Transcript Slovenian parental leave - Discussion from a Nordic perspective

Slovenian Parental
Leave A Nordic Perspective
Linda Haas
Indiana University
9th Annual Meeting of The International Network on Leave
Policies and Related Research, Ljubljana
Objectives
 Present five lessons that can be learned from
comparing Slovenian parental leave to Sweden’s
 Pose questions about Slovenian parental leave in
relation to Sweden’s
Lesson #1- Policies similar
in many praiseworthy respects
 Policymaking began early (in 1927 in Slovenia, 1931 in
Sweden) with paid maternity leave, establishing a
structural and ideological foundation for women’s labor
force particular and the dual-earner family
 Kept maternity short – Long leaves hurt women’s longterm labor market opportunities and can be hard to
divide up later for fathers’ use
 First in world to allow fathers to share paid leave in
1974 – breaks down gendered assumptions about
parenting and work
Lesson 2: Policies developed in similar
commendable manner
 Same concerns drove policymaking (fertility, economic
well-being), encouraging long-term and well-planned
policymaking
 Wide variety of stakeholders involved in policymaking
(including academics, unions)
 Took care of the “caregiving gap” – early childhood
programs widely available and affordable at age 1 after
leaves are over
 Have pursued children’s and women’s well-being,
without seeing these as in conflict
Lesson 3: Slovenian policy less
‘equality promoting’ than Sweden
 Slovenian policies tend to be “equality-enabling” (with a
focus on choice) while Swedish policies tend to be “equalitypromoting” (with a focus on gender equality)
 Equality-promoting policies compensate fathers well for
taking parental leave
 Slovenia’s equality-enabling policies associated with a
gender discourse focusing on women’s equal labor
participation vs. gender equality
Slovenians have more traditional gender attitudes and
share childcare less than Swedish couples
Lesson 4: Sweden’s equal- promoting
policies associated with enhanced
fertility
 Leave policy enhances fertility in Sweden, but not in
Slovenia
 Fathers’ use of parental leave associated with larger
family sizes in Sweden
 Slovenia women may postpone children because of
perceived greater domestic workload, in families with
traditional gender attitudes
Lesson 5: Dominance of work over
family greater in Slovenia
 Slovenian economy characterized more by precarious work
and work intensification than Sweden’s
 Slovenians more likely than Swedes to say work is the most
important thing in life, that earning money is very important
 Long hours culture better established in Slovenia than
Sweden
 Dominance of work over family constrains Slovenian men’s
participation in parental leave and childcare
Questions
 Why did Slovenia look to Sweden as a model
for parental leave policy?
 How exactly did Sweden have an influence?
 Which path will Slovenia follow in the future?
Slovenia is similar to West European states in having high women’s
labor force participation, affordable childcare and fathers’ rights to
leave, but similar to Central East European states in having more
conservative attitudes toward gender roles
Is there an independent course that Slovenia can follow?