Ligestillingsrådet or the Danish Equal Opportunities Council was attached to the Danish Ministry of State (prime-minister's office) from 1975 to 2000. It coordinated legislation and claims in connection with the government's

equal opportunities Equal opportunity is a state of fairness in which individuals are treated similarly, unhampered by artificial barriers, prejudices, or preferences, except when particular distinctions can be explicitly justified. For example, the intent of equa ...

work. The Council ceased to exist with the establishment of a Ministry for Gender Equality or Ligestillingsministeriet in 2000. Since October 2011, its interests have been undertaken by the Ministry for Equal Opportunities and Ecclesiastical Affairs. The Council consisted of a chairmen and eight permanent members representing the

social partners {{cleanup rewrite, article, date=June 2014 Social partners are groups that cooperate in working relationships to achieve a mutually agreed-upon goal, typically for the benefit of all involved groups. Examples of social partners include employers, e ...

women's organisations This is a list of women's organization by civics International * All India Democratic Women's Association – founded in 1981 to achieve women's emancipation in India Yes Helping Hand– Founded in 2009 for empowerment and employment of Women, D ...

and gender researchers. By far its most important concern was equality in the

labour market Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labou ...

, especially the problem of

equal pay Equal pay for equal work is the concept of labour rights that individuals in the same workplace be given equal pay. It is most commonly used in the context of sexual discrimination, in relation to the gender pay gap. Equal pay relates to the full ...

. Workload increased as the Council dealt with more complex legislation from the

Folketing The Folketing ( , ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark — Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands and Greenland. E ...

and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, in addition to demands on global orientations. The Council was increasingly criticized for its lack of impact, particularly in the 1999 report on ''Det fremtidige ligestillingsarbejde'' (Future Gender Equality Work). Under the leadership of

Poul Nyrup Rasmussen Poul Oluf Nyrup Rasmussen (, informally Poul Nyrup, born 15 June 1943) is a retired Danish politician, who served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 25 January 1993 to 27 November 2001 and President of the Party of European Socialists (PES) from ...

, the government therefore decided in 2000 that the Council should be abolished in favour of an independent ministry charged with priorities for future work on gender equality. A new parliamentary standing committee Ligebehandlingsnævnet (The Gender Equality Committee) was established in 2009 to deal with cases involving national and international gender equality issues.

References

{{authority control Women's rights in Denmark 1975 establishments in Denmark 2000 disestablishments in Denmark Women's organizations based in Denmark Organizations based in Copenhagen Government agencies of Denmark Gender equality