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Attitudes towards in , and

Jørgen Goul Andersen & Ditte Shamshiri-Petersen Department of Political Science Aalborg University [email protected], [email protected] draft Paper presented at the 2016 Annual meeting of the Danish Political Science Association, October 27-28, Vejle, Denmark

Indhold 1. Introduction ...... 2 2. Data ...... 5 3. Country and gender differences ...... 6 3.1. attitudes ...... 6 3.2. Gender equality as an ideal ...... 8 3.3. Perceived distance from the ideal ...... 10 3.4. Policy instruments to promote gender equality ...... 13 4. Generational diversity ...... 15 References ...... 16

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1. Introduction This paper explores the attitudes of Scandinavian women and men towards gender equality and various political instruments to promote gender equality. It is based on a comparative survey conducted in Denmark, Norway and Sweden in 2015. It is the first Danish survey of the whole population to explore such attitudes at length, and it is actually the first comparative Scandina- vian data set on the issue. Oddly enough, gender issues have not played a very significant role in most ongoing surveys like the election surveys, probably because such attitudes did not appear to have much independent impact on voting (Evans, 1993). One might expect that such attitudes were rather uniformly favourable of equal rights. The Nordic countries are typically perceived of as pioneers regarding gender equality. Equal rights and opportunities for men and women has been a sort of hallmark of Scandinavia (Lang- vasbråten, 2008:33; Borchorst, 2009:30) – and an integrated part of these countries’ national self-images (Freidenvall, Dahlerup & Skjeie, 2006; Heidenreich, 2012:153). In her seminal work Welfare State and Power: Essays in State (1987) Helga Hernes introduced the term ‘woman-friendly welfare states’ and pointed to the Nordic democracies’ progressive alli- ance between women and the state : A favourable combination of from above and feminization from below (Hernes, 1987:153). At the same time, Hernes underlined that equality between men and women had far from been achieved. To stipulate from her model, however, it would be a question of time. With solid backing from the people, it seemed plausible that remaining barriers would gradually erode. Thirty years later, the situation has indeed improved, but it is also obvious that there is still quite some distance to go. As revealed by e.g. the Nordic Power Studies (SOU 1990:44; Christiansen & Togeby, 2001; Togeby et al., 2003; Østerud et al., 2002; Østerud et al., 2003), and the Swed- ish Women Power Study (SOU 1998:6), the distribution of power positions between men and women has remained highly skewed, in particular in business life. Women have obtained more equal pay, but the gender gap remains, even if we take account of gender differences in job func- tions, and job functions remain different, partly reflecting that women’s career opportunities re- main more constrained. There are remedies for that – such as introducing gender quotas for dif- ferent positions in the public and private sector, introducing parental leave schemes that force fathers to take their part of family obligations (and suffer the same career breaks as women) etc.

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Needless to say, not all political decision makers want to promote such instruments. But they have also met resistance, both among men and women. In the United States it has emerged that what previously looked as a straight line towards more equal gender roles has been broken (Cotter, Hermsen & Vanneman, 2011). It could appear that in the US, the feminism from below has to some extent run out of steam. But what about the Scandinavian countries? How is public opinion towards gender equal- ity? Do women still pressure for higher gender equality, and are they followed by men? Does the young generation of women take more or less radical positions than the older generations? It has previously been predicted on the basis of Danish youth surveys conducted in 1979 and 1988 (re- vealing little change in levels) that attitudinal changes might not be irreversible (Togeby, 1995a), but how does it look 30 years later? Below we shed some light on these issues. More specifi- cally, we examine various aspects of gender equality attitudes across the Scandinavian countries. Unfortunately, as pointed out long ago, empirical measures as regards gender issues have tended to be highly skewed towards gender role attitudes (Stacey & Thorne, 1985). This situation has not changed very significantly (Kane & Whipkey, 2009); even measures of “feminist” atti- tudes have often relied much on gender role questions (Bolzendahl & Myers, 2004). The gender gap in voting is well analysed (e.g. Chaney et al., 1998; Abendschön & Steinmetz, 2014; Emme- negger & Manov, 2014; for the latest Danish accounts, see Goul Andersen, 2015, 2016). Quite some effort has been put to analysing gender differences in general political attitudes (e.g. Ingle- hart & Norris, 2003; Norrander & Wilcox, 2008; Oskarson & Wägnerud, 1995; Oskarson & Rohdén, 2002; for Danish studies, see Togeby, 1994a,b,c; Goul Andersen, 1984, 2016). But atti- tudes towards the politics of and towards policy instruments to counter this inequality has not very often been measured empirically. Most time series, in particular from the US, are on attitudes towards gender roles or, at best, very general measures. But even though it was a slogan of the feminist revolution in the 1960s and 1970s that “the private is political”, most gender role attitudes are rather “private” attitudes. When it comes to goals and instruments of gender equality policy, even conceptualization and measures are not very well developed. In this paper, we suggest to distinguish between the following aspects:  Attitudes towards gender roles  Attitudes towards gender equality as an ideal  Perception of the current state in terms of distance from the ideal, and

