Reserved Days

The plan wants to see an individualized parental insurance and emphasizes that the steps taken in that direction have been important for men to take a greater share of parental responsibility. The counter-proposal demands the opposite: that the reserved days be abolished and that the family can freely dispose of the days. That would undermine the gender equality commitment on which the plan is built, including women's economic independence.

• individualized parental insurancedecisive»Vänsterpartiet vill se en individualiserad föräldraförsäkring, med« (party programme ↗)“The Left Party wants to see an individualized parental insurance, with”
• men take greater parental responsibility»betytt mycket för att män ska ta en större del av ansvaret för föräldraskapet.« (party programme ↗)“been very important for men to take a greater share of responsibility for parenthood.”
• women's economic independence»Starkare ekonomisk självständighet gör att var och en kan organisera« (party programme ↗)“Stronger economic independence makes it possible for everyone to organize”
• equal distribution of domestic work»En arbetstidsförkortning skulle vara ett viktigt steg för ökad jämställdhet eftersom det också skulle möjliggöra för en mer jämställd fördelning av det obetalda hemarbetet.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“A reduction in working hours would be an important step for increased gender equality since it would also enable a more equal distribution of unpaid domestic work.”

The stance rests on the quoted commitment in the party's own documents; the actual vote deviated. Click the quote to verify it in the document.

The election manifesto explicitly says no to proposals that lock women in the home and highlights the parental insurance as an equality reform that enabled women's independence. Abolishing the reserved days returns to free distribution which in practice shifts use to women. The party programme's feminist basic view requires equal right to own support. The plan therefore rejects the counter-proposal's demand.

• no to being locked in the homedecisive»Fler insatser krävs för att utlandsfödda kvinnor ska komma i arbete och vi säger nej till alla förslag om vårdnadsbidrag eller barnomsorgspeng, som låser fast utlandsfödda kvinnor i hemmet.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“More action is needed for foreign-born women to come into work and we say no to all proposals for childcare allowance or childcare vouchers, which lock foreign-born women in the home.”
• parental insurance as an equality reform»I Sverige har viktiga jämställdhetsreformer som förskola och föräldraförsäkring möjliggjort kvinnors självständighet och frihet.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“In Sweden important equality reforms such as preschool and parental insurance have enabled women's independence and freedom.”
• equal right to support»Män och kvinnor måste få lika rätt till egen försörjning och ett utvecklande yrkesliv.« (party programme ↗)“Men and women must have equal right to own support and a developing professional life.”
• feminist party»Med denna grundsyn är socialdemokratin ett feministiskt parti.« (party programme ↗)“With this basic view Social Democracy is a feminist party.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The counter-proposal wants to abolish the reserved days in parental insurance. The election manifesto on the contrary requires that each parent take at least one third of the parental days, and the party programme advocates a three-part insurance with earmarked days for each custodian. The plan therefore speaks directly against the counter-proposal's demands.

• earmarked parental daysdecisive»dubblera pappornas uttag av föräldraledighet — varje förälder ska ta ut minst en tredjedel av föräldradagarna.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“double fathers' take-up of parental leave — each parent should take at least one third of parental days.”
• three-part parental insurance»En tredelad föräldraförsäkring, där en tredjedel av dagarna öronmärks för respektive vårdnadshavare och resten kan fördelas fritt, är ett sätt att bryta med gamla mönster och stötta män i att ta ett mer aktivt föräldraskap.« (party programme ↗)“A three-part parental insurance, where one third of the days are earmarked for each custodian and the rest can be distributed freely, is a way to break old patterns and support men in taking a more active parenthood.”
• gender-equal labour market»När mäns uttag av föräldraledigheten ökar stärks dessutom kvinnors position på arbetsmarknaden.« (party programme ↗)“When men's take-up of parental leave increases, women's position in the labour market is also strengthened.”

The stance rests on the quoted commitment in the party's own documents; the actual vote deviated. Click the quote to verify it in the document.

The election manifesto's commitment is to modernize parental insurance so that more women can enter work and make careers, and that parenthood should not become an economic trap for women. Completely abolishing the reserved days pulls in the opposite direction and risks cementing the unequal distribution of parental leave. The plan chooses strengthened equality bonus as a tool, not abolished reservation.

• equal parental insurancedecisive»Vi vill modernisera föräldraförsäkringen så att fler kvinnor kan komma i arbete och göra karriär, bland annat genom att införa en kraftigt förstärkt jämställdhetsbonus.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“We want to modernize parental insurance so that more women can enter work and make careers, including by introducing a significantly strengthened equality bonus.”
• women's economic empowerment»Att föda barn ska inte stå i vägen för karriären och föräldraskap ska inte vara en ekonomisk fälla för kvinnor.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Having a baby should not stand in the way of a career and parenthood should not be an economic trap for women.”
• feminist basic stance»Centerpartiet är ett feministiskt parti, som utmanar och bryter rådande maktförhållanden och kollektiva orättvisor.« (party programme ↗)“The Centre Party is a feminist party, which challenges and breaks prevailing power relations and collective injustices.”
• family's freedom of choice»Föräldraförsäkringen ska utformas efter familjens och barnens bästa.« (party programme ↗)“Parental insurance shall be designed according to the best interests of the family and children.”

