Gender equality in Naestved. It is something we don't talk about. It is something we just do

In Denmark, gender equality has been a part of the Danish law for the past 30 years, and according to it, all public authorities are obliged to work for equality between men and women in public administration.

The aim of the the network Young Men's Choice is to develop and test tools that can reduce the gender barriers in the education system.

In Naestved, achieving equality of women and men is both a laudable goal and a human right. It helps deepen democracy and ensures good economics - gender inequality is an obstacle to progress. To move from rethoric to reality, commitment was needed throughout the whole organization, as well as in order to have an impact. Gender equality should be everyone's responsibility. A key step that Naestved took to signal its endorsement of gender equality was to formalize its commitment by the adoption of the municipal policy on 12 January 2009.

However, transforming gender equality into practice requires more than the general formulation and good intentions. The project Young Men's Choice, one of many succesfully implemented in Naestved, shows how the municipality has transformed words into action to improve equality.

Unemployment among young people has increased, if compared to other groups, particularly among young men who either do not start or finish an education. For this reason a large group of young men from our community may be at risk of being marginalized in the education system and in the labour market.The Naestved Employment Centre - together with Odsherred Employment Centre - has created the Young Men's Choice network. Its purpose is to develop concrete projects that can get young men under 30, without education or limited skills, into an educational environment and keep them in the educational environment. The network consists of actors representing a wide range of local stakeholders working with young people, such as employment centres, youth guidance centres, vocational schools, unemployment insurance funds, etc.