4. 4
1. Introduction
One of the seminal pieces that formed much of the debate regarding welfare and gender
equality in Sweden was the book Crisis in the Population Question, published in 1934 by the
couple Alva and Gunnar Myrdal. It is a book which debates the declining birth rate in
Sweden, and what could be done to counter it. The Myrdals argue that families should be
encouraged to have more babies, and one of the main policies to make this happen was the
creation of support systems, such as child care and benefits, and other welfare reforms. These
policies were set into place to, among other reasons, “revise” a patriarchal family structure
which they called “as impossible and inappropriate in our times as a suit of armour for an
engineer”.1
Many of the reforms suggested by the Myrdals became a reality in Sweden the 1930s and
40s. Several of them are now the foundation of the Swedish welfare system, such as the
general child benefits, which were introduced to all families, regardless of income, in 1948.2
Both of the Myrdals were ardent feminists, especially Alva, who spent many of her academic
years thinking over what she called “the women’s puzzle” – what roles women play in
society, both professionally and privately, and how these roles should be balanced.3
The above examples are both telling ones in regards to the Swedish political debate as a place
where gender structures often take a central role in the discussion. Both Myrdals were active
1
Myrdal, Alva and Gunnar; Kris i Befolkningsfrågan, Bonnier, Stockholm, 1934, p. 342
2
Swedish Social Insurance Office; Socialförsäkringens historia,
https://www.forsakringskassan.se/omfk/om_socialforsakringen/historik
3
Hirdman, Yvonne, ”Alva Myrdal – en studie i feminism”, Tidskriften för Genusvetenskap, 4, 1988, pp. 15-30;
and Herman, Sondra R.; ”Children, Feminism, and Power: Alva Myrdal and Swedish Reform, 1929-1956”,
Journal of Women’s History, Vol 4(2), 1992, pp. 82-112
5. 5
members and prominent ideologues of the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SDP), which
was the dominant political party in Sweden for much of the 20th
century, enjoying a position
that has even been called hegemonic.4
It has been suggested that feminism and the gender equality norm is institutionalized in
Sweden through reforms such as the above mentioned ones suggested by the Myrdals, as well
as policies such as the gender neutral parental leave reform, introduced in 1974.5
This essay
will explore whether there actually is a widely-agreed upon political consensus over
feminism and a gender equality norm in Sweden. This will be examined through the case of
the debate surrounding parental leave reform in Sweden, and focus on the years 2002-2015.
Is it possible to see any differences between different political parties in their approach to
parental leave, and what can we deduce from this in regards to feminism? This essay will
examine the stances of the two major influential parties in Sweden, the previously mentioned
Social democratic party (SDP, Socialdemokratiska Arbetarpartiet) and the liberal-
conservative Moderate party (Moderaterna).6
4
Therborn, Göran; “A Unique Chapter in the History of Democracy: The Social Democrats in Sweden” in
Klaus Misgeld et al. (eds.); Creating Social Democracy: A Century of the Social Democratic Labor Party in
Sweden; Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, 1992; pp. 1-5
5
Bergqvist, Christina; Jungar, Ann-Catherine; “Adaptation or Diffution of the Swedish Gender Model” in Linda
Hantrais; Jo Campling (eds.); Gendered Policies in Europe: Reconciling Employment and Family Life, New
York, 2000, p. 163
6
The Moderate party was first founded as a conservative party in 1904, and was called the Rightist Party
between 1952-1969, after which they changed their name to the Moderate party. Through a very successful
reinvention of the party in 2005 under the then leader Fredrik Reinfeldt it readjusted its ideological stance from
a traditionally conservative party to a more centrist liberal-conservative party. The Social democratic party was
founded in 1889, and is a traditional social democratic party with its base in democratic socialism, and is the
oldest and largest political party in Sweden, and has been for much of the post-war era.
6. 6
2. Background and aims
2.1 Scope and literature
This sub-chapter will introduce the academic framework and scope of this essay, as well as
introduce its case study. Parental leave is used as a case as it is a good example of a policy
tool used by states to encourage a more equal relationship between the genders – a central
issue within feminism – and by extension diminish the damaging effects on women’s
opportunities that motherhood still have to this day.7
Furthermore, in regards to time scale,
this essay will focus on the years since the 2002 election (and the year the second non-
transferrable month of paternal leave was introduced) up until 2015. And, while there are no
statistics as to the equality of e.g. homosexual parental relationships,8
this essay will focus on
the heterosexual parental relationship as it is within that male-female dichotomy that
feminism and feminist policies work.9
Looking at literature, in a 2002 thesis about Swedish family policy politics, Roger Klinth
conclude that the Swedish gender equality policies are marked by “pappapolitik” (‘daddy
politics’): a focus on increasing the father’s role in parental leave, emphasizing the
importance of the father in a child’s upbringing. Roger Klinth draws on a wide range of
previous research on family policies.10
Academics more focused on the analysis of ideologies
themselves, such as Jane Lewis (2002), draw on the ideological idea of separation between
7
Hoffnung, Michele; “Wanting it all: Career, Marriage and Motherhood During College-Educated Women’s
20s”, Sex Roles, Vol.50(9), 2004, pp. 711-723
8
Swedish Social Insurance Office; Dela föräldradagarna jämställt;
http://www.forsakringskassan.se/privatpers/foralder/morsdag/
9
Beasley, Chris; What is Feminism? An Introduction to Feminist Theory; Sage, New York, 1999; p. 11
10
Klinth, Roger; Göra pappa med barn: den svenska pappapolitiken 1960-95; Borea, Umeå, 2002, pp. 14-28
7. 7
state and individual, and how the state views womens’ opinions on matters that affect them.11
The idea that a consensus on feminism, or at least gender equality, exists in Sweden is not
only a conclusion reached by Christina Bergquist and Ann-Catherine Jungar in a 2000 piece,
but also in the the 2011 thesis by Sofie Cedstrand, who compares the Swedish and the Danish
parental leave policies and concludes that by introducing a gender-neutral parental leave
policy in 1974 Sweden institutionalized a norm of gender equality.12
Again, as similarly argued above, this only proves to show that Sweden is a country where
feminism and gender equality is seemingly ingrained in the Swedish psyche and political
consensus culture. But as the disparity between the parties on parental leave reform leading
up to the 2014 election will show, there might be less consensus than at a first glance.