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 Attitudes towards particular policy instruments to promote gender equality. Undoubtedly, these dimensions are highly correlated, but from a conceptual point of view, they are different, and one might very well expect to find somewhat different determinants of these attitudes (c.f. Togeby, 1995a). In this paper, we shall examine differences in attitude patterns across the dimensions above. One could expect that most people in Scandinavia – both men and women – have aban- doned traditional gender role perceptions. Still, this can be differentiated. One question is whether people believe that men and women should have the same roles in relation to the labour market and family responsibilities (household, upbringing of children etc.). Another question is whether women and men are considered equally qualified for top positions in political life and in business life. Undoubtedly, there may be a certain “social desirability bias” when people – in particular men – answer such questions, but one could none the less expect that traditional gen- der role perceptions tend to be more resilient when it comes to professional positions than with respect to labour market participation and family responsibilities where double earning families has been the norm for nearly half a century.1 Next, we examine the differences between men and women across these dimensions. To what extent do Scandinavian men support gender equality policies? One might expect that gen- der differences tend to increase as we move from gender roles to perceptions of the current situa- tion and in particular to attitudes towards policy instruments to remedy gender inequalities. But we actually know less about the gender distribution of attitudes in this field than across most other policy fields where attitudes towards e.g. welfare, taxes, warfare (just to mention a few is- sues where gender differences are almost universal across countries). Finally, but not least, we shall compare the Scandinavian countries. Over the last couple of decades, quite significant differences have developed in public policy as well as in political discourse. In Norway, the dominant discourse has articulated women’s particularity and distinc- tiveness. Thus, being different to men, women are entitled to make particular political claims (Heidenreich, 2012:165) and historically the state has played an active role in promoting gender equality. In Denmark and Sweden ‘the difference argument’ has never gained ground. On the contrary, the dominant feminist ideology has seen women as similar to men, and gender neutrali-

1 We do not go into detail with the distribution of labour in the family. Empirical studies of time use have revealed how gender roles tend to persist, albeit in highly modified versions as compared to some decades ago (Bonke et al., 201X).

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V12B ty rather than distinctiveness has been the goal. In Sweden, feminism has been more in the offen- sive ideologically than in the two other countries (in particular Denmark). A few years ago, all male Swedish political leaders declared themselves as feminists. In Denmark this word has sometimes been almost a shaming label, but perhaps most importantly, during the 90s and 00s the issue has been almost out of the political debate, except when it comes to suspecting immi- grants for maintaining traditional gender roles and oppression of women. Thus, in Denmark most notable is the absence of a prominent gender equality discourse. If anything, the discourse con- tains the notion that gender equality is a nonissue (Dahlerup, 2009). As regards public policies, there are quite significant differences in the Scandinavian parental leave schemes, and there are differences in the willingness to apply the instrument of gender quotas or other “affirmative ac- tion” to promote gender equality. Finally, in the last section we make generational comparisons.2 The straight line argu- ment from the 1970s predicting irreversible change, deeper cleavages, and higher impact of atti- tudes has for long been questioned or falsified. One could expect, however, that in Scandinavia changes in gender roles are reversible whereas dissatisfaction with the current state of gender equality, and attitudes towards policy instruments is more dependent on attention, that is, on mo- bilization and discourse. This suggestion is far from new (Togeby, 1995a). But it would imply that one would expect gender role attitudes to be fairly similar across countries. As the countries are so culturally similar, one would also expect abstract ideals to be similar across countries. On the other hand, one would expect feminist attitudes like dissatisfaction with current conditions and favourable attitudes towards policy instruments to be stronger in countries where the mobili- zation has continued (both from “below” and “above”), that is, Norway and in particular Swe- den. However, one might also expect more counter-reaction among men in countries where feminism has been on the offensive, in particular as regards attitudes towards specific policy in- struments.

