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BACKGROUND: Women consistently report worse mental health than men and while inequalities in work and family are highlighted as an underlying factor, inequalities can vary between contexts. The present study expands on the literature by including a geographic dimension and exploring the importance of rural-urban migration. 

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to compare mental health among men and women who remained in rural areas (stayers) and those who had moved to larger cities (movers) and to explore the importance of psychosocial work environment, family situation and work-family conflict. In line with the dual-factor mental health model, two outcomes were analyzed.  

METHODS: Based on a survey of 2022 targeting individuals raised in small towns/rural municipalities in Sweden (n=1743), OLS regressions were conducted to study variation in psychological distress and mental wellbeing between male and female stayers and movers aged 30-50. The job demand-control-support (JDCS) model, the respondents' family situation and perceived work-family conflict were analyzed as mechanisms. 

RESULTS: Overall, female movers had the worst mental health and male movers the best. Female stayers reported more psychological distress than male stayers, but not lower mental wellbeing than any other group. The JCDS model explained the gender difference among stayers, while work-family conflict largely explained female movers' disadvantage.  

CONCLUSIONS: Rural-urban migration implied better mental health for men but not for women, due to higher work-family conflict. The study points to the importance of considering the interplay between work, family and place and applying a broad perspective on mental health.

A common notion in the literature on labour market gender inequality is that women compromise their wage and career prospects by choosing jobs that make room for care responsibilities. The article investigated whether such trade-offs have a geographic dimension. Based on survey data of individuals raised in small towns/rural municipalities in Sweden (n≈2 200), the study analyzed how gender gaps in wages on the one hand and work-family conflict on the other differed between individuals who remained in small towns/rural areas and those who moved to large cities. The results show that the gender gap in wages was larger among stayers while the opposite was true for work-family conflict. Thus, work-family trade-offs are linked to the choice of geographic context. Meanwhile, initial occupational priorities were more complex than suggested in the literature. Female stayers prioritized family-friendly work conditions higher than male stayers and female movers but were not less career-oriented and occupational choices did not explain their lower wages and work-family-conflict. At the same time, they worked fewer hours than other groups, and reduced work hours explained the geographic variation in gender gaps. 

The aim of the article was to determine whether immigrant women's occupational status reflect a double disadvantage in comparison to immigrant men and inborn women and how patterns are formed by occupational segregation. The study utilised register data for descriptive comparisons of the immigrant and inborn populations in Sweden (n ≈ 4,900,000). Regression analyses were performed on nationally representative surveys of the immigrant (n ≈ 2600) and total (n ≈ 3200) labour force. The results do not support the notion of a double disadvantage. In the immigrant population, only women with primary/secondary education have jobs with lower average prestige than men, reflecting the fact that women are clustered in female-dominated occupations. Among immigrants with higher education, the gender gap is reversed, and men's disadvantage is explained by ethnic segregation. Compared to Swedish-born individuals, prestige gaps are substantially larger for men. After accounting for segregation, the gap is closed among women but not among men.

Immigrant women are widely portrayed as facing serious labor market disadvantage, yet gender differences in immigrants’ occupational mobility have been little explored. The article studied gender gaps in immigrants’ occupational entrapment, defined as entering and remaining in lowskilled/low-prestige work rather than moving on to more skilled/prestigious work. The analyses were based on longitudinal register data and followed five immigrant cohorts arriving in Sweden in the early 2000s over a 12-year period. The results show that immigrant women were more likely than men to start out in a low-skilled/low-prestige job and less likely to experience occupational mobility. However, tertiary education strongly mitigated these gender gaps. At the same time, the differences between high- and loweducated individuals widened more among women than among men. Family-related factors and country-specific human capital did not explain these patterns, but the findings indicate that occupational gender segregation can be crucial to immigrants' mobility prospects.

The link between gender equality and fertility has been the topic of a growing literature. Using data from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) of 2012 (n=27,062 individuals, 39 countries), and applying multi-level modelling techniques, we explored the associations between individual gender egalitarian attitudes, societal gender equality and fertility ideals. The results show that individual gender egalitarianism is negatively associated with fertility ideals even across a broad set of countries from different regions. Additionally, we find that while societal gender equality is positively associated with fertility ideals, we also observe a small but statistically significant interaction effect between individual attitudes and societal gender equality. The cross-level interaction suggests that the negative fertility implications of individual egalitarian attitudes are amplified rather than mitigated in gender equal contexts. Thus, while the findings point to the potential importance of context and societal gender equality, they do not clearly confirm dominating theories. In future, the interplay between individual attitudes and societal support should be further explored in cross-country research, and more studies should include countries from the global South.

Using longitudinal register data, we examined gender patterns in the long-term labor market establishment of refugees (n≈11 700) and Swedish-born individuals (n≈109 000). The main question was whether refugee women face greater difficulties than men and if gender differences can be attributed to care responsibilities. With multinomial logistic regression, cox regressions, and individual fixed effects models, refugees were observed at age 29-30 in 1997, then followed to age 50. Results show that both among refugees and Swedish-born, establishment was a protracted and insecure process for women. Over time, women caught up with men but in terms of stable employment, gender gaps prevailed throughout the fertile period and parenthood was negatively related to long-term establishment prospects. Future research should move beyond the focus on labor market entry to capture the mechanisms behind long term insecurities. The timing of parenthood and the importance of adult education are of particular interest.

BACKGROUND: The potential of flexible scheduling to alleviate work-family tensions and replace female part-time work has not been thoroughly explored. Specifically, research has not acknowledged that employees' schedule control may be conditioned by organizational demands for availability and commitment.

OBJECTIVE: We examine the links between flexibility and gendered patterns of work-family reconciliation by considering how work arrangements balance employer demands and employee control and how they relate to work-family tensions.

METHODS: Using mixed-methods, we combine a survey of Swedish parents (n=2320) with interviews of survey respondents (n=40). First, we identify clusters of flexible work arrangements and explore differences between mothers and fathers. Second, we analyze the relationship between flexible work arrangements and work-family tensions. Finally, the qualitative data are used to explore how flexibility/lack of flexibility enter into parents’ work-family tensions and negotiations.

RESULTS: Three types of flexible work arrangements are found. Boundaryless jobs, which combine high levels of control with high requirements for organizational flexibility, are more common among fathers and highly educated. Confined jobs have low levels of both employee- and employer-oriented flexibility, but high demands, and are common among mothers and in female-dominated workplaces. Despite higher levels of control, boundaryless jobs are not associated with less work-family conflict. In malleable jobs, control is relatively high and demands low and work-family tensions are less noticeable. 

CONCLUSIONS: Employer- and employee-oriented flexibility go hand in hand, but work arrangements differ radically between groups. High flexibility does not alleviate work-family tensions, and part-time work remains an important work-family strategy for mothers.