Stockholm (dpa) - A family policy that allows women
and men to share more responsibility for household chores could help increase
female representation on company boards and improve gender equality, a Swedish
cabinet member said Monday.
Burundi-born Nyamko Sabuni, in
charge of gender equality and integration in the centre-right government that
took office last October, said she was "sceptical" of setting quotas for women
on corporate boards as has been launched in neighbouring Norway.
At a
news briefing she said that, while quotas were not on the cards, it "was
troublesome that management in many companies lack women executives."
Hurdles that prevent women from accepting top positions include, "male
networks, that women say no when asked to accept top jobs since they can't cope
(with both the executive job and family responsibilities) and that women don't
get the offers," she said.
The government plans, as of July, to cut
taxes on domestic services to allow more people to afford to pay for cleaning,
shopping and other household chores.
The system is aimed at reducing the
pressure on time-squeezed families, supporters of the system said.
The
proposal has been discussed for several years as a means of creating jobs and
collecting tax revenue from a sector where many work illegally.
The
Swedish government has eyed neighbouring Finland's model.
Sabuni, a
member of the Liberal Party, one of three junior partners in the four-party
coalition, said she would also work to abolish the practice of "forced marriage"
among some of Sweden's minority immigrant groups.
It was "unacceptable
that young men and women in the 21st century were not allowed to marry the
person of their own choice," Sabuni said, adding that a government agency had
been charged to conduct a survey to get some indication of the extent of the
problem.
On refugees and immigration, Sabuni said that just like Sweden
has recently asked other members of the European Union to share the burden of
receiving refugees from Iraq, the government was trying to convince more
municipalities to sign agreements with the Swedish Migration Board to accept
more refugees even though "most did."
Last year, 9,065 Iraqis applied
for asylum in Sweden compared to 2,330 in 2005, and the Swedish Migration Board
has said it expected the number of refugees from Iraq to double this year.