Sweden’s Maternal & Child Care Policy
Sweden’s Maternal & Child Care Policy
Maternal and Child care policies are very important in every country since the future of every country is based on the children that are brought into this world. Behavioral and cognitive development is crucial with the timing and continuity of care within the family, before during and after the mother’s pregnancy. This is why policies were made in order to assist and support maternal and child care arrangements.
Sweden’s maternal and child care policy factors under their extensive family policy. While effective and comprehensive, it is also very expensive to provide at such a lows cost to Swedish citizens. With goals to reconcile work and to support families, Sweden’s policy consists of very generous parental leave, reduced hours for the working parents who have children, high quality childcare in and out of school. The policies costs 0.8% of GDP for parents leave while day care costs 2% of GDP. Sweden has one of the highest taxes to GDP ratio in the OECD (Organization for Economic C-operation and Development).
The reason for such an accommodating policy is that Swedish healthcare is part of a national welfare model. The root of the policies date back to the 1920’s to 1930’s when Sweden’s social democratic government began to reform and develop a system that stayed stable up once the system expanded dramatically in the 1970’s. Because of a movement for the rights of women to have a family and work, as well as Sweden’s low fertility rates compared to other countries, caused policies to be created in order to increase birthrates. The changes in policies for children and women were hand in hand as a strategy to improve the working class and population crisis. The link of women’s employment, child care and birthrates lead to policies with goals of more children of better quality. At first it was meant for poor children, but later became recognized to all children of every class.
The Swedish policies for Maternity and Child
Maternal and Child care policies are very important in every country since the future of every country is based on the children that are brought into this world. Behavioral and cognitive development is crucial with the timing and continuity of care within the family, before during and after the mother’s pregnancy. This is why policies were made in order to assist and support maternal and child care arrangements.
Sweden’s maternal and child care policy factors under their extensive family policy. While effective and comprehensive, it is also very expensive to provide at such a lows cost to Swedish citizens. With goals to reconcile work and to support families, Sweden’s policy consists of very generous parental leave, reduced hours for the working parents who have children, high quality childcare in and out of school. The policies costs 0.8% of GDP for parents leave while day care costs 2% of GDP. Sweden has one of the highest taxes to GDP ratio in the OECD (Organization for Economic C-operation and Development).
The reason for such an accommodating policy is that Swedish healthcare is part of a national welfare model. The root of the policies date back to the 1920’s to 1930’s when Sweden’s social democratic government began to reform and develop a system that stayed stable up once the system expanded dramatically in the 1970’s. Because of a movement for the rights of women to have a family and work, as well as Sweden’s low fertility rates compared to other countries, caused policies to be created in order to increase birthrates. The changes in policies for children and women were hand in hand as a strategy to improve the working class and population crisis. The link of women’s employment, child care and birthrates lead to policies with goals of more children of better quality. At first it was meant for poor children, but later became recognized to all children of every class.
The Swedish policies for Maternity and Child
Cited: "Clearinghouse Countries: Sweden." Welcome to The Clearinghouse on International Developments in Child, Youth and Family Policies. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. . "HARPS | Full Text | Health Care Systems in Sweden and China:Legal and Formal Organisational Aspects." Health Research Policy and Systems. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. . The Future of Children. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. . "Sweden 's Support for Parents with Children Is Comprehensive and Effective but Expensive." Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. .