Den kvinnliga reservarbetskraften — förlegad retorik eller aktuell politik? Exemplet den offentliga barnomsorgen

Abstract

Women - a labour force reserve? Public child care as example. During the 1960's and 1970's when women were needed to a great extent in the labour market critics argued that women were employed as a labour force reserve. Since women have composed a substantial part of the Swedish labour force during the last decades the thesis of women as a labour force reserve has been contested. Inthis article I argue that women are to some extent used as a buffer labour force. Taking public childcare as example I exemplify how political decisions have resulted in situations where family day carers and nursery nurses are treated as a labour force reserve, not in relations to male workers but in relation to preschool teachers, that is, another female dominated occupational group. I also argue that some political decisions about publicly childcare imply a paradox concerning the Swedish policy for sexual equality in the labour market.