Research project Gender equality in careers: Roots and remedies

The project consists mainly of empirical research using Swedish administrative data. The researchers come from different institutes and universities in Sweden and the United States, and all have recently published papers in leading international journals on similar research questions, using the same type of data and methods.

The project has four parts, each of which will result in at least one paper. The first three parts relate gender differences in careers to household-level factors. The first part studies how a job promotion affects the marriage market outcomes of men and women. The second part examines labor market trajectories after divorce, and how they are affected by legal norms for joint custody. The third part analyzes the impact of a tax rebate on household services on men's and women's careers, employment and entrepreneurship.

The fourth part switches the focus from households to firms. We study which firm characteristics correlate with the adoption of time–space flexibility and family-friendly work practices. We also assess how such policies affect worker behavior, gender equality indicators, productivity and profitability.

The project will answer several novel research questions and add substantial value to the international research agenda by using unique data that combines employer/employee registers with surveys. Another important factor is Sweden's position as one of the forerunners of gender equality, in terms of behavior and norms as well as the implementation of reforms targeting both households and firms.