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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.

In view of increased support for a rightwing populist (RWP) party and marketization of the Swedish welfare state, here we study local politicians’ and voters’ perceptions of welfare service privatization. We specifically ask whether such perceptions form coherent attitudinal profiles, linked to partisanship and left-right ideology. Using survey data focusing on the views of local politicians and voters in Sweden, we analyze perceptions of potential consequences of privatization and apply cluster analysis to examine whether and how such perceptions are interlinked. The results show that two distinct and contrasting latent profiles can be identified based on the underlying pattern across eight indicators. A large majority displays these profiles, which are closely connected to partisanship and ideology. Moreover, an ambivalent profile is identified. Contrary to expectations, views expressed by RWP politicians and voters are mainly aligned with the coherent profile associated with social democrats but also to a lesser extent the ambivalent profile. Thus, there appears to be a duality in RWP politicians’ and voters’ perceptions of welfare service privatization, suggesting that the potential impact of increased support for an RWP party on the future development of welfare service delivery in Sweden is not clear-cut.

Using attitude data from the ISSP 2012, we study the prevalence of the second half of the gender revolution – the involvement of men/fathers in care and housework on equal terms as women/mothers. With a focus on the collective consciousness in 27 societies, we (1) map patterns of support for different family model ideals; (2) study the extent to which these ideals are related to national level indicators of gender equality and modernization; (3) analyse similarities and differences between groups of societies, focusing on which ideals that represent conservative and progressive alternatives in each society; (4) analyse group differences and the degree to which these ideals are contested within societies. We find that the ideal of a father as provider and a mother as caregiver persists, but in nearly all societies, it is challenged by other alternatives: mothers’ part-time work, full-time work for both mothers and fathers, and a dual-earner/dual-carer ideal, with shared responsibilities for paid (part-time) and unpaid work. On the societal level, modernization and gender equality are positively associated with both progressive family ideals and marked group differences, indicating that fathers’ involvement in the family is a contested issue in progressive societies.

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.  

The article asks whether daycare can alleviate work-family tensions in the dual-earner society or if perceptions of 'care-gaps' will hamper women's careers. Using survey data from Swedish parents with pre-school children (n ≈ 2 250) and qualitative interviews of survey respondents (n≈40), we explore how children’s daycare hours and parents’ reflections on daycare hours are related to mothers’ and fathers’ involvement in paid and unpaid work and to their perceptions of stress. The results show that parents have a strong ambition to limit daycare hours. This ambition provides a stressful dilemma for mothers but for fathers, daycare is not a source of stress. Maternal part-time work is an important tool for managing daycare hours, but collides with ideals of gender equality. Full-time work can be combined with short daycare hours, provided that the parents take shifts in the home and share care responsibilities. Sharing of care work also reduces mothers' stress. However, such arrangements require flexible schedules which are more available to parents in high-skill jobs. Single parents have little opportunity to keep daycare hours short.

In this article, we join the discussion about the potential consequences of welfare service privatization by examining the relationship between the privatization of welfare service delivery and public opinion about service quality in Sweden. Due to the politically polarized debate about welfare service privatization in Sweden, we also examine the extent to which individuals' ideological orientations influence this relationship in both local politicians and ordinary citizens. For local politicians, the results show that a higher municipal degree of privatization is generally associated with slightly lower levels of satisfaction overall with welfare services, although no such relationship exists for the public. Most importantly, however, the results indicate that political ideology constitutes an important moderator in the relationship between privatization and opinions about service quality. Local politicians and, to some extent, ordinary citizens who place themselves to the left on the ideological left–right scale tend to be less satisfied with services as the municipal degree of welfare service privatization increases. For local politicians who position themselves far to the right on the scale, the relationship between welfare service privatization and satisfaction is positive. These findings suggest that there is no clear-cut relationship between privatization and individuals' opinions about services; rather, this relationship depends on the ideological predispositions of local politicians and ordinary citizens.

This article focuses on working and living conditions among local politicians in Sweden, and on their experiences of combining political work and family life. Applying a sociological perspective on representation, we first map the working and living conditions represented among politicians, with a specific focus on gender and age. We then examine experiences of work-family conflict and subjective well-being, and investigate how these outcomes are related to gender, age, and working and living conditions. The main findings show significant gender differences in working and living conditions, and substantially higher levels of work-family conflict among young female politicians.

Statutory rights to part-time work are increasingly discussed and institutionalized, but have been little empirically investigated. On the basis of a survey of Swedish parents (n = 1900), the article explores the usage and usefulness of the right to work hour reductions in relation to career-family dilemmas. The results show that the gender composition of the workplace affects both mothers’ and fathers’ likelihood of reducing work hours. Mothers who reduce work hours experience lower work-family conflict but stronger fears of negative career repercussions. For fathers, the implications of work hour reductions vary with the gender composition of the workplace. Meanwhile, the division of housework is related both to the likelihood of reducing work hours and to its implications. The analysis suggests that even when a statutory right to part-time is provided, workplace norms and men’s participation in housework are crucial for changing gender patterns.