This essay draws much of its research on existing scholarship on family policy as the central
case examined is parental leave, such as the sources discussed above. Since the essay will
examine the stances of the two major political parties in Sweden, the basis of my analysis
will also come from party programs, manifestos, and reports from the parties. The main
material would represent officially sanctioned views from the respective parties and therefore
carry more heft than individual motions, debate articles and interviews with party members
or leaders. However, both sources will be used. Governmental bills and proposed bills will
also be used. I will also use information on relevant policies accessed from the two parties
themselves. Other sources include Swedish Government Official Reports (SOU reports),
11
Lewis, Jane; “Gender and the Development of Welfare Regimes”; Journal of European Social Policy, August
1992, 2, 1992; pp. 159-173
12
Cedstrand, Sofie; Från idé till politisk verklighet – Föräldrapolitiken i Sverige och Danmark, Borea, Umeå,
2011, pp. 263-4; and Bergqvist, Christina; Jungar, Ann-Catherine; “Adaptation or Diffution Diffusion of the
Swedish Gender Model” in Linda Hantrais; Jo Campling (eds.); Gendered Policies in Europe: Reconciling
Employment and Family Life, New York, 2000, p. 163
8. 8
which also have to be handled carefully as the government in power chooses both topic and
assignment for the reporting committee.
2.2 Theoretical framework on feminism
Gender equality is central to feminist thought and policy, and a widely held definition of it
which can be found in many academic works on feminism define it as a movement working
to achieve gender equality: “Feminism in all its diversity begins with the conviction that
women are systematically subordinated to men, and that this is wrong.”13
Feminism can
furthermore be defined as an ideology that recognizes this above systematic subordination
and that this subordination leads to women enjoying less opportunities in society, such as in
education, professional or private life.14
This essay will relate back to these two definitions
and “feminism” will in this essay refer to policies, ideas, actions, etc. that work to make
women enjoy opportunities equal to those of men. This definition is important as ‘feminism’
as a term internationally encompasses an extremely wide range of movements both on the left
and the right.15
Feminist movements often talk about the societal structures that we live in, and what that
means for the individual, especially in which way they work to the disadvantage of women.16
Feminism is widely concerned with how these structures can be rebuilt or destroyed so that a
fully gender equal society can be reached.17
This is also where the question of the state comes
into play. In the book Staking a Claim: Feminism, Bureaucracy and the State, Suzanne
13
Månsdotter, Anna; Health, Economics, and Feminism – on judging fairness and reform, Umeå University
Medical Dissertations, New Series No. 1013, Print & Media, Umeå University, 2006, pp. 16-17
14
Beasley, 1999, pp. 3–11
15
Sedghi, Hamideh; “Global Feminism, Local Agendas and Actions”, Socialism and Democracy, Vol 19(2),
2005, pp. 157-159
16
Walters, Margret; Feminism: A Very Short Introduction; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005, pp. 1-5, and
pp. 137-141
17
Beasley, 1999, pp. 3–11
9. 9
Franzway et al. suggest the idea that the state is an active, if not the most active, player in a
society where the state can regulate social categorization and reform or reshape structures and
gender relations through political policies and actions.18
The state could be used as a tool
with which one could encourage or discourage certain forms of behavior, such as, in the case
of this essay, how parental leave should be divided between parents.
Whether feminism is more closely associated with parties to the left or the right of the
political spectrum, and what this could mean for the analysis, is also an interesting point to
touch upon. In The Rules of the Game Jessica Lindvert explains that “a redistributive bias
appears in feminist comparative frameworks”, often with the Nordic countries as blueprints.
This means, she posits, that these frameworks are also less applicable to countries with a
more liberal welfare tradition, as they focus on civil and individual rights, while
redistribution is something usually associated with political movements on the left.19
. In
Gendering the State in the Age of Globalization, Melissa Haussman and Birgit Sauer show
that the case is not necessarily clear-cut, but they do reach the conclusion that parties on the
right seem to have less of an affinity towards feminism.20
An essential part of feminist thought is therefore the fight to reshape or even remove these
structures that subordinate women to men.21
The state, or influencing the state, can be an
important part in this struggle. The above-mentioned Haussman and Sauer text examines the
idea of whether feminist movements have an impact on state policies in the 1990s and if there
is some correlation between women’s influence and whether a country is ruled by groupings
18
Franzway, Suzanne, et al; Staking a Claim: Feminism, Bureaucracy and the State, Allen & Unwin, Sydney,
1989, pp. 6-10.; and Connell, R.W.; Masculinities, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1995, p. 67-77
19
Lindvert, Jessica; “The Rules of the Game: Organizing Gender Policies in Australia and Sweden”, Social
Politics, No. 2 (2007), pp. 238-257
20
Melissa Haussman and Birgit Sauer (eds.) Gendering the State in the Age of Globalization, Rowman &
Littlefield, Plymouth, 2007, p. 354
21
Walters, 2005, pp. 1-5
10. 10
on the left or the right. They conclude that “right-wing parties cut back the scope and
resources of women’s policy agencies and typically ignore their attempts to influence
policymaking.”22
However, they also reach the conclusion that there is not a clear case for the reverse, that
leftist governments embrace feminist movements and women’s policy agencies.23
In regards
to women’s issues, a correlation has been shown between high levels of women’s
participation in parliament and a generous parental leave policy.24
The SDP has in the post-
war era experienced a high level of participation amongst women and parties to the right have
in general more difficulties to appeal to women.25
Having women in parliament or in the
party makes it hard to ignore ‘women’s issues’ such as parental leave.