2. Data Our data were collected by YouGov in the spring/early summer of 2015, based on a sample from YouGov’s panels in the three countries. Translations were made by YouGov and approved by

2 Strictly speaking, since we only have cross-sectional data, we compare age groups but discuss interpretations mainly from a generational perspective.

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V12B the authors.3 Sample sizes were about 1000 in Sweden and Norway, 4000 in Denmark, drawn from the population 18 years+ and weighted according to demographic variables and education.4 Some of the questions were identical to the attitude questions in simultaneous surveys of parlia- ment members in the three countries; others were drawn from some of the Nordic election sur- veys or citizenship surveys, and still others were simply new.

3. Country and gender differences

3.1. Gender role attitudes

The survey did not include any questions about traditional gender roles such as the appropriate- ness of women having paid work, ability of working to take sufficient care of their chil- dren etc. But it did include two questions about gender roles in the family and one about women’s capacity for political leadership (see Table 1). Not surprisingly, nearly all respondents answered that there are no difference in men and women’s capacity for political leadership, and the figures were nearly the same among men and women in all three countries, even though it remains that 8-11 per cent of the male respondents believed that men were a little or much better, as against 5 per cent among women. When it comes to the division of labour in the family we do in fact encounter small coun- try differences. We did not ask about details of household work, but asked whether “men should take as much part in childcare as women”. In Denmark only 62 per cent (of all respondents) agree. Even though it should be added that only 9 per cent disagree – the remaining 29 per cent answer “neither agree nor disagree” – it remains that are somewhat less convinced than are the and Norwegians. In Sweden 67 per cent agree, and in Norway the figure is 72 per

3 In one instance, a mistake in translation to Swedish was not discovered, and in one instance, a response category fell out of a question in the Norwegian questionnaire after proof-reading. These questions are not included below. 4 In could be added that weighted and unweighted data provide almost identical results. As regards possible panel effects, we suggest that these are likely to be the same in the three countries, that is, we have not made any adjust- ments for those variables where (moderate) panel effects are known; we expect that these do not affect country dif- ferences or social differences to any significant degree. To check correspondence with data based on ordinary tele- phone interviews, we conducted a minor survey (N=600) with the same questionnaire simultaneously (run by NORSTAT).

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V12B cent.5 This is in fact rather surprising. It is also surprising that we find small, but significant gen- der differences on this item. In all three countries, the proportion agreeing that men should take as much part in childcare as women is 10-12 percentage points higher among women.

Table 1. Gender role attitudes 2015. Percentage who strongly or partly agree. Denmark Sweden Norway Females Males Females Males Females Males Men should take as much part in childcare as women 67 56 73 61 77 67 It is best for all parties if men take parental leave 49 46 64 57 67 58 Women are at least as capable of political leadership as 95 92 95 89 95 92 are men*) Question: In your opinion; is there a difference in men and women’s capacity for political leadership? Which statement do you agree on the most? (Women are much better leaders, a bit better leaders, equal capacities, men are bit better leaders, men are much better leaders) Weighed data

Finally, we included a question about the desirability of men taking paternal leave (without men- tioning anything about legislation). Among the Swedish respondents, 62 per cent agreed, almost the same figure as in Norway. However, in Denmark the figure was below 50 per cent, both among men and women. Again, it should be kept in mind that only 17 per cent of the Danish re- spondents disagree, but this figure is also clearly higher than in Sweden and nearly twice as high as in Norway.

Also at this point we find small differences between men and women: 3 percentage points in Denmark, 7 percentage points in Sweden and 9 percentage points in Norway. These differences are small, but they imply that country differences among women are somewhat larger: 49 per cent of the Danish women agree, as against 64 and 67 per cent, respectively, among Swedish and Norwegian women.

