The Evolution of the Women-friendly State: Opportunities and Constraints in the Swedish Welfare State

Abstract

Sweden is an interesting case in which to consider gender and social policy, looking through the lens of institutions, social actors and gendered discourses on equality. It has been one of the most interventionist states, mitigating the power of capital and markets to control workers and working conditions. It scores highest on the dimensions of social rights that decommodify workers, that is, policies that weaken a worker’s dependence on the market (Esping-Andersen 1990; Korpi and Palme 1998). In the literature on comparative welfare regimes, it is presented as the society where social citizenship and the pursuit of equality were shaped by class-based politics; the cultural narratives that resonate in the society have been those of working-class struggles (Acker 1992; Åmark 1992). Social rights in this framework are the outcome of struggles over the distribution of society’s resources where unionized workers and employers have been the main protagonists (Korpi 1980). The redistributive effects of wage and social policies are evident in that Sweden scores very low on measures of social stratification and has one of the most compressed wage structures.