In Luces day, sex-role stereotypes still powerfully limited womens choices. More than half a century later, women in the Western democracies enjoy the equality of opportunity of which she spoke. Nowhere is this more true than Sweden. And although it was not the Swedes intention, they have demonstrated to the world what the sexes will and will not do when offered the same opportunities.
Today is Equal Pay Day. But as most feminists know by now, the wage gap is largely the result of womens vocational choices and how they prefer to balance home and family. To close the gap, it wont be enough to change society or reform the workplace it is womens elemental preferences that will have to change. But look to Sweden: womens preferences remain the same.
Not only feminists, but also liberal and conservative policymakers should pay attention. Sweden is not the tax and spend welfare state of old while the rest of the world is floundering in debt, Sweden has been downsizing, reforming entitlements, and balancing its books. The budget deficit in Sweden is about 0.2 percent of its GDP; in the United States, its 7 percent. But Swedens generous family-friendly policies remain in place. The practical, problem-solving Swedes have judged them to be a good investment. They may be right.
Swedish family policies, by accommodating womens preferences so effectively, are reducing the number of women in elite competitive positions. The Swedes will find this paradoxical and try to find solutions. Let us hope these do not include banning gender pronouns, policing childrens play, implementing more gender quotas, or treating womens special attachment to home and family as a social injustice. Most mothers do not aspire to elite, competitive full-time positions: the Swedish policies have given them the freedom and opportunity to live the lives they prefer. Americans should look past the gender rhetoric and consider what these Scandinavians have achieved. On their way to creating a feminist paradise, the Swedes have inadvertently created a haven for normal mortals.
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