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Danish PM calls for increased equal opportunities on Constitutional Day

Xinhua, June 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

Denmark's Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt called for increased efforts to promote equal opportunities as the country celebrates the 100th anniversary of the 1915 Constitutional Act on Friday.

"We have achieved much in 100 years, but we have not reached the goal. There is always more to do: greater freedom, equal opportunities, everyone must participate. That is what the 1915 Constitution is all about," Thorning-Schmidt told a reception also attended by the Speaker of the Danish Parliament Mogens Lykketoft, Queen Margrethe II and other royal family members and the government officials at Christiansborg Palace, where the Parliament is.

Since the introduction of the first Constitution in 1849, the Constituton has been amended in 1866, 1915, 1920 and 1953.

The 1915 version is widely considered as the Constitution which turned Denmark into a real democracy as it granted women the right to vote.

In the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap 2014 report, Denmark was ranked as the fifth most equal country, coming behind just its Nordic neighbours Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

Although Denmark is among the countries where most women have jobs outside the home, and where most women get an education, there are still entrenched images between men and women, said Thorning-Schmidt, who became the country's first female prime minister in 2011.

"The country we have today is not a given. It took time to get this far. It required tenacity and persistence. It required a common struggle for freedom and progress, but not a battle between women and men,"she said.

On Friday, several squares around Christiansborg were drawn on for the celebration, which included music, speeches, events, debates and street parties.

Previously, a joint national celebration already kicked off in the spring of 2015, focusing on equality, democracy and participation in modern Denmark. Endit