Iceland has become the first country in the world to make it illegal to pay women less than men.

A bill of law (amendments to the Gender Equality Act 10/2008 ) that was submitted by the Minister of Social Affairs and Equality and passed by the Parliament with vast majority on 1 June 2017 came into effect on 1 January 2018. 

The legislation requires firms employing at least 25 people to prove they offer equal pay to their employees. Businesses can face fines if they are not able to prove that they provide equal pay.

Dagny Osk Aradottir Pind, a board member of the Icelandic Women's Rights Association, told Al Jazeera that the legislation is “a mechanism to ensure women and men are being paid equally.” She added that "We have had legislation saying that pay should be equal for men and women for decades now but we still have a pay gap."

The government stated that Iceland is spearheading the move as part of its target to eradicate the country's gender gap by 2022, which would make it the first country in the world to achieve this.

The World Economic Forum has ranked Iceland as the most gender-equal country for the past nine years.