The picture of course depend on the indicators selected, and we have omitted those that appear most trivial since they reflect options (e.g. of married women not working) that are not available any more. But it remains that even when it comes to gender role questions that support what would appear as nearly hegemonic values in the Nordic societies, we do find what one could feel tempted to call more “traditionalist” (or more “liberalist”?) attitudes among Danish respondents than among Swedes and Norwegians. It is obvious, also for Danes that men and women are equally capable of assuming political leadership positions, but it is not equally obvious that fa-

5 The figures disagreeing were 10 per cent in Sweden and 7 per cent in Norway.

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V12B thers and mothers should share the responsibility for children, and for the Danes, it is far from undisputable that in principle, men should take paternal leave.

This is a surprising first indication that Danes are more stuck in the maintenance of traditional gender roles – even though many among the respondents would probably not perceive it this way. It is also remarkable – although perhaps slightly less surprising – that in all three countries, women are stronger adherents of “modern” gender roles than men.

3.2. Gender equality as an ideal

One could expect that gender equality was uniformly accepted as an ideal among both men and women in the Scandinavian countries. But it turns out that there are quite some country differ- ences as well as differences between men and women in all three countries. We have asked about equal pay, about equal representation in parliament, and about equal distribution of men and women at top positions in business life. We speak about outcome equality and not just about equality of opportunity. On the other hand, the questions are not very demanding since it is not implied – except in the case of wages – that anything should be done about it, or what should be done. The results are presented in Table 2.

Table 2. Ideals about gender equality. Percentage who strongly or partly agree. 2015. Denmark Sweden Norway Females Males Females Males Females Males There should be equal pay between men and women 89 71 90 77 89 74 There should be roughly the same number of men and women in 48 26 62 45 58 38 parliament It would be preferable if there were roughly the same proportion of 47 25 63 37 61 39 men and women in leading positions in private business life

Not surprisingly, the ideal of equal pay is broadly accepted in all three countries. This has been a slogan of the trade unions for more than half a century – even though the unions have sometimes been accused of doing too little about it. About 90 per cent of the female respondents in all three countries endorse the principle. Men seldom disagree (10 per cent), but the proportion who agree is nevertheless significantly smaller. In Denmark it is as low as 71 per cent. In Norway it is 74 per cent, and in Sweden 77 per cent.

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Again, we find that Denmark is the Scandinavian laggard: On average, the support for equal pay is less unambiguous in Denmark; Danish men are responsible for the difference; and the gender difference is larger in Denmark than in Norway and especially in Sweden. One might speculate if a stronger mobilisation in Sweden has forced men to endorse the principle more convincingly than in the two other countries. It is a bit of a paradox since Denmark is probably the country in Scandinavia where the critique of immigrants for being oppressive against women is most fierce.

When it comes to the ideal that there should be roughly the same number of men and women in parliament, the support for gender equality is substantially smaller, and the country difference is more outspoken. Only 37 per cent of the Danish respondents endorse the principle, as against 48 per cent in Norway and 54 per cent in Sweden. There is a substantial gender difference in all three countries: 22 percentage points in Denmark, 20 percentage points in Norway, and 17 per- centage points in Sweden. In other words, Danish women have quite different opinions than women in Norway and Sweden, but Danish men distinguish themselves even more: Only 26 per cent of Danish men agree that there should be roughly equal representation of men and women; in Sweden the proportion is 45 per cent. And in this instance, Danish men more frequently de- clare themselves against equal representation (28 per cent) than in favour if it (26 per cent).

Roughly the same pattern is found when it comes to gender distribution on top positions in busi- ness life. In order to avoid any connotations to debates about gender quota we have asked whether it “would be better” to have an equal distribution. At this point, women give roughly the same answers as for political representation above; the main difference is that Swedish men are slightly less inclined to endorse this principle than the principle of equal political representation. But this time, the proportion of Danish men who disagree that it would be an advantage is as high as 32 per cent, as compared to 25 per cent who would welcome a roughly equal distribution between men and women.

Of course, three indicators are insufficient to provide a full picture of support for the principle of gender equality in Scandinavia, but the data nevertheless leave the impression of a big discrep- ancy between people’s attitudes and the picture in the 1980s of the “women-friendly” societies. The reluctance to endorse the principle of gender equality is actually rather low in all three coun- tries, even among women. But gender differences are surprisingly big, the support for gender equality is surprisingly low in Denmark, and in two out of three instances, the proportion of

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Danish men who disagree with the principle of gender equality outnumber the proportion who agree.

