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Demokratiskolan
The Equality card from MethodKit for Society and Politics
Card 46 of 128 · MethodKit for Society & Politics
  • AreaPeople & belonging
  • Centre of gravityCentral government
  • Points of influence3 on the journey
  • Decisive electionRiksdagsvalet
People & belonging

Equality

Just treatment & fair distribution of opportunities

Gender equality is about how power, money, time and safety are shared between women and men. In Sweden the area is governed by the Discrimination Act, the parental insurance and an explicit national policy, but it is decided every day in workplaces, in schools and at home at the kitchen table.

Where does the power lie?1

  • Municipality · employer, school & care · approx 15 %
  • Region · healthcare as employer · approx 10 %
  • State · law, insurance & supervision · approx 65 %
  • EU · equal treatment directives · approx 10 %

The laws and the parental insurance are decided by the Riksdag, so the general election carries the most weight. But municipalities and regions are the country's largest female-dominated employers.

How it works: the breakdown

The municipalityEveryday employer
The regionHealthcare & pay
Central governmentThe law & the insurance · centre of gravity
Who decides?
The municipal council (kommunfullmäktige) and the committees. The municipality (kommun) is the employer for, among others, preschool, school and care.
The regional council (regionfullmäktige) and the regional executive board. The region is a large employer in healthcare.
The Riksdag, the Government, DO, the Gender Equality Agency and the Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan).
What do they decide?
Pay surveys and active measures for its own employees, preschool that makes it possible to work, gender equality work in schools.
Pay and conditions in female-dominated care professions, maternity care and women's healthcare.
The Discrimination Act with its requirement for pay surveys, the parental insurance with reserved days, national gender equality goals.
Where are decisions made?
In the budget, staff policy and school plans. The documents are public.
In the regional council and in negotiations with the unions.
In the Riksdag, in DO's supervision and in the Social Insurance Agency's rules.
Who pays?
The municipal tax: preschool and care are gender equality policy in practice.
The regional tax: care wages are one of Sweden's biggest gender equality issues.
The central government budget and social security contributions: parental benefit and child allowance.
Fastest way in?
Municipal election The municipal election shapes preschool and care. Views to committees and schools' parent councils.
Regional election The regional election affects conditions in care professions. Union organising carries weight.
General election The general election shapes the law and the insurance. Reporting to DO is open to everyone.
EUThe EU's equal treatment directives lie behind parts of the Swedish Discrimination Act, and new EU rules on pay transparency tighten the demands on employers. Shaped in the European Parliament election.

Read the table by column to understand one level, or by row to compare the levels. The green level is the area's centre of gravity.

How it works: follow the decision

The case A pay survey levels out the wages
  1. EU

    The directives set the floor

    The EU's equal treatment directives require member states to ban pay discrimination and give those affected a right to redress. Sweden meets the requirements through the Discrimination Act.

  2. State

    The Riksdag requires a survey every year

    The Discrimination Act obliges employers to survey pay differences between women and men each year and to correct unjustified differences. DO supervises that it is done.

    Point of influence

    The general election shapes the law. When it is reviewed, the proposals go out for open referral (remiss).

  3. Municipality

    The municipality reviews its own pay

    As one of the country's largest employers, the municipality carries out a pay survey for thousands of employees in preschool, care and technical administration. Unjustified differences are to be corrected, with a plan and a budget.

    Point of influence

    The survey is drawn up together with the unions. As an employee you can raise suspected differences through your representative.

  4. State

    DO can step in

    Anyone who suspects pay discrimination can report it to DO, which can examine the employer and ultimately take the case to court. The union can also pursue cases in the Labour Court.

    Point of influence

    Reporting to DO is free and can be done digitally by anyone.

  5. Your everyday life

    The payslip in March

    An adjustment on the payslip after this year's survey. No headlines, just a law that did its job.

The journey looks the same in reverse: what has been built came the same way, through the same decisions. Whoever knows where the decisions are made also knows where they can be changed.

Questions to discuss

  1. Where is the difference between women's and men's conditions most visible where you live?

  2. Parental days are partly reserved for each parent. How much should policy steer the family's choice?

  3. Why do you think female-dominated professions often have lower pay, and whose responsibility is it to change that?

  4. What would a fully gender-equal everyday life mean in concrete terms in your life?

  5. Which gender equality work should your municipality prioritise first?

Glossary

Lönekartläggning
The employer's annual review of pay differences between women and men, a requirement in the Discrimination Act.
Aktiva åtgärder
The preventive work against discrimination that the law requires of employers and schools.
Reserverade dagar
Parental benefit days that cannot be transferred to the other parent.
DO
The Equality Ombudsman, a government agency that supervises the Discrimination Act.
Jämställdhetsintegrering
Weighing gender equality into all decisions in an organisation, instead of in a side track.

Go further

Footnotes

1) This is an estimate of how decision-making power over the issue is split between the municipality, the region, central government and the EU, based on how responsibility is divided in legislation. A teaching guide, not an exact measurement.