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Care for Sick Children as a Proxy for Gender Equality in the Family

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  • Rickard Eriksson
  • Magnus Nermo

Abstract

Swedish parents are entitled to government paid benefits to take care of sick children. In this paper we show that the gender distribution of paid care for sick children is a good proxy for the gender division of household work. Using two examples we show that registry data on care for sick children is a useful data source for studies on gender equality. Our first example shows that increased effort at work by one spouse leads to a lower effort in household work for this spouse, and a higher effort at home for the other spouse. Our second example provides some evidence for a procyclical pattern in gender equality.
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Suggested Citation

  • Rickard Eriksson & Magnus Nermo, 2010. "Care for Sick Children as a Proxy for Gender Equality in the Family," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 97(3), pages 341-356, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:97:y:2010:i:3:p:341-356
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-009-9505-y
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    4. Rickard Eriksson & Magnus Nermo, 2010. "Care for Sick Children as a Proxy for Gender Equality in the Family," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 97(3), pages 341-356, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Andrea Ichino & Martin Olsson & Barbara Petrongolo & Peter Skogman Thoursie, 2019. "Economic incentives, home production and gender identity norms," CEP Discussion Papers dp1626, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    2. Katarina Boye, 2019. "Care More, Earn Less? The Association between Taking Paid Leave to Care for Sick Children and Wages among Swedish Parents," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 33(6), pages 983-1001, December.
    3. Grönqvist, Erik & Okuyama, Yoko & Hensvik, Lena & Thoresson, Anna, 2025. "Women's labor market opportunities and equality in the household," Working Paper Series 2025:11, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    4. Rickard Eriksson & Magnus Nermo, 2010. "Care for Sick Children as a Proxy for Gender Equality in the Family," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 97(3), pages 341-356, July.
    5. Rosenqvist, Olof, 2022. "Reducing the gender gap in parental leave through economic incentives? – Evidence from the gender equality bonus in Sweden," Working Paper Series 2022:22, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    6. Lancker, W. van & Ghysels, J., 2011. "GINI DP 10: Who Reaps the Benefits? The social distribution of public childcare in Sweden and Flanders," GINI Discussion Papers 10, AIAS, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.
    7. Lindahl, Erica & Rosenqvist, Olof & Selin, Håkan, 2023. "Gender-targeted transfers by default? - Evidence from a child allowance reform in Sweden," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    8. Wim Van Lancker & Joris Ghysels, 2011. "Who reaps the benefits? The social distribution of public childcare in Sweden and Flanders," Working Papers 1106, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    9. Guillermo Montt, 2018. "Too polluted to work? The gendered correlates of air pollution on hours worked," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-18, December.
    10. Ichino, Andrea & Olsson, Martin & Petrongolo, Barbara & Skogman Thoursie, Peter, 2019. "Economic Incentives, Childcare and Gender Identity Norms," Working Paper Series 1283, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 04 May 2021.
    11. Rosenqvist, Olof, 2024. "Reducing the gender gap in parental leave through economic incentives? – Evidence from the gender equality bonus in Sweden," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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