Authority positions commonly bring with them significant types of power, for example, influence over setting wages and granting promotions. Hence, equal access for men and women to such positions is of considerable importance. Although Nordic countries are typically depicted as the most gender equal in the world, several studies suggest that they rank low relative to other industrial countries with respect to gender equality in positions of workplace authority and women’s chances of obtaining the highest white-collar jobs. The aim of this paper is to study the extent to which women’s opportunities to attain positions of high labour market authority is associated with maternal employment policies, such as paid parental leave and part-time work. The analyses were conducted using cross-sectional data from the 2005 and 2006 European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) for 25 countries. The results showed that a high proportion of women working long part-time hours was related to larger gender differences in the attainment of high authority positions, which disadvantaged women. However, there was no association between paid parental leave and the gender gap in positions of workplace authority.