The party programme explicitly establishes that three months should be earmarked for each custodian, and the election manifesto wants parental insurance that both protects freedom of choice and strengthens equality in the labor market. According to the plan, equality requires shared responsibility for home and children. Completely abolishing the reserved days therefore conflicts with the plan's commitment.

• earmarked parental daysdecisive»Tre månader ska vara öronmärkta åt varje vårdnadshavare.« (party programme ↗)“Three months should be earmarked for each custodian.”
• equal parental insurance»Vi vill se ny föräldraförsäkring som både värnar valfriheten och stärker jämställdheten på arbetsmarknaden.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“We want to see new parental insurance that both protects freedom of choice and strengthens equality in the labor market.”
• shared responsibility for children»Jämställdhet förutsätter delat ansvar för hem och barn.« (party programme ↗)“Equality requires shared responsibility for home and children.”
• parental insurance for women's work»Fler utrikes födda kvinnor ska komma i arbete genom reformer av föräldraförsäkringen och flerbarnstillägget och ett mer individualiserat försörjningsstöd.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“More foreign-born women should enter employment through reforms to parental insurance and multi-child allowance and more individualized maintenance support.”

The plan's view of the family is that the state shall not make decisions in the family's place and that support for families with children shall be usable flexibly according to different families' needs. Shared parental responsibility shall be promoted through public opinion work, not through binding quotas of days. Abolishing the reserved days and letting the family itself dispose of the insurance thus follows directly from the plan.

• family self-determinationdecisive»till exempel en familj innebär ”frihet” att kommunen eller staten inte ska gå in och bestämma i familjens ställe.« (party programme ↗)“for example a family means "freedom" that the municipality or state shall not intervene and make decisions in the family's place.”
• public opinion work instead of coercion»Det är därför viktigt att med opinionsbildande arbete stimulera föräldrar att dela på ansvaret för hem och familj« (party programme ↗)“It is therefore important to use public opinion work to encourage parents to share responsibility for home and family”
• flexible family support»behov och önskemål varierar över tid och mellan olika familjer måste samhällets stöd till barnfamiljer vara organiserat så att det kan användas på ett flexibelt sätt.« (party programme ↗)“needs and wishes vary over time and between different families, society's support for families with children must be organized so that it can be used flexibly.”
• choice in childcare»Alla ska ha möjlighet att välja den barnomsorgsform som passar de egna förhållandena bäst.« (party programme ↗)“Everyone shall have the opportunity to choose the form of childcare that best suits their own circumstances.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The election manifesto's commitment on parental insurance is increased flexibility and more shared-parent days, not abolishing the reserved days. The plan simultaneously drives increased economic equality and explicitly wishes to counter that women get trapped at home, which speaks against entirely free family use. The party programme's emphasis on agency and rejection of demands for precise outcomes pulls in the other direction, but the manifesto carries the most weight.

• flexibility via shared-parent daysdecisive»Öka flexibiliteten i föräldraförsäkringen och göra fler dagar till dubbeldagar« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Increase flexibility in parental insurance and make more days into shared-parent days”
• women should not get trapped at home»Avskaffa flerbarnstillägget från och med barn fyra så att inte kvinnor i stora familjer fastnar i hemmet« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Abolish the multi-child supplement from and including the fourth child so that women in large families do not get trapped at home”
• increase women's paid work»Kvinnor i Sverige förvärvsarbetar fortfarande i lägre utsträckning än män och är sjukskrivna i högre utsträckning.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Women in Sweden still work for pay to a lower extent than men and are on sick leave to a higher extent.”
• agency as path to equality»Vägen till ökad jämställdhet handlar om att stärka självbestämmandet och möjligheterna till egenmakt.« (party programme ↗)“The path to increased equality is about strengthening self-determination and opportunities for agency.”

The election manifesto explicitly states that parental insurance should be flexible and family-friendly, and that reserved months should be removed. Family policy should move from enforced reforms to focusing on the needs of families and children, and families should be free to make their own decisions about their everyday life. The counter-proposal's requirement to abolish the reserved days is therefore exactly what the plan requires.

• avskaffade reserverade dagardecisive»Föräldraförsäkringen ska vara flexibel och familjevänlig och reserverade månader ska bort.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Parental insurance should be flexible and family-friendly, and reserved months should be removed.”
• flexibel föräldraförsäkring»Skapa en flexibel och familjevänlig föräldraförsäkring« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Create flexible and family-friendly parental insurance”
• bort med tvingande reformer»Den ekonomiska familjepolitiken behöver ändra kurs från tvingande reformer som begränsar handlingsutrymme och välmående, till en mer familjefrämjande attityd där fokus ligger på att organisera arbetslivet kring familjens och barnens behov snarare än efter politikernas egna önskemål.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Economic family policy needs to change course from enforced reforms that restrict scope of action and well-being to a more family-promoting approach where focus is on organizing working life around the needs of families and children rather than according to politicians' own wishes.”
• familjens självbestämmande»Familjer ska vara fria att fatta egna beslut om sin vardag där barn ska ha tillgång till båda sina föräldrar och förhållandena vara goda.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Families should be free to make their own decisions about their everyday life where children shall have access to both of their parents and conditions should be good.”