3.3. Perceived distance from the ideal

As mentioned, it is part of the national consciousness in the Scandinavian countries that gender equality is high. As measured by objective indicators, there is still room for improvements, and this also tends to be widely recognized. Awareness of and dissatisfaction with the current state of equality, however, is quite different in public discourse, with Denmark and Sweden as the ex- tremes. This is also what we find at the individual level (Table 3). Among Danish women, 45 per cent by and large think that equality has been obtained (or gone too far). Among Norwegian women, the figure is 39 per cent, but only 15 per cent of the Swedish women are satisfied with the current state of affairs. To be sure, this does not reflect that Swedish women are in a more disadvantaged situation; rather the causal relationship is the other way around – and negative: The more mobilisation of discontent, the more is done about it.

Table 3. Perception of the state of gender equality in general. 2015. Per cent. Denmark Sweden Norway Females Males Females Males Females Males Gender equality has gone too far 4 11 7 17 7 13 By and large, gender equality is obtained 41 58 8 25 32 48 In some important areas, gender equality is still 50 28 69 50 53 33 not obtained Discrimination still permeates our society 5 3 16 8 8 6 Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 (2034) (2013) (498) (511) (492) (513)

In Sweden, even a majority of men find the current situation dissatisfying. Only 42 per cent think that gender equality is achieved; in Norway and Denmark, the figure is 61 and 69 per cent, re- spectively. The gender difference, as measured in percentage points, is not very different in the three countries: 22 percentage points in Norway, 24 in Denmark, and 27 percentage points in Sweden. In short, there is a substantial gender polarisation on this issue in all three countries. But it is largest in Sweden. This is even more visible when we look at the extreme category: 17 per cent among Swedish men think that gender equality has gone too far, as compared to 13 per cent in Norway and 11 per cent in Denmark.

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Both among men and women, we also find a higher proportion in Sweden who think that “dis- crimination still permeates our society”. Both among men and women, this proportion is smallest in Denmark; in Sweden the proportion is about three times as high.

Table 4. Attitudes towards the state of gender equality on different areas. 2015. Percentages answering “low degree of gender equality” or “no gender equality at all”. Denmark Sweden Norway Females Males Females Males Females Males Equal pay 63 39 81 56 63 40 Equal division of house work 57 41 60 42 55 40 Equal access to executive positions in the business 62 39 82 55 65 42 world Equal access to political positions 36 18 56 27 37 18 Equal access to seats on boards of directors 62 38 78 56 62 37

It is not dissatisfaction with division of house work that distinguish the Swedes. As it emerges from Table 4, a majority among women in all three countries (55 to 60 per cent) find that gender equality has not been obtained. Among men, only 40-42 per cent think that inequality prevails. However, Swedish women (and men) are much more critical than the Danes and Norwegians when it comes to equal pay, equal access to executive positions and boards of directors in the business world, and equal access to political positions. On all these questions, the responses of Danes and Norwegians are nearly the same, both among men and women. The polarisation be- tween men and women over these issues may be slightly more outspoken in Sweden, but gender differences in perceptions are highly significant in all three countries.

When asked about the reasons for the under-representation of women on top positions (Table 5), men and women in all three countries generally agree that it is not a matter of competences . Only 15-20 per cent tend to agree that this is part of the problem (if it is a problem). By the same token, “only” 17-27 per cent think that women find it more difficult to handle the strain con- nected with top positions. Again, country differences are small, and the answers of men and women are nearly indistinguishable. This confirms the findings regarding gender roles above. Those times are gone where women were believed to be less fit for fight.

But the question remains whether the under-representation is voluntary or involuntary. In all three countries a majority of men and women agree that different priorities is part of the explana- tion. If anything, the proportion giving this answer is slightly higher among women than among

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V12B men, and Swedes and Danes do not distinguish on this issue; rather the Norwegians seem to con- sider slightly more frequently that this is part of the explanation.6 A related explanation – that too few women aspire for such positions – provides almost the same pattern, but with slightly lower figures in Sweden than in the two other countries, both among men and women.