In the latest years, Swedish family policy and politics has been considered very successful
when used as a tool to reshape traditional gender roles.26
The Swedish family policy has by
some researchers even been considered as that through the introduction of the Swedish
parental leave policy, a “feministic frame of reference has been institutionalized in Swedish
family policy.”27
This view presents somewhat of a problem when it comes to examining
parental leave within the scope of a discussion over ‘feminist’ policies. Bergquist and Jungar
suggest that feminism is so ingrained in Swedish family policy that it does not necessarily
matter if you have or not have a feminist point of view, or your ideological background.28
22
Haussman, Sauer (eds.), 2007, p. 354
23
ibid., p. 354-5
24
Cedstrand, 2011, p. 60
25
S-kvinnor, Vår Historia, http://www.socialdemokraterna.se/Webben-for-alla/S-kvinnor/S-kvinnor/var-
organisation/Var-historia/; and Oesch, Daniel; ”Explaining Workers' Support for Right-Wing Populist Parties in
Western Europe: Evidence from Austria, Belgium, France, Norway, and Switzerland”; International Political
Science Review; Vol. 29(3), pp. 349-373
26
European Union: Sweden: Sweden: Successful reconciliation of work and family life;
http://europa.eu/epic/countries/sweden/index_en.htm
27
Bergqvist and Jungar in Hantrais and Campling (eds.), 2000, p. 163
28
ibid., pp. 160-179
11. 11
This goes hand in hand with the problem of assessing the previously mentioned social
democratic hegemony that still mark much of the Swedish political debate.
2.3 Policy background – the case of parental leave
For women, motherhood has been described as a “women’s trap” which decreases their
opportunity for employment and higher salaries as they stay home from work with a child to
a larger degree than men; in 2010, Swedish fathers took 59 days of parental leave while the
mothers 281.29
This leads to mothers falling out at the workplace and often missing out on
promotions, wage raises and other opportunities.30
This traditional arrangement of gender
roles in a parental relationship leads to women missing out on opportunities only due to the
fact that they are women. However, this traditional arrangement of gender roles in a parental
relationship has also been called a “men’s trap” as many men are also caught in a gendered
role and are oftentimes assumed to work longer hours and spend less time with their child,
leading to fathers having less developed relationships with their children.31
An interesting point of view that has arisen throughout the research is the concept that even
generous parental leave policies and policies that allow parents to stay at home to take care of
sick children actually hurt women as well. It has even been called the “catch-22 of gender
equality”.32
The idea is that while generous parental leave is supposed to make it easier for
women in particular to enter the workplace, it actually hurts women; though the parental
29
Öberg, Tommy; ”Föräldraledighet en kvinnofälla”; Tidningen Arbetet, 06-sep-13,
http://arbetet.se/2013/09/06/foraldraledighet-ar-en-kvinnofalla; and, Statistics Sweden; Women and Men in
Sweden – Facts and Figures 2014; SCB-Tryck, Örebro, 2014, p. 5
30
IFAU, Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy; Glastaket och föräldraförsäkringen i
Sverige, Report 2015:1, Table 9, and pp. 14-15
31
Larsson, Jörgen; Studier i tidsmässig välfärd – med fokus på tidsstrategier och tidspolitk för
småbarnsfamiljer; Göteborg Studies in Sociology, No. 49; pp. 8-9
32
Grönlund, Anne; Magnusson, Charlotta; “Jämställdhetens moment 22” in Anne Grönlund (ed.) Glimtar av
jämställdhet, Borea, Umeå, 2014, pp. 177-200
12. 12
leave is gender neutral, the majority of it is, in general, taken out by mothers.33
This makes
employers less inclined to employ women as they are assumed they will take out parental
leave and be absent from work: “The consequence is that women, regardless of individual
behavior, risk to be seen as a less attractive part of the workforce.”34
By implementing certain reforms, a state can either encourage a traditional division of
responsibility between the parents (one where the mother takes the major part of a child’s
upbringing) or one where the parents share their responsibility to a larger degree, making
parental leave policy a powerful tool for the state when implementing a gender equality
policy. However, parents tend to continue to divide their time fairly traditionally, even when
a gender neutral parental leave policy is introduced, such as in Sweden.35
One month of non-transferrable paternal leave was introduced in Sweden in 1995 to
encourage fathers to take out more of the parental leave. The days were exclusively reserved
to one of the two parents.36
In 1995, parents could take out a total of 450 days of parental
leave and 30 of these were reserved for each parent. This is a major increase from the 180
days that were offered when the current parental leave insurance was first introduced in
1974.37
A second non-transferrable month was introduced in 2002, reserving 60 days for each
parent, extending the total available days to 480. While these days are not gendered and may
be taken out by any legal guardian, a dominant theme in the debate regarding more equal use
of the parental leave has been whether to introduce a third, what is casually called,
33
Statistics Sweden, 2014, p. 5
34
Grönlund, 2014, p. 179-180
35
Riksförsäkringsverket (Swedish Social Insurance Office), Socialförsäkringsboken 2003, 2003, p. 27
36
Swedish Social Insurance Office; Socialförsäkringens historia, accessed on 28-sep-2015
37
Swedish Social Insurance Office; Föräldrapenning – båda föräldrarnas försäkring?, SFR 2011:13, 2011, p. 11
13. 13
“pappamånad” (daddy month, a non-transferrable period earmarked to one parent, the father
in this case).38
