Response to interpellation 2022/23:34 on an equal parental leave policy

Statsrådet Anna Tenje (M)

Mr. Speaker! Sanne Lennström has asked me if I consider an equal parental leave to be desirable, and if so, what I intend to do to achieve this goal as well as how I intend to work on developing the parental leave in cooperation with the parties behind the Tidö Agreement.

Sweden has the world's most generous parental leave. It provides conditions for both parents to take great responsibility for the care of the children and simultaneously work. The parental benefit is equal in the sense that it is divided completely equally between parents with joint custody, but the outcome is unequal – the majority of the parental leave and the parental benefit is taken by women.

The Government considers that the parental leave should offer freedom of choice and flexibility. Families themselves are best suited to decide in what way the leave should be distributed to suit their specific situation. It is central that parents have access to clear information on how the distribution of parental leave affects lifelong income so that they can make informed and well-considered choices.

Equal parenting and a more equal distribution of care work if the children are desirable, not only because children have a right to both their parents but also to strengthen women's position in the labor market and for women's wage and career development. An unequal distribution of care work and parental leave can furthermore have a negative impact on women's health, on the distribution of unpaid domestic work in general, on pension, on lifetime income and on women's empowerment.

Women born abroad have, on average, a significantly weaker connection to the labor market and receive compensation at the base level to a greater extent. Neither the rules for parental leave nor an unequal distribution of parental leave should delay establishment in the working life.

Mr. Speaker! Parents should be given more tools and increased opportunities to use the parental leave benefit more flexibly. This strengthens freedom of choice and increases the conditions for combining family life with a high labor force participation.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Sanne Lennström (S)

Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister very much for the answer, even though it is an answer that in some ways raises even more questions, which I hope we can address in today's interpellation debate.

For us Social Democrats, the answer to whether a more equal withdrawal is needed is yes. That is why we stand behind a three-part parental insurance. Today's interpellation debate on an equal parental insurance is important. It is important from a child's perspective, from a gender equality perspective, and from an equality perspective.

We are proud to be one of the world's absolute best countries to have children in and also one of the world's best countries at sharing this very parental insurance. Unfortunately, it is going very slowly to reach what could be counted as equal use of the parental insurance, and it has major consequences. As I wrote in my interpellation to the Minister: "That which is good, one shares equally." But even the economic consequences of a parental leave must we share more equally.

We see today that the majority of people with low pensions are women. We see that unequal withdrawals create career obstacles and more parental leave, and very early on make women the primary caregivers. This is a very large obstacle to an equal working life for women.

We have investigations showing that norms and values are a factor to take into account here. But then it is fortunate that politics and legislation are norm-setting. There are several different tools to use to steer family policy in the right direction. It is important that we in this chamber strive for a modern parental insurance. Let us continue to be the world's foremost example when it comes to working so that our children get a fair, equal, and good start in life together with both of their parents!

I do not really perceive any concrete proposals from the Minister. I would like to know a bit more concretely what flexibility means in this context. For me, it leads to the question: Is an equal parental leave truly desirable in the Minister's opinion?

The Minister mentions the unequal distribution of care work. It is about poorer women's health, poorer pensions, and several negative consequences of today's situation in this area. If the Minister acknowledges these problems, I naturally want to know: What does the Minister intend to do to address these problems?

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Statsrådet Anna Tenje (M)

Mr. Speaker! I want to begin by pointing out that the parental leave benefit is equal in very many ways. It is the withdrawal that is, to some extent, unequal. Parents should, as Member of Parliament Sanne Lennström points out, be given more tools and increased opportunities to use the parental leave benefit more flexibly. It strengthens freedom of choice and increases the conditions for combining a working life with also being at home and taking care of the children.

I have some examples of measures that could strengthen flexibility and allow the parental leave to be used in a significantly more flexible way for families and increase the possibilities to combine gainful employment and staying at home with the children. It could, for example, be that more double days are introduced. In the current situation, 30 days are used as double days, that is, when both the mother and the father, or both guardians, can be at home at the same time with the child.

It has turned out to be very positive. It does not only strengthen the bond with the child. One can get help, and the birth injuries and the aftercare for the woman are reduced. One sees a positive development in many different ways.

It has also been shown that in the families where the double days are utilized, the remaining withdrawals of the parental leave also become more equal. One might, as a father, become a bit eager to be able to stay home a bit more with his children.

We want to look further into that possibility. Exactly how, in what way, and the number of days that we would like to extend by, we will simply get back to regarding once we have looked further into the issue in a more in-depth manner.

It could also be about reviewing the possibility of transferring days to a person other than the two guardians. This would mean a definitely more modern and flexible parental leave. It simply gives both the woman and the man the possibility to be able to work and at the same time be at home with the children. One might have a third person or a fourth person who can also share in the parental leave for the child.

I want to return to the choices that people still make. From the government's side, we think it is very important that people have the freedom of choice and the flexibility. It is the families themselves who can best determine what suits their own situation. In that regard, the information, knowledge, and awareness of what consequence one's choice results in are incredibly important.

