WUNRN
Direct Link to Full 12-Page 2013 Report:
Sweden's Family
Policy Under
Change: Past, Present, Future
ANN-ZOFIE DUVANDER AND TOMMY FERRARINI - August 2013
What challenges can
be expected in the years to come for
The new orientation of policies may well mean that we are heading towards increased gender equality in the labour market among those with higher education, who share leave to a greater extent and who can afford to purchase fiscally subsidized household services. Note, however, that even for this group parental leave use and wages are far from gender-equal. There are also hidden gender inequalities operating through women’s unpaid care work, during leave as well as after the leave period. Another difference can be found in men’s much more flexible leave use during the child’s post-infant ages. Among households with lower wages there is an enhanced option to choose a less gender-egalitarian distribution of work. We know that such choices often come at the price of worsened labour market prospects and lower old age pensions later in life, enhancing female life-cycle poverty risks. Such risks are particularly common with low flat-rate child-care leave benefits, of the type represented in home-care leave and certain aspects of flexible earnings-related leave. A gender-unequal division of work may not be perceived as a choice as the family economy and workplace situation for many couples encourages women’s care work and responsibility rather than men’s. One extreme example is recently arrived immigrants with children. The labour market policy would facilitate integration in the labour market, but it seems that many municipalities make gendered decisions where women are encouraged to use leave and remain in the home (also with somewhat older children), while men take part in various labour market integration programmes (SOU 2012). A more gender-unequal distribution of work may thus be involuntary, but disguised as choice.
The
increased number of family policy programmes not only affects the choice
capacity of different social groups differently, it also increases the
complexity of the family-policy system, for citizens as well as policymakers.
Less transparent family-policy systems make it more difficult to weigh direct
and future consequences of individual choices and family policies. Complexities
within particular programmes may also affect use of benefits, something that is
clearly illustrated by the 2012 reform, which aimed to simplify the gender
equality bonus. Studies at the Swedish Social Insurance Agency also show a
clear lack of knowledge of parental leave rights, especially among fathers
(National Social Insurance Board, 2003; Swedish Social Insurance Agency 2010a).
The
future path of Swedish family policies is far from settled. Family policies are
surrounded by a large number of goal conflicts and trade-offs, both at the
individual and the societal level. Within the governing centre-right coalition,
there is a goal conflict between the Liberals, who historically have been
strong champions of gender-egalitarian policies, and the Christian Democrats,
who support policies sustaining more traditional gender divisions of labour.
Among the political opposition, the far-right populist party the Sweden
Democrats is in some ways quite close to the Christian Democratic position, supporting
more traditional gender roles. The major part of the parliamentary opposition
(the Greens, the Left Party and the Social Democrats) favour a return to
previous family policy paths and a reinforcement of earner-carer policy
orientations, not least when it comes to increased individualization of
parental insurance and abolition of flat-rate home-care leave benefits. The
future of the tax deduction for household services is more uncertain; theviews
of the political opposition range from abolition to reforms making it less
beneficial for high-income earners. In any case it is likely that the balance
between different goals in family policy will continue to be a battleground for
fierce political debate also in the coming decades. The history of Swedish
family policy not only shows that the design of family policy has the potential
to influence parents’ behaviour and well-being, but also that it may take
decades to change age-old gender inequalities through policy reform. Here it is
important to remember that short-term interests aiming to increase parents’
choice capacity may collide with long-term interests to increase gender
equality. For example, when the state actively supports female domestic care
work this has repercussions not only for women’s future careers but also
impacts on gender inequalities and poverty risks in old age, as retirement
pensions are strongly linked to previous life-time earnings.
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http://womenlobby.org/spip.php?article5431
European Women's Lobby Analysis
SWEDISH STUDY ON FAMILY POLICY: IS THE
CHAMPION FOR GENDER EQUALITY DIMING?
(
The EWL’s Mary Collins, socio-economic policy
officer, finds changes to this model alarming. The earner-carer model where
both parents are encouraged to participate in paid work and share unpaid work
is one that the EWL supports and advocates in order to reach a holistic and
lifecycle approach to care, and has shown to be the strongest in terms of
gender equality.
Highlights of the presentation included past
reforms that reinforced the Swedish earner carer model. These included;
parental insurance which extended the length and increased individualization
of leave for fathers, public daycare
that ensured 4 out of 5 children aged 0-3 were in daycare, abolition
of joint taxation in 1971 that was fully individualized by
1992.
Recent changes have been made that add
’layers’ to the model without changing much of the pre-existing policy, leaving
an air of uncertainty about what kind of outcomes and for whom.
While care refers here to child care, elder
care is a growing issue as well. Currently, following the cuts to public sector
jobs across
When it comes to family policy across
Currently, varying possibilities and
combinations of care credits and parental leave exist. The argument for choice
in terms of how to best ’solve’ the care crunch, either by outsourcing caring
tasks to kin or private services risks individualizing choice and ignoring
collective needs, not to mention enforcing a polarizing effect between women
and class. Choice puts the ownace of care on individuals, however care is a
societal issue. We must remove the stereotypes about men’s dedication to work
taking a back seat to parenting and make room for them in our care models as
well.
Policy makers are thus confronted with
trade-offs: short term goals to improve parent’s choice capacity often collide
with long term interests to increase gender equality. The challenges ahead deal
with the uncertainty of outcomes of recent changes to the earner carer model in
The presentation closed with a focus on the
life course perspective as central. The choice between supporting mother’s care
work or employment affects labour market careers and women’s poverty risks in
old age. The full effects or the earner carer policy remain to be seen.
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