As mentioned, the parental leave system that is currently in place in Sweden saw its
beginnings in 1974 when the women-only “moderskapsförsäkring” (maternal leave), which
had been in place since 1931, was replaced by the gender-neutral “föräldraförsäkring”
(parental leave) by the then SDP government.39
A gender-neutral parental leave was a stark
difference to the previous traditionally gendered maternal leave. At the same time, Sweden
became first in the world to ratify a public policy to stride towards gender equality.40
The
then Swedish prime minister, Olof Palme, has himself been described as a staunch feminist.41
In this tradition, current SDP prime minister Stefan Löfven has described his government as
‘feminist’.42
When the current form of Swedish parental leave was introduced in 1974 it also enjoyed wide
political support: a product of consensus.43
A consensus culture, together with social
democratic hegemony, is a major part in the political history of Sweden in the 20th
century.44
In his 2002 thesis Roger Klinth presents ways that this consensus culture can be
problematized and also shines light on the problem of the state-individual relationship and
how it is integrated into the consensus culture. He gives the example of non-transferrable
38
Olsson, Lova; “V kan stoppa tredje pappamånad”, Sveriges Radio, 25-jan-2015,
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=83&artikel=6076360
39
Swedish Social Insurance Office; Socialförsäkringens historia, accessed on 28-sep-2015
40
Scott, Hilda; Sweden’s ”Right to Be Human”. Sex-Role Equality: The Goal and the Reality; M.E. Sharpe,
London, 1982, p. 3
41
Östberg, Kjell; När vinden vände: Olof Palme 1969-1986, Leopard förlag, Stockholm, pp. 86-102
42
The Local; Sweden reveals new 'feminist' cabinet; The Local, 03-oct-14;
http://www.thelocal.se/20141003/live-blog-lofven-cabinet
43
Klinth, 2002, p. 24
44
Trädgårdh, Lars; “Swedish Model or Swedish culture?”, Critical Review, Vol. 4(4), 1990, pp. 569-590
14. 14
earmarked days for fathers and mothers as a central problem: what should the state tell you to
do?45
45
Klinth, 2002, pp. 21-29
15. 15
3. Analysis: The Swedish policy debate on parental leave
In May 2015 the SDP-led government coalition that came into power in the autumn of 2014
announced that it would introduce a third “daddy month” by increasing the non-transferrable
parental leave days to 90.46
A large part of the debate surrounding the parental leave policies
in Sweden for the last 10 years has been whether this third daddy month should be introduced
or not.47
The SDP had the third daddy month as a part of their election manifesto, while the
Moderates, having a joint election manifesto with their coalition partners, did not.48
Yes, the Moderates did not put extended paternal leave in their 2014 election manifesto – but
this does not necessarily mean that they opposed it, nor that they oppose the idea of a more
equal division of the parental leave.49
In 2008 the Moderate-led government introduced the
“gender equality bonus” which was a monetary bonus given to parents who split their
parental leave equally.50
It is therefore important to take into consideration reasons for not
promoting an expansion of the non-transferrable daddy months, as there might be other
substitute reforms that parties consider to be equal or more effective and therefore suggest
instead.
46
Digréus, Annika; “Regeringen enas med V om tredje pappamånad”; Sveriges Radio Ekot, 28-May-15;
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=83&artikel=6176659; and Imam, Jareen; “Sweden moves to
extend paid paternity leave for dads”; CNN, 31-May-15; http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/30/living/sweden-paid-
paternity-leave/index.html
47
TT; “S vill ha en tredje pappamånad”; SVT Nyheter; 15-aug-14; http://www.svt.se/nyheter/val2014/s-vill-ha-
en-tredje-pappamanad; and Makar, Maria; “Djup splittring om tredje pappamånad”, SVT Nyheter, 29-aug-14;
http://www.svt.se/nyheter/val2014/djup-splittring-om-tredje-pappamanad
48
ibid.
49
Moderatkvinnorna; Nej till tredje ‘pappamånad’; 18-Nov-13;
http://www.moderatkvinnorna.se/index.php/nyheter/132-nej-till-en-tredje-pappamanad
50
Prop. 2007/08:93, p. 12
16. 16
Furthermore, the question of gender structures in society is in many ways a central point of
discussion when examining the case of parental leave. If the choice is left to the families, the
structures act in such a way as to make the mother stay at home more than the father. The
state could therefore act as an important player as in how equal the parental leave is taken
out, combating those structures. The (SDP) Government’s Parental Insurance Investigation
of 2004 postulates this as one of their main goals:
The goal of The Parental Leave Insurance Commission is to create a parental leave insurance that can contribute
to change these informal structures and in extent create a society that can be seen as equal even outside the
horizon of formal law.51
The Moderate party’s gender equality bonus bill proposal and later law of 2008 discusses the
same issue: the fact that the society is not equal, but in their proposal they choose to focus on
the workplace and issues such as salary increases. The Moderate party that if women spend
less time away from work they will have a higher salary and have less reasons to stay home
with a child.52
Gender equality is seemingly less of an intrinsic goal and more an instrumental
one.
As mentioned, when the gender neutral parental leave was introduced in 1974 it consisted of
180 days (6 months). It was argued that any longer period than that would keep parents away
from work for too long and stymie professional development.53
Evidently, the possibility that
too long of a parental leave would impede with the professional prospects of both mothers
and fathers was an aspect discussed when introducing gender neutral parental leave in 1974.
