Timeline on homeworking
With the help of the performance "Handbook for housewives" provides a background to Swedish homework in a timeline. Extract from the article "The housewife of all time" - Mia Sjöström, punpublished Svenska Dagbladet.
1910-number
Demands for women's suffrage grow stronger. Popular movements in politics, trade unions and temperance emerge.
- 1919 Universal suffrage for women is introduced.
1920-number
Industrialization takes off and new jobs are created. The female workforce is needed, but the housewife ideal still prevails. Some male workers fight for a living wage so that they too can afford a housewife.
- 1921 Married woman comes of age at 21. In the 1921 election, women vote for the first time and Kerstin Hesselgren becomes the first woman in Parliament
1930-number
Recession with increased unemployment and extremely low birth rates. Many want to get women out of the workforce, but do not succeed. Marriage age is high, marriage rate low. Large proportion of unmarried women.
- 1930 9% of married women under 65 work.
- 1935 Alva Myrdal advocates day care centers so that the mother can work outside the home and the children are cared for by pedagogically trained staff. Children are to be trained in solidarity and community, which will eradicate traditional class and gender differences.
- 1939 The law prohibits the dismissal of a woman on the grounds of marriage or childbirth.
1940-number
During the war, gender equality reforms are put on hold. Women are needed both as housewives and as workers. The government initiates an active family policy to encourage childbirth and family formation, including better loans and housing subsidies for families with children.
- 1944 The Home Research Institute (HFI) is founded to rationalize housework and raise the status of domestic work. The aim is to create practical hygiene and kitchen areas with comfortable counter and cupboard heights. Knowledge is gathered in building standards and the idea is that a practical and comfortable dwelling should allow time for other things besides looking after the home and household (Became the Swedish Consumer Agency in 1973).
1950-number
The age of the housewife ideal. But there is also an increased need for labor and more women are going out to work. So-called women's wages are 30% lower than men's wages for the same job. There are no day care centers. It is also more difficult to find domestic help, as the number of women doing domestic work has fallen by two-thirds compared to 20 years ago.
- 1950 Both parents become guardians of the children.
- 1956 Alva Myrdal says that women should take care of women's duties when the children are small and then go out to work after 15-20 years.
- In 1956, for example, Miele launches its first fully automatic washing machine, which can wash, rinse and spin in the same machine. Previously, several different machines and a lot of manual work were needed.
1960-number
Modern gender equality policies are emerging. Women's labor is needed and the ideal of housewifery and gender roles are questioned. The women's movement calls for social reforms such as day care, free abortion and equal pay.
- 1960 Law on equal pay for equal work. In practice, however, women's wages are lower.
- 1961 Eva Moberg writes in a controversial article that husbands and wives should share parenting and support duties equally.
- 1968 There are more than 10 000 day-care places in the country.
1970-number
The government sets up a delegation for gender equality with the aim of asserting women's right to work. The labor market is gender segregated. Women work in the expanding public sector in health, education and care.
- 1971 Separate taxation of spouses' earned income is introduced. Previously, the combined income of a married couple was taxed and it was less profitable for both to work.
- 1974 Parents are given the right to share leave at the birth of a child by introducing six months of parental insurance.
- 1974 It is decided that childcare should be expanded. The Swedish model is established, where society and the family share responsibility for childcare.
1980-number
The agency Jämo is established to monitor the Gender Equality Act, which prohibits gender discrimination in the workplace. Increased women's and gender equality research at university. The word 'gender' is introduced to the scientific community to describe the social sex.
- 1983 All professions are opened to women, including defense.
- 1985 Parliamentary decision on preschool for all children from 1 ½ years to school age.
1990-number
The decade is very much about pay, valuing women's work, and increasing women's representation in boardrooms, corporate management and political positions.
- 1998 First pre-school curriculum introduced.
2000-number
There is a discussion on how to get fathers to take a greater share of parental leave, as their take-up is 20% of the total number of days. Individualized parental insurance is discussed. Efforts to ensure equal pay for women and men are strengthened. Since the 1980s, women have earned around 83% of men's wages.
- 2002 Parental insurance is extended to a total of 480 days. 60 days are now reserved for each parent, compared with 30 previously, and cannot be transferred (the so-called 'daddy months').
- 2003 Universal free pre-school education is introduced for all children aged four and five.
- 2008 Childcare allowance of SEK 3 000 is introduced tax-free for parents who stay at home with children aged 1-3.
Source:
Alltomjämställdhet.se, I kvinnoled, doctoral thesis 1986 by Lissie Åström. Fredrika-Bremer-Förbundet. Lärarnashistoria.se. Folkhemmets byggande (1992), Miele.