1887

OECD Economics Department Working Papers

Working papers from the Economics Department of the OECD that cover the full range of the Department’s work including the economic situation, policy analysis and projections; fiscal policy, public expenditure and taxation; and structural issues including ageing, growth and productivity, migration, environment, human capital, housing, trade and investment, labour markets, regulatory reform, competition, health, and other issues.

The views expressed in these papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the OECD or of the governments of its member countries.

English, French

Fighting gender inequality in Sweden

Sweden ranks among the best OECD countries in terms of gender equality. Women have a high employment rate, outperform men in education and are well represented in government and parliament. Nevertheless, without further policy measures, achieving parity is still a distant prospect in several areas. Wage differences between genders persist; women are under-represented on private company boards, in senior management positions, in many well-paid and influential professions and among entrepreneurs. Hence, there is scope to make further progress on gender equality. The share of the parental leave reserved for each parent should be increased further, as inequality in leave-taking and long parental leaves harm women’s career prospects. Fighting stereotypes in education is necessary to improve women’s access to professions where they are under-represented. Government programmes need to promote women’s entrepreneurship further. Special attention should also be paid to the integration of foreign-born women, whose employment rate is much lower than for their male counterparts.

English

Keywords: Corporate governance, Education, Immigration, Gender equality, Discrimination, Sociology of Economics, Public policy, Parental leave, Welfare Economics, Economics of Gender
JEL: J15: Labor and Demographic Economics / Demographic Economics / Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination; G30: Financial Economics / Corporate Finance and Governance / Corporate Finance and Governance: General; A14: General Economics and Teaching / General Economics / Sociology of Economics; D63: Microeconomics / Welfare Economics / Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement; J78: Labor and Demographic Economics / Labor Discrimination / Labor Discrimination: Public Policy; J16: Labor and Demographic Economics / Demographic Economics / Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination; I24: Health, Education, and Welfare / Education and Research Institutions / Education and Inequality
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