As shown above, the effects of an extended parental leave did have those exact hurtful effects
51
SOU 2005:73, p. 60
52
Prop. 2007/08:93, p. 12, Lag (2008:313) om jämställdhetsbonus, 1§
53
SOU 1972:34; Familjestöd. Slutbetänkande av Familjepolitiska kommittén, p. 249
17. 17
and, since much of the parental leave was taken out by the mothers, the hurtful effect fell on
them. It is therefore relevant to turn the spotlight to paternal leave and its possible effects on
gender equality.
When looking at statistics supplied by Statistics Sweden, paternal leave seemingly worked in
the quest to have fathers take out a larger amount of the parental leave: Sweden introduced
the first month of non-transferrable paternal leave in 1995, granting 30 days earmarked for
the fathers, and in 2002, 30 more. In 1985, fathers took out 6 percent of the parental leave,
leaving the other 94 percent for the mothers. In 2013 the same numbers were 25 percent and
75 percent, respectively.54
For reference, the total days of parental leave granted in 1985 was
180 days, which means that 4 percent translates into 7 days. In 2013 the fathers’ share would
be 120 days (25 percent of the in 2013 total of 480 days available for both parents).
In spite of these numbers, it is hard to draw any conclusions as to how effective the two
daddy months were in encouraging fathers to stay at home with a child. Rickard Eriksson at
the Swedish Institute for Social Research draws the conclusion that the introduction of the
second daddy month in 2002 did not have the expected effect. However, he also notes that
the introduction of the second daddy month coincided with an increase in the general parental
leave allowance. This led to fathers taking out a longer parental leave about the length of the
second daddy month, but at the same time, mothers took out even more time, negating any
positive effects that the second daddy month might have had.55
54
Statistics Sweden, 2014, p. 5
55
Ekberg, John et al.; Parental Leave – A Policy Evaluation of the Swedish “Daddy-Month” Reform; Institute
for the Study of Labor, IZA DP No. 1617, 2005; pp. 16-18
18. 18
The Swedish Social Insurance Inspectorate reaches a similar conclusion but concludes that
while the second daddy month did have some effects, they were fewer than those caused by
the introduction of the first:
The results indicate that reforms encouraging a gender-equal division of parental leave seem to have greatest
impact when first introduced, but that it is difficult to achieve the same effect when they are repeated.56
Thus, while generous parental leave policies might be a wolf in sheep’s clothing in regards to
gender equality, it is less so when it comes to non-transferrable paternal leave. As the
statistics show, Swedish fathers have increased the amount of days they take out as parental
leave. This can be interpreted as a success of the daddy month reforms in making the parental
relationship more equal.
The Moderate-led government coalition refrained from introducing a third daddy month
under its years in power between 2006 and 2014. Instead, their chosen reform was the
introduction of the “gender equality bonus”, which was introduced in 2008, which aims, as
the name suggests, to encourage parents to take out a more equal share of the parental leave.
The gender equality bonus is a monetary means of encouragement for the parents. The bonus
covers 270 days (out of 480, where the rest are special exemptions, such as the 60 non-
transferrable days for both parents) and means that a bonus is paid out every day that the
parent with the least amount of days take out his or her parental leave.57
In the Moderate-led government’s original bill proposal from 2007 they express the idea that
with the bill, the government wishes to
56
Swedish Social Insurance Inspectorate, Rapport 2012:4 Ett jämställt uttag? Reformer inom
föräldraförsäkringen; Summary, p. 12
57
Swedish Social Insurance Office; Om Jämställdhetsbonus;
http://www.forsakringskassan.se/mobil/privatpers/foralder/barnet_fott/om_jamstalldhetsbonus/
19. 19
Improve the conditions for both men and women to take an active and gender equal responsibility for their
parenthood, but not remove the families’ freedom of self-determination. The government’s policies will also set
a foundation to diminish the differences between men’s and women’s opportunities in their working life.58
This wording carries on in the actual 2008 law, which summarizes the goals of it: “This law
contains ordinances regarding stimuli to increase gender equality within the areas of parental
leave and workforce participation.” [my emphasis]59
The Moderate version of reaching
gender equality is not through earmarking of paternal leave days (that is, forcing fathers to
take parental leave or otherwise the both parents will lose the days), but rather through
possible monetary gain to encourage parents to take out an equal share of the parental leave.
However, in the above-quoted report from the Swedish Social Insurance Inspectorate, they
reach the conclusion that the introduction of the gender equality bonus has not had any
“significant effect” on parental leave use, neither for fathers, nor for mothers. They theorize
on why that is:
This absence may be the result of a complicated system, lag in tax credit and/or less attention in the media and
public debate. In addition, other factors influencing the leave division between mothers and fathers may
dominate the pattern and a bonus at the economic level of the present one may be too marginal to have any
influence. Reasonable conclusions are therefore that reforms need to be intuitively easy to grasp in order to have
an effect, as well as substantial in size.60
However, the Moderates can also be seen as being caught between their coalition partners, as
the Liberal Party argued for a third daddy month while the Christian Democratic Party
58
Prop. 2007/08:93, p. 12
59
Lag (2008:313) Om jämställdhetsbonus;1§
60
Swedish Social Insurance Inspectorate, 2012, p. 12
20. 20
opposed that idea.61
The same can be said about the gender equality bonus reform itself: a
product of coalition compromise, and not necessarily what the Moderates wanted. Just before
the election in 2014, just half of the Moderate party MPs wished to keep the two paternal
leave months, and about a third of them wished to scrap them completely, along with their
coalition partners in the Christian Democratic Party.62
The League of Moderate Party Women said in a statement in 2013 that they, just like the
Moderate party as a whole, do not support a third, non-transferrable paternal month with the
argument that the “families themselves should decide over how to distribute the parental
leave."63
Hillevi Engström, the Moderate party’s 2014 gender equality spokesperson, went
against the party line in the months leading up to the 2014 election and said she was for a
third daddy month.64
So the Moderate party hold the official standpoint to be against a third
non-transferable paternal leave month, as well as large factions within the party, such as the
League of Moderate Women, but the support is not wide, nor universal.
