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The Committee has noted over many years the measures taken by Iceland since 1976 when the first law on equality between women and men was adopted in that country.

1. The Committee notes with interest the adoption of the Act on the Equal Status and Equal Rights of Women and Men, No. 28 of 1991, which: divides the functions of the Equal Status Council into a special Complaints Committee responsible for matters of equality and leaves the Equal Status Council with, inter alia, the task of promoting the aims of the Act, developing policy and serving as an advisory body; reverses the burden of proof in cases presented to the Complaints Committee by requiring an employer to prove that sex was not a factor in a matter regarding the alleged infringement of a right under the Act; requires the Minister of Social Affairs to present to the Parliament a motion for a parliamentary resolution on a Four-Year Programme on Matters of Equality; provides for the appointment, in local government areas of more than 500 inhabitants, of Equal Status Committees which shall be responsible for matters of equality within their areas in accordance with the Act; and delineates more clearly the responsibilities and relations between the Ministry of Social Affairs, Equal Status Council and local equal status committees.

The Committee requests the Government to provide information in its next report on the practical implementation of the Act, and in particular on the activities of the Complaints Committee of the Equal Status Council and the local government Equal Status Committees.

2. The Committee also notes with interest the adoption of the Government's second Four-Year Plan of Action on Measures to Achieve Equality between the Sexes (1991-94). Recognising the Government's obligation to take the initiative and set an example, the plan places emphasis on the responsibilities of ministers and ministries to strive, each in their own field, towards achieving equality in the status of women and men. The Committee notes that the proposals made under the plan to the relevant ministries concern: measures to promote equal status between men and women at all levels of the education system, wage terms between men and women, the improvement of the position of women in the labour market and in rural areas and various social rights. Among these proposals, the Committee notes with interest the proposals on the establishment of a working group on the position of men in a changed society with more of an equal distribution of tasks and division of family responsibilities (2.1); vocational training legislation (2.7); special courses for women employed by the State (3.1); women employed in industry (7.1, 7.2); women in agriculture (8.1, 8.2); the establishment of a working group on sexual equality in the schools (9.3), as well as the position of women in particular industries such as banking.

The Committee requests the Government to provide information in its next report on the progress made in the implementation of the Plan and, in particular, on the proposals highlighted above.