PES Manifesto

Eric Sundström: for the emanicipation of women AND for the economy, stupid!

Published Thursday, February 14, 2008 at 21:20
by Eric (1431 views and 1 comments)

During my week as your guest blogger, I have promised to comment on all four main subjects here at Manifesto 2009. I have already written twice about ”European democracy & diversity” (here and here), and once about ”Save our planet” (here). Today’s blog is about our ”New Social Europe”.

I became politically active through the wonderful organization ”Social Democratic Students of Sweden” (known as SSF within ECOSY). My first position of any importance in SSF was as a member of our committee on gender equality. I was the only guy (male, that is) on the committee and it opened up a new world to me. Previously, I had read a lot about gender equality and the way in which our society is structured so that it discriminates against women. That was compulsory reading when I studied political science, and I have always been one of the geeks who actually read what you are supposed to.

But during my year working on the SSF-committee on gender equality, I realized what difference the political tools I had only read about can make in real life. During one conference we invited Sweden’s first commissioner to the EU; Mrs Anita Gradin. She delivered a fantastic speech about her life long struggle for gender equality within the social democratic movement, both in Sweden, Europe, and the world. [Mrs. Gradin was among the very first in the EU-system to raise the issue of trafficking, which more correctly should be called slave trade with women.]

A couple of years later, my very good friend Åsa Westlund became president of SSF. I succeeded her in that position, and during my time as prez, the 2004 elections to the European Parliament occurred. Åsa was our SSF:s candidate to become an MEP, and due to a campaign in which we all worked like crazy, she managed to win a seat (technically thanks to over 40 000 Swedes choosing to vote specifically for her name on the general party list. And OK Poul, I know you did even better than that).

Last summer Åsa gave birth to a wonderful son, Erik, and she spent the whole autumn with Erik thanks to the generous maternity leave system we have in Sweden. The problem, however, was that technically her seat was empty last autumn. According to the rules of the European Parliament, a young mother who spends some time with her newly born and wonderful kid cannot be replaced by the first reserve further down the list. Maybe that’s because most MEPs are older men?

Anyway, my point and policy proposal here is twofold.

First, to build a system with generous maternity leave and quality kindergartens across the country is one of the best investments a country can make. When women can take a paid leave and then come right back to the labor market, the whole society benefits. Benefits include: Higher female work participation, kids start life with some quality time with their parents and can then move on to kindergartens, gender equality in general increases when female participation in the workplace is strengthened, birth rates increase when women don’t have to chose between a working career or being mama in the house. It’s good both for the emanicipation of women and for the economy, stupid!

Secondly, a child also has a father. When the system of maternity leave is built up, it should treat both parents as individuals. I personally think that half of the months provided for the parents in the maternity leave system should go to the mother, and the other half to the father. If the dad does not use his months, they will simply disappear.

If that’s too radical for you folks, you should at least divide the maternity leave into three parts: one-third to the mother, one-third to the father, and one-third that either parent can use.

Åsa is lucky enough to have a husband, Anders, who has moved with her to Brussels where he will enjoy the coming seven months on paternity leave, hanging out with little Erik. In that way, Åsa has now had the possibility to reclaim her seat as an MEP. Welcome back, Åsa!

And when the PES promotes a ”New Social Europe” in the elections 2009, I think that it should have a clear dimension dealing with gender equality. Basic demands regarding maternity leave and kindergartens should be part of our common vision, and the dad should be encouraged to take his responsibility through the technical construction I outlined above.

And it is a disgrace that the European Parliament does not have a system anticipating that its members could actually be young women, who eventually will give birth to new, fantastic Europeans.

What do you think?

Eric Sundström, editor in chief at Aktuellt i Politiken, the newspaper of the Swedish Social Democratic Party

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It’s Valentine’s Day, and here is the song y'all should listen to today.

Tags: blogger of the week, child care, equality, public services, women