Both of the two earmarked paternal leave months that are currently in place were introduced
by social democratic governments. However, the first reform was proposed by a Moderate-
led government in 1993 and later put into law by an SDP government in 1994. The SDP does
not see the third daddy month as the ultimate goal, but as step towards what they call an
“individualized” parental leave, meaning a system where the parental leave is divided into
two equal non-transferrable parts for each of the parents.65
The argument is that this goes
61
Duvander, Ann-Zofie; Ferrarini; Sweden’s Family Policy under Change: Past, Present, Future, Friedrich-
Ebert-Stiftung International Policy Analysis, 2013, p. 5
62
Makar, Maria; “Djup splittring om tredje pappamånad”, SVT Nyheter, 29-aug-14;
http://www.svt.se/nyheter/val2014/djup-splittring-om-tredje-pappamanad
63
Moderatkvinnorna; Nej till tredje ‘pappamånad’; 18-Nov-13;
http://www.moderatkvinnorna.se/index.php/nyheter/132-nej-till-en-tredje-pappamanad
64
Kärrmann, Jens; “Engström går emot partilinjen om pappamånaden”; Dagens Nyheter, 04-Apr-14;
http://www.dn.se/valet-2014/engstrom-gar-emot-partilinjen-om-pappamanader/
65
Socialdemokraterna; “En jämställd föräldraförsäkring”, http://www.socialdemokraterna.se/Var-politik/Var-
politik-A-till-O/Foraldraforsakring/
21. 21
hand in hand with the two-provider model that is a cornerstone of Swedish welfare society, in
which both of the parents work and provide for the family.66
This idea of the two-provider
model stems from the previously mentioned ideas of Alva and Gunnar Myrdal from the
1930s, as they argue that the one-provider model with a working father and stay at home
mother is part of an archaic patriarchal system.67
The SDP argue that this “individualized” parental leave does not necessarily hinder the
parent’s free choice and e.g. the case of a mother that wishes to stay at home with their child,
and argue that the mother may stay at home with their children for how long they wish, and
that the issue is rather how much of this stay should be financed and encouraged by the state:
the idea is that the state should not fund or support an unequal parental leave system.68
One argument against a third non-transferrable month is that this third month would be
toothless, because the average Swedish father already takes out 25% out of 480 days: 120
days.69
Because of this, a third daddy month (earmarking 90 days in total) would not have
any effect on the average parental couple. But since the outspoken goal of the SDP is to
introduce a system with two equal non-transferrable parts for each of the parents, the third
daddy month is only an initial step.
The matter at hand is to which degree the state should impose ideas upon its citizens. If a
parental leave system with absolutely no earmarked non-transferrable days were in place,
there would be no (state) encouragement of how the days would be distributed between the
66
Duvander, Ann-Zofie, “How Long Should Parental Leave Be? Attitudes to Gender Equality, Family, and
Work as Determinants of Women’s and Men’s Parental Leave in Sweden”; Journal of Family Issues, Vol.
35(7), 2014, pp. 909-926
67
Myrdal, 1934, p. 324
68
Social Democratic Women in Sweden; Why do we need an individualized parental leave?; 2012; p. 24
69
Stiernstedt, Jenny; Starka reaktioner inom M om tredje pappamånad; Svenska Dagbladet; 04-Apr-14,
http://www.svd.se/starka-reaktioner-inom-m-om-tredje-pappamanad
22. 22
two. Some argue that the gender neutral parental leave which was introduced in 1974 was a
compromise in which everyone could be happy: “By making parental insurance a free choice
both right wing and socialist principles could be adhered to.”70
This implies that free choice
is a central matter of contestation.
As the statement from the League of Moderate Women shows, their problem with a third
non-transferrable paternal leave month is that it would diminish the self-determination of the
parents. However, the case is not necessarily this clear cut, as the first paternal leave month
was proposed by a Moderate-led government. This ideological discrepancy has been
attributed to the broad political support that Swedish family politics enjoy, spanning the
entire political spectrum: “Family policies have been a well-integrated and substantial part of
the Swedish welfare state.”71
Let us return to the argument of what it means that the state earmarks, or refrains from
earmarking, parental leave days to the parents. The SDP views parental leave as a state-
funded system which should be equal.72
However, the Moderates hold the same view, that
parental leave is a thing which should be equal.73
If we boil down the two different ideas to
their essential parts, both are just as ‘equal’.
