Response to interpellation 2023/24:163 on women's working environment
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
L believes that an equal and safe working environment is a high priority and that women and men have different work environment risks due to gender segregation 1. L argues that the government has a high level of ambition and works based on a work environment strategy to create a sustainable working life 1 2. L emphasizes that projects are being worked on to prevent women from being forced out of the working life and to increase knowledge about risks within healthcare 3. L argues that it must be monitored that the most vulnerable groups are not hit hardest during crises 3 4. S thinks that reports are good but that they do not change reality 5. S believes that what is needed is practical action and concrete proposals to protect women who risk losing their jobs 5. L believes that reports are necessary to identify risks and protective factors as it is not possible to develop solutions without research 4. L argues that the government will continue to work based on facts when they are available 4.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Paulina Brandberg (L)
Mr. Speaker! Sofia Amloh has asked me what initiatives I am prepared to take in light of the deficient working environment, particularly in the female-dominated sectors.
I would like to start by thanking Sofia Amloh for this interpellation. I share her commitment to a good and equal working environment.
For me, as Minister for Equality and Deputy Minister for Employment, an equal and safe working environment is a high-priority issue. Women and men shall have the same opportunities and conditions in working life, and everyone has the right to a healthy and safe working environment.
The occupational environment risks for women and men look different and are due, among other things, to the fact that parts of the labor market are still gender-segregated and that men and women work in different occupations. But even when women and men work within the same organization or occupation, the work often has different content, which also affects the occupational environment risks.
The Swedish Work Environment Authority's statistics have shown over time that women are more likely to fall ill from their work while men are more often affected by accidents. In the Swedish Work Environment Authority's report Work-related ailments 2022, which concerns ailments of various types, for example physical and psychosomatic, it is stated that the most common cause of ailments, besides accidents, is excessive workload. Ailments of this cause are particularly common among women working within municipalities and regions. Among occupations with a high proportion of ailments as a result of work, there are several female-dominated occupations within healthcare and education. For example, it is stated that almost half of all primary school teachers and leisure educators have such ailments. Other occupations with a particularly high proportion of employees with ailments are assistant nurses and nurses.
Since women and men are collectively differently exposed to risks and ill health in working life, a good working environment is also an important equality issue.
According to the work environment legislation, the employer has the primary responsibility for the work environment. Good dialogue and cooperation between the employer, employees, and safety representatives is absolutely crucial for a good and preventive systematic work environment management. This work should, of course, be based on the conditions at the individual workplace and should have an equality perspective. Focus must be directed towards preventing the risks that actually occur and therefore aim at both women's and men's working conditions.
The Government has a high level of ambition for the work environment policy to meet various challenges in working life. One such challenge is that everyone, both women and men, should have the strength, ability, and desire to work for an entire working life. In this context, Arbetsmiljöverket also has an important role. Arbetsmiljöverket has therefore received large additions to its appropriation over the recent years.
Sofia Amloh (S)
Mr. Speaker! I intend to start at the end that the Minister himself describes regarding how things look in his response to the interpellation.
There are large differences between the genders regarding the work environment. Primarily in the female-dominated sectors, we see that the work environment is extremely deficient many times. The consequences of that are enormous.
People are reducing their working hours in an attempt to cope. They have recurring sick leaves that affect the economy. It is not uncommon that they also go into early retirement. They cannot endure their entire professional life.
It struck me that it is by chance November 23 today when we have the debate. I have sent a congratulatory text to my own mother who turns 65 today. She turns a pensioner today, and we have this debate now about the working environment for women.
I have just said that it is very common for people to go into early retirement. It is something that my mother has also done. She has gone into early retirement because she has not had the conditions to work throughout her entire professional life. Today, on her birthday, it is not a day when she stops going to work and becomes a retiree. She has already done that.
The professional life that my own mother has had is also synonymous with the professional lives of many other women. One in three women in a manual occupation cannot take a shorter break during their workday, and one in four women has a fixed-term employment. It is a situation in the labor market that we find difficult to accept, and it is required that we do more.
Mr. Speaker! I believe it was last month that Försäkringskassan presented figures showing that more people are taking sick leave due to stress, and a majority of those affected are women. Many times, it is because of a double workload. Women take a great deal of responsibility for children and family. Women work to a higher extent in welfare services, as we have touched upon, under working conditions that are often heavy and difficult.
