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E
nsuring
W
ork
-F
amily
B
alance
raising allowance can be paid out for a child up to three years
old when the child is not enrolled at public childcare services.
A majority of both men and women in Sweden are satis-
fied with how they divide their time between children and
paid work. In an analysis by Statistics Sweden in 2011, 60
per cent of women said they were satisfied with the balance
compared to 53 per cent of men. Only about one-fifth of both
men and women said they weren’t satisfied at all with the
balance. Satisfaction was higher for both parents when they
could influence their working hours. But for single-parent
households, satisfaction was considerably lower – about 38
per cent among parents whose children live with them almost
constantly. Reconciliation measures and support for single
parents need to be developed further. Thus, the Swedish
Government is planning to adapt parental insurance to take
account of the need for increased flexibility for single parents,
as well as other initiatives making it easier for parents to coop-
erate and share responsibility for their children.
The importance of parental employment to reduce risks
of poverty and enhance the well-being of families cannot be
stressed enough. At the same time many families knowhow diffi-
cult it is to combine responsible parenthood and wholehearted
efforts at work. Supporting families to achieve a good balance
between these two is a central part of policies for a sustainable
society. Recent initiatives by the Swedish Government include
the introduction of a gender equality bonus, a child-raising
allowance, a strengthened pedagogical task for preschool
and a number of reforms targeting low-income households.
Another initiative tackling the double responsibilities of family
and work is the introduction of tax deductions for household
services. This tax relief can help facilitate the reconciliation of
work and family life for both women and men by reducing
their workloads. Available support for parents also includes
the Government’s parental support strategy, promoting local
support programmes for parents in handling relationships and
conflicts with their children and other support measures target-
ing all parents with children under the age of 18.
These initiatives are part of a holistic approach to parent-
ing and family support, recognizing the need for policy
refinement and revision in order to meet the challenges of
tomorrow. Effective measures to raise living standards for
families and promote gender equality should be based on
achieving a work-life balance for both parents. They should
also recognize that political measures directed at children are
an investment in society. Ambitions for the continued devel-
opment of family policy and for enhancing the well-being of
children remain an important government priority.
Increasing fathers’ parental leave uptake
The Swedish Social Insurance Inspectorate has investigated the effects
of the strategies applied to increase men’s use of parental benefit
days. The study investigates how the uptake of parental leave changes
during the first 24 months after the introduction of each reform.
Results show that the greatest effect on both fathers’ and
mothers’ use of parental benefit came from reserving the first
month in 1995. The proportion of fathers taking any leave at all
increased from 44 per cent to 77 per cent, the majority of whom
took about one month of leave. Fathers who had not used parental
benefit before the reform – those on low incomes, with lower
secondary education qualifications, and those who were born
abroad – were mainly affected. Differences in the use of parental
leave between groups of fathers decreased after the reform.
The second reserved month had only a moderate effect, mainly
increasing use for fathers on middle to high incomes and for those
born in Sweden. The study did not find any significant effects of
the gender equality bonus. Taking into account that the bonus was
significantly simplified in 2012, making it easier to understand and
use, long-term effects of the bonus cannot be ruled out.
A majority of both men and women are satisfied with how they divide time with children and time at work
Image: Ulf Huett Nilsson