The system of two equal, non-transferrable parts is equal in the sense that neither parent has
any advantage or disadvantage when having a child. Similarly, having a policy where there
70
Klinth, 2002, p. 402
71
Bergquist, Christina; “The Debate about Care Allowance in Light of Welfare State Reconfiguration” in
Melissa Haussman and Birgit Sauer (eds.) Gendering the State in the Age of Globalization, Rowman &
Littlefield, Plymouth, 2007, p. 246
72
Socialdemokraterna; “En jämställd föräldraförsäkring”, http://www.socialdemokraterna.se/Var-politik/Var-
politik-A-till-O/Foraldraforsakring/; and Holmqvist, Anette, Karlsson, Pär; “S staller sig bakom helt delad
föräldraförsäkring”; Aftonbladet, 30-may-2015, http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article20881581.ab
73
Kinberg Batra, Anna; Normark, Eva; “Debatt: Dags för mer jämställd föräldraförsäkring”, Dagens Industri,
16-nov-2013, http://www.di.se/artiklar/2013/11/16/debatt-dags-for-mer-jamstalld-foraldraforsakring/
23. 23
are no non-transferrable parts and leaving the choice completely to the parents is on paper
just as equal as neither parent has any advantage or disadvantage when having a child. This
latter view though, disregards societal structures which works to the disadvantage of women
and mothers as they are assumed by both employers as well as fellow men and women to stay
at home, and therefore enjoy fewer opportunities.74
It is within this structure where the
schism between the SDP and the Moderate party becomes clear.
The point at issue is that both parties agree on is the fact that Swedish fathers do use a
considerably smaller part out of the parental leave allowance than mothers do. The widely
held assumption – as seen in the proposals from both the SDP and the Moderate party – is
that this difference leads to problems in society; both tangible ones such as losses in
productivity, but also less tangible ones such as the fact that children and fathers spend less
time together and create a weaker parental bond.75
The research has shown that the Swedish reforms in parental leave have been effective in
promoting fathers to take out a larger part of the parental leave. Swedish fathers now take out
the most paternal leave in Europe.76
While it is an impressive number, it also masks the truth
as there is a 1:3 ratio in the number of days that fathers take out as compared to mothers in
Sweden. While the question was not necessarily over whether the reforms were successful or
not, this is still important to the analysis.
This is due to the fact that the Moderate party put forward the gender equality bonus in 2008,
which was introduced to achieve the same goal as the third daddy month: increased gender
74
Pylkkänen, Elina; Smith, Nina; Career Interruptions due to Parental Leave: A Comparative Study of
Denmark and Sweden, OECD, 2003, p. 14
75
SOU 2005:73, pp. 61-66
76
European Parliament, Directorate General for Internal Policies; Maternity, paternity and parental leave: Data
related to duration and compensation rates in the European Union, 2015 Figure 23, p. 73
24. 24
equality in the Swedish parental leave system. Since there can be several reasons for the
Moderates not to put fourth – or agree to – a third daddy month, other explanations need to be
examined.
One of them can be that they thought that the “daddy month” reforms failed to have their
intended effects. As the research has shown, the Moderate party’s opposition towards a third
non-transferable daddy month has not been monolithic, as their own gender equality
spokesperson confessed that she would like to see a third daddy month. At the same time, the
powerful grouping of the League of Moderate Party Women explained that they did not like
the idea. Their argument for it was purely ideological as well: “Families themselves should
decide over how to distribute the parental leave.” [my emphasis]77
A statement that could be
interpreted as for them, it would not matter whether it was an effective measure or not. The
principle that the state should not decide over how parents should act or divide the parental
leave is more important. A statement that goes in line with a traditional liberal thinking, and
the party’s general liberal-conservative ideology as a whole.78
This ideological debate also highlights the issue of the Moderate Party’s ‘incompatibility’
with earmarking parental leave days as this would, just like the League of Moderate Party
Women imply, decide and force parents to what to do when they get a child. As the research
shows, it is hard to pinpoint whether feminism can work in this Moderate party context or
not, but as shown, there is an inclination that parties on the right on the political spectrum are
less willing to adhere to traditionally ‘feminist’ values and policies. Furthermore, the state
77
Moderatkvinnorna; Nej till tredje ‘pappamånad’; 18-Nov-13;
http://www.moderatkvinnorna.se/index.php/nyheter/132-nej-till-en-tredje-pappamanad
78
Barclay, Linda; “Liberal Daddy Quotas: Why Men Should Take Care of the Children, and How Liberals Can
Get Them to Do It”; Hypathia, Vol. 28(1), 2013, pp. 163-178
25. 25
was defined by gender theorists and sociologists Franzway, Court and Connell as one of the
most important players to reform or reshape structures and gender relations.79
The Moderate party ends up in an ideological conundrum as while they would work towards
a more gender equal society, they are seemingly less willing to do so through state
intervention. The Moderate party’s solution to this is to offer monetary encouragement, as
compared to the threat of making more months non-transferrable (and the possibility of
losing months). The concept is that the state refrains from forcing the parents to do
something, but rather to encourage them. The idea was that it would attract more parents to
divide the parental leave more equally, but as the Swedish Social Insurance Inspectorate’s
report showed, it is hard see any significant effect on fathers’ usage of parental leave after the
introduction of the gender equality bonus.
It is interesting to look at the policies in regards to effectiveness, as another reason for
refraining to introduce a third daddy month could be its relative ineffectiveness, as Swedish
fathers on average take out more the amount of days than what a third daddy month would
cover. As the quoted report show, both the gender equality bonus introduced in 2008, and the
second daddy month introduced in 2002 have shown to have fairly little effect on whether
fathers use more parental leave. If both measures are equally inefficient (or efficient) it boils
down to the ideological basis of the two. The Moderate party argue that the gender equality
bonus is an example of a measure that would work to improve upon gender equality but “not
remove the families’ freedom of self-determination.”80
Just like the League of Moderate
Party Women, the bill put forward by the Moderate-led government suggest that the SDP
counter-proposal of a third daddy month would remove this freedom of self-determination.
79
Franzway et al, 1989, pp. 6-10
80
Prop. 2007/08:93, p. 12
26. 26
The SDP, as shown, sees the introduction and promotion of a third daddy month as one step
on the way to a completely equally divided parental leave. The overarching issue when
discussing gender equality, a major focal point for feminist movements, within the Swedish
context, is how it is regarded. The goal of achieving gender equality is not necessarily an
issue of debate but rather an issue that there is a large degree of consensus on within the
Swedish political context. This means that gender equality and similar issues close to the
‘feminist cause’ are something that the majority of the parties agree to, regardless of their
ideological inclination.