It is a societal problem. It is not the individual's problem. It is not the individual employer's problem, but it is a societal problem. It is required that there is a policy that takes full responsibility.
I find it a bit difficult to reconcile when the Minister stands here and says that there is a high level of ambition. If we focus on welfare and the public employer, we see right now that regions and municipalities receive far too little money from the state to fulfill their basic mandate.
My own home region, Sörmland, is laying off over 700 people. They are to be removed from the operations where they cannot deliver at all. This is happening in combination with the fact that we have a skills shortage in welfare. People need more colleagues. If they are to be able to take that shorter break, it cannot be the case that it creates a better working environment for them to have fewer colleagues.
My question to the Minister is: On the one hand, municipalities and regions are being starved financially and driven toward these measures. On the other hand, it is said that there are high ambitions for the work environment policy. What does that mean?
Statsrådet Paulina Brandberg (L)
Mr. Speaker! I completely agree with the picture that the interpellator paints of that women, to a significantly greater extent than men, do not hold full-time employment. More women work part-time, and more women go into early retirement and simply work less. It is something that we must work on.
This situation is not new. It is a problem that has occurred for a very long time. We must work persistently, continuously and enduringly to find new ways to improve the situation.
We find ourselves in an extra challenging situation right now. We have a new situation in the labor market where we are on the other side of a pandemic. We hope in any case that we are on the other side. We have a new reality in working life with more remote work.
Remote work has many advantages. But there are also disadvantages. Among these is that the boundary easily becomes blurred between work and leisure and between work and household chores. We see that this affects women more than it affects men. It is something that we need to address in the ongoing work when we talk about specifically stress in working life and that people wear themselves out in their working lives.
The government has continued to work based on the work environment strategy that has been in effect since 2021. One of the goals in this strategy is precisely a sustainable working life. Everyone should be able to, have the strength to, and want to work a whole working life. The strategy was established during the height of the pandemic, and one did not have the full picture that we have now.
When the government continues to work on the issues and sees how we should proceed after 2025, we will base it on the new current situation we have regarding what our working life looks like today. It is very important to meet those challenges.
We must also see how the economic situation affects all parts of our society and not least our working life. Personal finances obviously create stress in themselves. We find ourselves in a difficult economic situation. One wishes that there had been more money in many different places in our society.
The government has made major investments in welfare in the budget. This must also be seen in light of the economic situation we find ourselves in. We are following these issues very closely. For this government, there is no other alternative than to continue working for a sustainable working life.
Sofia Amloh (S)
Mr. Speaker! The Minister says that the government is making major investments in welfare. I believe that the Minister and the government are quite alone in perceiving it as major investments. We see that they are cutting back and laying people off. It is people who are paying a rather high price out there.
It concerns both those who are employed and the women who are out there carrying the welfare on their shoulders. In the meantime, we see that patients do not receive care in time because there is not enough staff to provide what it is there to do. It is very difficult to feel that one is investing in women, women's working environment and living conditions. Furthermore, it is said that one is investing in the welfare.
We had a pandemic where women paid a very high price for bearing it. Now comes an economic crisis. Who is it then who have to stand there when it is said that it wasn't enough and that these are tough times? They have to stand there and be uncertain about whether they will keep their jobs or whether they will lose colleagues and become fewer when the skills shortage becomes tangible.
I find it difficult to see it anyway, and I believe there are quite a few of us who find it difficult to see that these are major investments.
When the Minister says that the government has a high level of ambition for the work environment policy, I still want to ask a question. About 25 percent of this mandate period has passed. I believe it is starting to be time for the Minister to specify and say more exactly what is to be done. What outcome is expected? How is this supposed to affect and change the reality and the work environment that we have just described?
The Minister is the Minister, Mr. Speaker. She is ultimately responsible for changing this reality, and she has all the tools in her toolbox to do so. I believe it is important, not only for me or for us here in the chamber but also for many others, to hear what the Minister means more concretely by a high level of ambition. What is this? What does it mean? What is it that is to be done? What proposals will be submitted? What measures will be taken to change this reality? I have not received answers to that.
