A fundamental issue concerning work and family is the extent that women and men work and take care of children. The Nordic countries (i.e., Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Iceland for the purposes of this review) are characterized by a “dual-worker model” in which a majority of both women and men participate in paid work, but are also, to some extent, characterized by a “dual-carer model” in which both women and men actively take part in the upbringing of their children (Edlund & Öun, 2016). The Nordic countries have a history of family policies being directed toward both mothers and fathers, and state provisions for dual-earner family support and childcare were developed in a political context with women’s equality in mind (Ellingsaeter & Leira, 2006). Still, the challenge of combining work and family domains is under continual debate and development in the Nordic countries. In the next sections, we will briefly describe the general trends of women’s participation in the labor market in relation to the development of the welfare system. This historical development is crucial for the understanding of how women and men combine work and family in the Nordic countries today.