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Introduction
An overarching goal of the Swedish parental leave insurance is to enable
shared care of and economic responsibility for children; in other words, a
gender-equal division of parenthood. A number of reforms of the insurance
have attempted to strengthen this goal by encouraging fathers’ use of
parental leave. Whether, or to what degree, the goal is met is hard to
determine. Strong scientific evidence of whether a reform has achieved its
aim is rare. It is even rarer to be able to compare the outcomes of different
reforms aiming at the same goal with different methods. In this study we
compare the impact of three reforms of parental leave insurance aiming at
gender-equal leave use, but with different means. Our ambition is to draw
conclusions regarding which policies mostly affected the leave use in a
more gender-equal direction. Today fathers use on average just over one-
fifth of the leave available.
Parental leave insurance is the part of Swedish family policy most closely
related to goals of gender equality. Since the introduction of parental leave
the goal of a more gender-equal division of the leave has been largely
unquestioned and various strategies to meet the goal have been
implemented. The motives behind such a goal are more gender-equality
regarding the division of household work (including childcare) in the home
and an improved position of women in the Swedish labor market. Lately
children’s right to access to both parents has been emphasized as well. In
addition, gender equality regarding the use of parental leave is sometimes
seen as a way to enable men and women to have the number of children
they desire. Gender-equal parental leave use may thus be seen as part of
policies that are associated with higher fertility (summarized for example in
McDonald 2006a). It supports the same gender equity standards in
institutions dealing with individuals and families, which is not the case in
countries with lowest low fertility (McDonald 2000).
The leave could be used by both mothers and fathers right from the start,
and a number of reforms have been launched to encourage the sharing of
the leave. In 1995, one month was reserved for each parent and was
forfeited if not used by the same parent. The reservation of one month was
followed by another month in 2002. In 2008, a gender equality bonus was
introduced, meaning that tax credits were given to parents who shared the
leave equally.
There are differences in how these reforms were introduced and which
group of parents they target which may lead to different expectations as to
the effects of the reforms. Furthermore, it should be kept in mind that even
if the reforms aim at the same goal they are part of political compromises
where other goals are also taken into account. For instance, parental leave
insurance takes into account goals regarding parents’ labor force
participation, minimum income of families, welfare of children (interpreted
in different ways) and parents’ freedom of choice; these goals are
sometimes in line and sometimes in conflict with the goal of gender-equal
use of parental leave.
The reforms are also cumulative in that the second reserved month can
only be introduced after the first and the gender equality bonus builds on
two reserved months. Thus, introducing the reforms in reverse order may
have other effects. All three reforms emphasize working parents’ equal
rights whereas non-working parents are to a large part left out, indicating
