Männen och det obetalda arbetet - En studie om pappaledighets påverkan på mäns obetalda hemarbete i Sverige och Danmark

This study aims to investigate what possibilities policymaking have, specifically the design of parental leave policies, to reach a more gender equal division of unpaid housework. The investigation poses the question, how the design of the Swedish and Danish parental leave policies, in respect of reserved ”daddy quotas”, have effected the long-term gender division of unpaid housework. There is no reserved ”daddy quota” in the Danish parental leave benefit programme while in Sweden the government historically have introduced, in total, three such reserved months. These Swedish policy decision have partly been based on the argument that men’s increased share of parental leave leads to men taking an increased responsibility for unpaid housework. The same argument is further the fundament in the Household Production Model that this study examines, based on Gary S. Becker’s theory within the New Home Economics field. The examination is done by comparing results from Swedish and Danish statistical time-use studies. The result is twofold; (1) the Household Production Model gains some, but poor, support, however (2) the existing Swedish and Danish statistical studies on time-use are generally too deficient to measure what effects ”daddy quotas” have had on the long-term gender division of unpaid work