The chapter examines the development of publicly financed childcare (PFC) and cash for care in Finland, Norway, and Sweden, from the 1960s until today. These three countries show quite different development trajectories over time. In all three, but especially Finland and Sweden, women entered the labor market before the PFC services had developed and childcare was initially arranged privately. Informal family day care was eventally replaced by formal family day carers being employed by the municipality. This happened less in Norway, where women entered the labor market later. Preschool activity then expanded over time, first in Sweden and somewhat later in Finland and Norway. Over time preschools became the dominant form of childcare, but the prevalence of cash for care differentiates the situation in the three countries, especially regarding children's age at start of PFC. Today, Finland is the country where cash for care is still widely used and children start later in preschools. The chapter also describes the comparative cost and subsidized fees of PFC, when various parental groups got access to PFC, and indicators of quality in the three countries. The authors draw the conclusion that the motivation to expand PFC to facilitate women's work has today been replaced by a motivation centered around children's needs, a move in which informal caregivers have been replaced by educated preschool teachers. 

I Ekonomisk Debatt nr 3, 2003, publicerades en artikel skriven av Christina Jonung och Ann-Charlotte Ståhlberg – ”Nationalekonomins frukter – även för kvinnor?” De pekade på att andelen kvinnor inom nationalekonomi hade ökat de tre senaste decennierna men att disciplinen trots detta fortfarande var mansdominerad. Denna artikel ställer frågan om nationalekonomi är jämställt idag nästan 20 år senare och om det i så fall satt några spår i nationalekonomisk forskning? 

Denna rapport ingår som ett bidrag till Jämställdhetsmyndighetens uppdrag att redovisa och samlat analysera åtgärder som vidtagits för att nå de jämställdhetspolitiska målen och som utgör en del av myndighetens uppföljningssystem av jämställdhetspolitiken.

In Sweden the unadjusted gender pay gap was 11.3 percent and the adjusted 4.3 percent in 2017. The Discrimination Act states that in order to discover, remedy and prevent unfair gender differences in pay and other terms of employment, the employer is to annually survey and analyse provisions and other terms of employment that are used by the employer, and pay differences between women and men performing work that is to be regarded as equal or of equal value (Section 8). Employers who employ ten or more workers are to document in writing their work on pay surveys. Employers and employees are to cooperate in this work.

The social partners are responsible for wage formation in Sweden. The degree of organisation is high both among employers and employees. There are around 55 employer organisations and 60 unions. There are 668 national collective agreements about wages and general terms of employment.1 Negotiations may take place on the central as well as on the local level. Central wage formation is most common in the private sector while local wage formation is most common in the public sector. In 2018, 65 percent of the employed men and 72 percent of the employed women were members of a union and the share of employees covered by collective agreements was 89 percent.

Jämställdhet, och i än högre grad kvinnor, nämns allt oftare i statsbudgeten – med en skarpare ökning sedan 2014. Det betyder inte per automatik att jämställdhet främjas konstaterar Anita Nyberg, genusvetare och professor emerita vid Stockholms universitet, och analyserar, med nedslag i några av åtgärderna, effekter av budgeten för 2018.