I think it is time to develop that answer. The Minister gets the opportunity to think, reflect, and hopefully also act. It is high time that the Minister does this in the chamber.
It is no longer enough to say: We think this is important, and we think we have ambitions in this area. The Government needs to answer the question of what more concretely should be done to actually change this. This applies perhaps above all in a time when the economic crisis is incredibly tangible for women specifically, whether they work in the welfare sector or if they cannot make their private finances work out.
What measures does the government have to present so that women do not have to pay this price?
Statsrådet Paulina Brandberg (L)
Mr. Speaker! Yes, it is a challenge, just as the interpellator points out. At all times we have seen that when crises arise, it is a matter of ensuring that the most vulnerable groups are not hit the hardest. That is, after all, how it has looked historically.
This government is handling many societal problems simultaneously, and precisely when it comes to these types of issues, we are working very hard to protect the vulnerable groups, so that they do not have to pay the highest price for the parallel crises we have.
The interpellator asks me what is being done concretely. I can mention some projects that are currently with the Swedish Work Environment Authority.
There is currently an audit of the Swedish Work Environment Authority's mandate to develop and implement measures to prevent women from being forced out of the workforce due to work environment-related problems. It is a report that will be published on December 31 next year.
There is a project where knowledge about occupational environment risks and health-promoting factors among healthcare personnel, an industry that we see is female-dominated, is to be compiled. Here we will see a final report on April 30 next year.
There is a survey study on the working environment and health of nursing assistants, doctors, and nurses. It is a study that is part of a government mandate aimed at contributing to increasing knowledge on how the working environment for healthcare personnel can be improved and how work environment risks for the group can be minimized and eliminated. Here, a particular focus shall be directed towards the social and organizational working environment and groups that run a high risk of work-related ill health. Even here, we see that there is a female dominance. Here, we will see a final report on April 30 next year.
There is also a project concerning threats and violence in the workplace. Here, existing knowledge regarding vulnerability to threats and violence from third parties within a selection of public activities is to be compiled. That assignment also includes identifying organizational countermeasures to reduce and counteract the staff's vulnerability. A final report will also be presented here on 30 April 2024.
There are, therefore, a number of assignments right now where they are looking at exactly the questions we are talking about now and where they are handling the risks that affect women to a much greater extent than they affect men.
It is a few months until the first reports, which I spoke about, will be presented. The government will, of course, receive them with great interest. We will then see how we proceed and what the experts consider to be the most effective way to proceed.
Sofia Amloh (S)
Mr. Speaker! First, I want to say: Yes, both I and the Minister have several times in this chamber said that it is completely obvious that it is women who pay a very high price in a crisis. Unlike the Minister, I believe that action needs to be taken so that they are affected as little as possible. It requires decisiveness and rapid measures to alleviate the consequences as much as possible.
The Minister says that we must monitor it and that it is important. One looks at when the consequences occur. I think that is simply far too timid.
I think it is very good that many reports are being produced where it is stated what the situation is and how large the differences are in the Swedish labor market. We can state, with the reports that are produced and with the research material that exists, that we know how large the difference is in men's and women's work environment and in men's and women's conditions in the labor market. But that does not help. It does not change reality. What is needed is for things to be produced that actually affect this. It is about acting and about putting forward proposals. Both I and the Minister and many others already know how it is.
The question remains: What exactly does the Minister want to do in practical terms? What concrete proposals exist? What is it that needs to be done? Every day, there are still women who risk losing their jobs and their colleagues and who cannot make the finances work. What is the Minister going to do about that?
Statsrådet Paulina Brandberg (L)
Mr. Speaker! I want to begin by pointing out that there is no difference between me and the interpellor when it comes to the fact that one must act to protect vulnerable groups, including women, so that they are not affected by crises. In no other way should I be perceived.
I naturally share the interpellor's view that reports in themselves do not solve problems. But in reports, one identifies risks and protective factors and exactly where the problems lie. Without producing that research, I mean that it is not possible to proceed with step two, namely to develop solutions. Now it is a few months until we have facts on the table. The Government will, of course, continue to work based on this.
I would like to thank the interpellator for this debate. These are important issues, because we need to have a sustainable working life for both men and women in Sweden. It is important from an equality perspective but also so that we can achieve a better and healthier society for everyone.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.