THE
MISLEADING IMPLICATION: Sweden gives maternity leave for a year, which
is such a successful and generous policy that we should adopt it in the
U.S.THE REALITY: It’s a benefit split between both parents and
redeemed over 8 years (not just 1), meaning it’s a fraction of what
people claim it to be. But more importantly, it hasn’t closed their
gender wage gap and has actually pushed women out of the private sector, meaning it’s not working as intended.▫️FALSE IMPLICATION:
As other fact checkers have clarified, “This is not quite right.
…Parents of a newly born or adopted child are entitled to 480 combined
days of parental leave, which they can split between themselves in
whatever way they choose regardless of gender. …The parental leave
doesn’t need to be taken right away, either. Parents in Sweden can
continue to take days off until their child turns eight years old.” [a]
Therefore, if divided evenly between both parents and into each of the 8
eligible years, maternity leave could end up being only 30 days a year.
So while it’s certainly true that the benefit DOES allow more time off
than maternity leave in the U.S., the picture of a woman taking leave
for an entire year at once – and somehow not having that negatively
affect her career – isn’t accurate.▫️INDIRECT EFFECTS:
So what about the unintended consequences of such a policy? Per The
Guardian, “Swedish women don’t have it made – they still end up paying a
price in terms of their career or employment. What you find, if you
look closely at the figures, is that there is a pay threshold in Nordic
countries below which are 80% of all women, and above which are 80% of
all men. [b] Furthermore, “the glass ceiling problem is larger in
family-friendly Sweden than it is in the hire-and-fire-at-will U.S., and
it has also grown as family-friendly policies have expanded. In Sweden
1.5% of senior management are women, compared with 11% in the US.” [b]
So while women may have greater access to time off in Sweden, they
actually have better career opportunities here in the U.S.“Take another barometer of equality – the gap between men’s and women’s
pay – and Sweden puts on another poor show. …Swedish women are paid
around 20% less than Swedish men – a similar pay difference to the one
that exists in the UK. [and not that much different than the U.S.]
Interestingly, other EU countries with a lower pay gap don’t show a
correlation with better family-friendly packages: Italy has a 15% pay
gap, Spain a 12% gap and Belgium and Portugal an 8% gap. None of these
countries is held up as providers of great family-friendly packages –
indeed, some of them, including Portugal, have systems in place that are
not only a great deal less generous than that of Sweden, but also a lot
less accessible.” [b] Also noteworthy, “female executives and
professionals in America earn closer to their male peers than Swedish,
Finnish, Norwegian and Danish women.” [c]What’s alarming is
how the private sector reacted to this policy. Overtime, it appears
private sector career opportunities for Swedish women dried up, leaving
the public sector as their primary option. The breakdown is quite
remarkable. According to Dr. Catherine Hakim, a sociologist at the
London School of Economics, “75% of Swedish women are working in the
public sector – traditionally the lower-paid, lower-qualified end of the
employment market – while 75% of men are working in the racier, more
demanding private sector. What has happened through the years of
family-friendly policies …is that private companies have reduced their
number of female employees because they can’t afford the cost of the
generous maternity packages.” [b] And this should be of no surprise. As
Kay Hymowitz from TIME magazine explains, “Almost all public policies
have unintended consequences, and maternity leave is no exception.
Rather than offering a route to equality between the sexes, the data
shows, extended maternity leave actually throws up roadblocks in a
woman’s career — the very roadblocks that such policies are meant to
prevent. Women who take a year off from work with a new baby — not to
mention mothers of a second child who take a total of two years —
experience what economists call human-capital depreciation, meaning
their skills get rusty. Their work-social networks also fray.
Unsurprisingly, their income and careers take a hit.” [c] “Women who
make full use of their maternity or parental leave entitlements receive,
on average, lower wages in the years following their resumption of work
than those who return before leave expires.” And per a review of
studies on the topic of maternity leave, conducted by the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development, “the effect can continue for
years after leave takers return to their jobs” and can “permanently
damage” a mother’s ability to achieve their labor market potential. [c]▫️CONCLUSION:
The unfortunate conclusion is that “generous maternity-leave policies
have a tendency to harden a country’s glass ceiling, and women in the
Nordic countries are actually less likely to reach career heights than
women in the U.S.” [c] No, we should NOT adopt Sweden’s policy.
—————-
Sources:
[a]
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/sweden-society-health-care/[b]
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/politics/2004/sep/22/books.familyandrelationships[c]
http://ideas.time.com/2013/09/30/longer-maternity-leave-not-so-great-for-women-after-all/
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