The same can be said about a plethora of traditionally social democratic ideals, such as the
belief in a strong welfare state and high taxes. Despite being a country governed by a center-
right coalition for eight years, Sweden still had some of the world’s highest taxes in 2014.81
Much of the Moderate Party’s advertising and rebranding in the last ten years has had to do
with reassuring the public that they would not dismantle or diminish the welfare systems –
quite the outlier as a liberal-conservative party.82
A similar argument can be made about the primacy of gender equality and even feminism.
Can it be so that neither of the two big parties, the SDP and the Moderates, are interested in
dismantling any policies or ideas which tries to achieve equality between the genders? The
marginal Christian Democratic Party is the only Swedish party in the parliament that oppose
all earmarked non-transferable months completely, apart from the conservative-populist
Sweden Democrats party, which is somewhat of an outlier and outsider in the Swedish
81
Kleven, Henrik Jacobsen; "How Can Scandinavians Tax So Much?"; Journal of Economic Perspectives;
28(4), 2014; pp. 77-98
82
Papworth, Thomas; ”The Orange Book, the Liberal Democrats and Economic Freedom”, Economic Affairs,
Vol. 32(2), 2012, pp. 21-26; and The Economist, ”Europe: The parties’ tax tangle; Germany’s election”, The
Economist, 22-aug-2009, pp. 46-47
27. 27
political milieu.83
As the research has shown, both parties, as well as individuals within the
party, promote policies to encourage gender equality.
Is the hunt for gender equality the same as feminism, though? Let us once more return to one
of the definitions of feminism in the beginning of this essay; that feminism is about
acknowledging the fact that there are structures in society which subordinate women to men
and that these structures are wrong. As shown, the SDP investigation postulates that what is
central to gender equality progress is the dismantling of informal societal structures that work
to the disadvantage of women. The goal is to remove these structures, and the SDP would
reason that is a goal in itself. The Moderate party, on the other hand, sees parental leave
policies as a tool to integrate more women in the workplace and they argue that if women
spend less time away from work they will have a higher salary and have less reasons to stay
home with a child. By doing this, they define the goal as not necessarily gender equality, but
rather workplace integration.
The goals might be similar, and even the same in some ways, but both the ways of achieving
the goals, as well as the reasons for them, are different. Structures that work against women
and the fight against them are central to feminist thought and it is here there is a difference
between the two examined parties. Structures are central to the gender equality argument
from the SDP, while more peripheral in the same argument given by the Moderate party. If
one does not recognize the structures that, according to feminist theory, exist, and work
against women, a central point of feminist theory is lost. In this case, the pursuit of an equal
parental leave falls under the broader term of gender equality rather than feminism.
83
Bolin, Niklas; “Är Sverigedemokraterna höger?”, Om makt och politik, 2015
28. 28
4. Conclusion
For all the similarities and consensus that mark Swedish political culture in general and
gender equality in particular, there are some differences. The major difference which has set
the tone in the debate over parental leave and non-transferrable “daddy months” is the
question of which role the state should play in deciding how people should live their lives.
As the research shows, central to the Moderate Party is the idea that the state should not
interfere too much into the lives of its citizens. Contrary to the SDP, they argue that the state
does exactly that when earmarking certain parts of the parental leave, forcing the parents to
adhere to a certain set of ideas. However, they do not completely refrain from the idea of the
state promoting this certain set of ideas as they themselves introduced the gender equality
bonus. The central issue that seem to come back is the norm of gender equality, and how
parties approach it.
This essay examined whether earmarking parental leave exclusively for the fathers is an
effective policy and the answer is that it is somewhat effective, or even very effective when it
is first introduced as a new policy. This was to see whether there could be other reasons to
oppose paternal leave than ideological ones. One of these was the fact that since Swedish
fathers already on average take out more parental leave than three months, the SDP’s
proposal of a third daddy month reform would be toothless. While this is true, the Moderate
party led coalition’s reform of providing a monetary bonus for equal division of the parental
leave did not produce any greater quantifiable results either.
29. 29
As further shown in the research, the SDP’s outspoken goal is to divide the parental leave
into two equally large, non-transferrable parts, creating an, on paper, just as ‘equal’ division
of parental leave as the absence of earmarking days would do. While there are other
implications to why one policy might be preferable than the other, such as legal or taxation
issues, ideology comes back as a central topic.
Throughout the research, there are aspects of feminism and gender equality norms that have
shown to be more prone to the liking of the left, such as how the SDP recognized the for
feminism important gender structures and the idea that the state can be seen as an important
player in defining and redefining gender structures in society. Meanwhile, the Moderate party
can be said to do the exact same thing when propagating their gender equality bonus;
implicitly recognizing the gender structures and its hurtful effects.
The discussion shows exactly how much of a consensus surrounds the matter of gender
equality and parental leave in Sweden: neither of the two dominant parties examined want a
dramatic change in the status quo. It is therefore also interesting to reflect upon the idea of a
social democratic hegemony. As is evident when examining the work of Alva and Gunnar
Myrdal, gender equality and the fight against the patriarchy was central in forming modern
Swedish society, just as many other ideas supported by the SDP and their members.
No matter whether it stems from social democratic hegemony or not, and in light of the above
evidence, it is safe to draw the conclusion that there is a widely agreed-upon consensus on a
gender equality norm in Sweden, and with that, certain aspects of feminism.
30. 30
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