“Why the Nordic’s shared parental leave laws are no silver bullet for gender equality”

Novare Pay Consulting CEO Erika Andersson.

“I think Sweden is a role model on parental leave. However, we have gone too far. We missed the goal. It’s not supporting equality, which was the purpose of the law. It should be utilised by both mothers and fathers, but that’s not how it has developed,”

Data shows that Swedish women’s earnings grow at a slower pace than men's following the birth of a child. An analysis by Novare Pay shows a working mother earns on average 22% less than her male co-worker. That women commonly work part-time when their children are young further contributes to lower lifetime earnings.

Erika Andersson

“It’s the norm in [Swedish] society that the woman stays at home with the child – and there are a lot of women who want to be at home with the child,” says Andersson. “But to work towards equality in the labour market we have to have a more equal responsibility when it comes to parental leave and childcare.”

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