In that case, it is necessary that, based on the assignments of the responsible authority, they continue to provide information so that the individuals in question in the families can make precisely these well-motivated and informed choices. I believe that can also contribute to a significantly more equal outcome of an already very equal parental leave.

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Sanne Lennström (S)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer! There were several concrete proposals that I look forward to addressing later in the Social Insurance Committee.

We move on to another question regarding how the parties to the Tidö Agreement intend to work with the policy in the area. The reason I asked that question was that I reviewed election platforms, party websites, and social media. I discovered that, according to these pages, the parties were not quite entirely in agreement on how the parental leave should be developed.

Perhaps that is the reason why, in the initial response, I did not quite perceive any clear direction on exactly how one wants to work with the flexibility. It differs very much on several points between the government parties.

On the Christian Democrats' side, it clearly states, for example, no to the quota of parental days. They seem to be in general agreement with the Sweden Democrats, who write that one should remove the reserved days for each parent.

The Liberals, on the other hand, do not consider that more days should be earmarked but suggest some other changes. The Moderates, the government's own party, write instead that they want to maintain the current number of days that are reserved. No way forward regarding the policy seems to exist in the Tidö Agreement either.

Against that background, I and surely many with me would like to know: Are the parties in agreement on how the parental leave should be developed? Some points were mentioned here earlier, and I thank you for that. It concerns precisely these reserved months or days that certain parties write about. How should one work with these issues regarding regulatory letters, legislative proposals, and other matters?

It results in a very short question that I would very much like to have an answer to. Will the government submit proposals to remove reserved months in the parental leave?

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Statsrådet Anna Tenje (M)

Mr. Speaker! I can state that there is a completed investigation on the table. It concerns increasing the number of reserved days. It is currently being prepared. I intend that we will return to how we view that matter.

I can only state that when the number of reserved days for fathers was introduced, it went in three steps, I believe. It was first one month, then two months, and then three months. The effects have quite obviously diminished.

From being a very successful way to get parents to increase their withdrawal, the effect has diminished with the number of months. It is quite difficult to know if today's parents are actually influenced by specifically the number of reserved days. In a modern parental insurance, we should work with other methods than perhaps increasing the number of reserved days. But we will have to return to that matter when that question is on the table.

I believe that it still boils down to conscious choices. Based on the knowledge we do have about what the different alternatives entail, we can make conscious and informed choices. It is about what a substantial withdrawal of parental leave does to the pension or what it does to the possibility of entering the labor market.

It also concerns what it does with other income-related parts in general. It is extremely important that that part is strengthened and that we have a broad and general discussion about those issues. It is precisely then that one can make free, conscious, and really good choices.

It is perhaps not the role of politics to step in at the kitchen table and micro-manage exactly how one should or should not take their leave. There, I believe that, ultimately, it is the families who are best suited to make those decisions. They shall, of course, do so after they have received the information they need.

I am concerned that some women will never enter the labor market. I am concerned that they sometimes seem to get further and further away in line with their children's leave when they are on parental leave.

Increasing women's labor force participation, and especially among those who are foreign-born, I believe will become our most important equality issue moving forward. It is about being able to increase their own empowerment and their participation in society so that they can be an active part.

I believe that truly is an important issue for increasing equality when it comes to parental leave but also equality in general in our society.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Sanne Lennström (S)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer! It feels reassuring that the Minister expresses a concern for women's situation on the labor market, also for newly arrived women. I look forward to more debates where we can talk more about how one can change this concern into action to achieve a different outcome than today.

To reach the gender equality goal of a more equal distribution of unpaid home and care work, it is important that we in this chamber and the government on the other side of the water cooperate to try to lower the thresholds as much as we can to achieve a more equal uptake of the parental leave. In that case, there are certainly several different tools that we can review. I look forward to the future debates, as I have said.

I am also pleased that the Minister mentions a number of investigations, because as has been said, there is already a very large amount of good material that one can make good policy from.

Among other things, there is ISF's report, which concerns which fathers do not use the parental leave. These are fathers who have low incomes, are self-employed, or have very high incomes. These are the three groups that use the parental insurance to the least extent.

I promise, and hope that the Minister can promise, to continue this conversation to continue developing equality within this area so that it can benefit both mothers and fathers and children in the future. It is very important because it, as the Minister mentioned, affects women's health, women's pensions and women's empowerment.

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Statsrådet Anna Tenje (M)

Mr. Speaker! I also want to emphasize the importance of this discussion. I also look forward to more debates on this area, because the fact that women end up in exclusion and never enter the labor market is truly a threat to equality in Sweden. We have for many years worked hard to achieve a completely different line, so the parental insurance and the parental benefit must not be a reason to move further away from the labor market or de facto not enter it at all. This discussion is therefore far from over.

I also look forward to returning with more proposals to the chamber that can improve and strengthen both flexibility and freedom of choice and, hopefully, also provide a more equal outcome of the parental allowance itself.

The interpellations debate was hereby concluded.

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