Moving forward with the presentation, Iceland has been considered one of the

countries that have had the most success in promoting gender equality due to the
implementation of parental policies. So we are going to see briefly what it is about
in four points: The history of the plan to increase gender equality, the parental
leave policy in Iceland, Mothering: a bonding built by breastfeeding, and the effects
of the parental leave policy since its application.
So starting with the story, in 1985, the law of gender equality required the
government to present a four-year plan to parliament to increase gender equality.
The plan was presented in 1997; however, despite having implemented it, it did not
emerge. In the year 2004, a new plan was presented and implemented, this time
with great acceptance, thanks to this plan men, fathers and grandparents received
education about fatherhood, so we can see that the process on the way to the
objective, it was not linear and it took many years.
In regards to the parental leave policy in Iceland, it has allowed parents, in case of
divorce, to share custody of the child, since it is generally the mother who has
custody and the father was assigned visitation regimes. Fathers obtain a license
and postnatal economic compensation, so they can be part of the birth of their
children, which strengthens the bond with them. These changes have brought
about significant changes in the absent role of the father.
However, the authors Gislab & Simonardotir point out that in the Nordic countries,
parenting emphasizes the mother figure. For example, breastfeeding is considered
one of the most important stages in the life of a child and this can only be carried
out by the mother, so both would be united by a special bond, completely ignoring
the figure of the father. These traditional discourses tend to put a lot of pressure on
mothers because although fathers can also be part of their children's growth,
culturally, the mother is the main figure. Another important point was discovered by
the authors Baldvin, Bjarnason and Sigrún in the article 'Perceptions of Gender
Equality among Icelandic Year 10 Adolescents: Population Studies 1992, 2006,
and 2014, which consisted of collecting information from tenth-grade students
during the years 1992, 2006 and 2014 to find out how people's perceptions had
changed regarding concepts related to gender equality since the implementation of
the 2004 law. The survey included questions related to household chores division,
the current position of men and women in Icelandic society, equal pay, equality in
job opportunities, the most capable figure to provide education at home, the
agreement and disagreement that the lowest-paid person in the relationship does
the chores and fathers and mothers taking equal responsibility for the care of
children, however, the conclusion of this paper was unexpected because it
suggested that although Iceland has had significant progress on gender equality,
such tasks as waking up young children and attending parent-teacher meetings are
still least performed by males.

However, there are still questionable points, as concluded by the authors Baldvin,
Bjarnason and Sigrún in the article 'Perceptions of Gender Equality among
Icelandic Year 10 Adolescents: Population Studies 1992, 2006, and 2014. This
study consisted of collecting information from tenth grade students during the years
1992, 2006 and 2014 to find out how people's perceptions had changed regarding
concepts related to gender equality since the implementation of the 2004 law. The
survey included questions related to household chores division, the current position
of men and women in Icelandic society, equal pay, equality in job opportunities, the
most capable figure to provide education at home, the agreement and
disagreement that the lowest-paid person in the relationship does the chores and
fathers and mothers taking equal responsibility for the care of children. The results
of this paper was unexpected because it suggested that although Iceland has had
significant progress on gender equality, such tasks as waking up young children
and attending parent-teacher meetings are still least performed by males.
Therefore, despite the improvements obtained over time, the process of
improvement still continues