Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Policy Measures in a Swedish Perspective

Sweden has a long history of policies to improve equality between women and men in private life and in their professional life.  There has been a fairly successful combination of top-down measures and policies and bottom-up pressure from organizations and individuals. This has influenced and changed the Swedish society. Much has been achieved towards equal opportunities on the labor market and  in academic careers.  Presently ca 60% of all students at Swedish institutions are women while ca 20% of professors are women. Surprisingly, ca 40% of all university presidents are presently women.  However, much remains to be done to achieve an equal balance of women and men in leading academic positions. Swedish policies have focused on support to women but also aims at structural changes in the academic institutions. This presentation will give an overview of policy measures and programs tried in the last decade and some thoughts on the necessity of external pressures on a culture laden with traditions.  Any measures particularly aimed at improving the academic career opportunities for young women has to be seen against the overall support given to parents through guaranteed day care and 16 months parental leave shared to some extent  between mother and father.