 of title 29 of the United States Code] shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such employees are employed, between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs.”

Sanders also tweeted on the subject, mentioning “in the United States in 2016, black women made 62.5 cents on the dollar compared to white men and hispanic women made 54.4 cents,” terming the whole thing a “disgrace.”

Christina Sommers, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, lauded Sander's initiative but explained that the pay difference was due to various factors, including the choice women make in terms of “college major, profession, and specialities."

Twitter users Brett Ruiz said that the U.S. has a law for equal pay since 1963.

However, he was criticized by another user Marta Baker, who said “It is a law doesn’t mean it is either enforced nor without exemptions.”

The whole debate was triggered after Iceland in a bid to eradicate the gender pay gap implemented the new law making it illegal for male employees to be paid more than female employees doing the same job.

According to a report in Reuters, a research fellow at London-based Overseas Development Institute, Virginie Le Masson, said, “The new law by Iceland can help change attitudes to women in business as well as in politics, and inspire other countries to do the same.”

She added, “Ample evidence shows that women work as much as men and are still paid less.”

Iceland has had equal pay laws since 1961, but now the new amendment will force companies which have 25 or more full-time employees to take a look into the salary structures every three years to make sure that both men and women doing the same jobs are paid equal amount. The companies will then have to report to the government for certification or else they will be fined.

Frida Ros Valdimarsdottir, the chairwoman of the Icelandic Women’s Rights Association, told the New York Times, “Of course it has always been illegal to unequally pay men and women. But this is a legally binding tool kit.”