Table 5: Perceived reasons for women being under-represented in top positions. 2015. Per- centages answering “very important” or “rather important”.*) Denmark Sweden Norway Females Males Females Males Females Males Women lack the required competences 15 16 17 19 19 20 More women have difficulties handling the strain con- 22 21 17 20 27 26 nected with top positions A lot more women than men prioritize family up for the 60 55 59 58 71 67 career Too few women aspire for such positions 61 61 54 53 61 65

Recruitment often take place in informal networks 52 47 59 48 60 49 Recruitment of female leaders is not a priority 42 31 52 31 56 37

Female candidates are being passed over for appointment 37 18 55 29 53 30 Most men have problems working with female leaders 44 26 54 30 50 26 *) The questions did not appear in this sequence in the questionnaire; they have been arranged logically in this pres- entation: (1) Women’s competences, (2) women’s priorities, (3) ”system ignorance”, and (4) straightforward dis- crimination.

Assessments diverge more between men and women when it comes to what might be labelled “system ignorance”: That recruitment often take place via informal (male) networks, and that recruitment of female leaders is not a priority. Except for the Danes on the question of recruit- ment of women having (too) low priority, a majority of women in all three countries provide af- firmative answers. About one half of the men acknowledge that recruitment takes place in infor- mal networks, but only about one third agree that recruitment of female leaders is not a priority.

The largest gender difference, and the largest country difference, is found when we ask about outright discrimination: That female candidates are being passed over for appointment, or that most men have problems with female leaders. One-half or more among the Swedish and Norwe- gian women believe this is part of the problem. Among Danish women it is only 37 and 44 per cent, respectively. Around 30 per cent of the Norwegian and Swedish men acknowledge that fe-

6 This is actually in accordance with the notion of “women as different from men” in Norwegian political discourse – which actually seems rooted in traditional gender roles and framing of women as mothers.

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V12B male candidates are being passed over for appointment. In Denmark, the figure is only 18 per cent. A large majority among men in all three countries refuse that men have problems working with female leaders. A majority of and Norway believe this is part of the problem, as compared to only 44 per cent in Denmark.

Altogether, Norwegians and Swedes are somewhat more concerned with ignorance and substan- tially more concerned with discrimination than the Danes. As regards women’s competences and priorities, country differences are small.

As regards gender differences, men and women in all three countries deny that women’s compe- tences is part of the problem. Gender differences are also absent when it comes to seeing women’s priorities as part of the problem. But gender differences are larger when it comes to ignorance as an explanation. And they are very large when people consider whether discrimina- tion is part of the problem – if it is at all a problem: Norwegian and in particular Swedish re- spondents are more inclined than the Danes to see under-representation of women on top posi- tions as a problem.

3.4. Policy instruments to promote gender equality

Finally, we have included a few questions about government action and specific instruments to promote gender equality. First, people were asked whether the government had done too little to promote gender equality. Here we find significant differences between the three countries among women. 41 per cent of the Swedish women believe that government has done too little. In Nor

Table 6. The government has done too little to increase gender equality. 2015. Percent Denmark Sweden Norway Females Males Females Males Females Males 1.Completely agree 7 4 13 8 9 7 2.Partially agree 14 11 28 19 24 16 3.Neither agree nor disagree 55 47 44 42 44 41 4.Partially disagree 16 21 9 14 18 21 5.Completely disagree 8 17 6 17 5 15 Done too little, total (1+2) 21 15 41 27 33 23 Balance of opinion -3 -23 +26 -4 +10 -13 Total per cent 100 100 100 10 100 100 (N) (2034) (2014) (498) (511) (492) (513)

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V12B way, the figure is 33 per cent, and in Denmark it is only 21 per cent. In Denmark women who disagree that “government has done too little” even outnumber those who agree, producing a negative balance of opinion. In Sweden, the balance of opinion is +26, and in Norway it is +10.

The same country variations are found among men. In Denmark only 15 per cent among men think that government has done too little, in Sweden it is 27 per cent. This also means that when it comes to government action – without specifying what should be done – the gender difference is the same across the three countries. The difference is that Swedes are quite dissatisfied with insufficient government action, the Danes are typically satisfied, and the Norwegians fall in- between.

Turning to specific policies or issues in Table 7, we find more scepticism in all three countries, but with significant variations. The first issue is ban against buying sex which has been carried through in Sweden, Norway and Iceland (and in France). In Denmark the government chose not to adopt a prohibition when the issue was discussed in 2012-13. This probably explains the sig- nificant country differences in attitudes. Only 32 per cent of Danish women support a ban against buying sex – in Norway, the figure is 63 per cent, and in Sweden 76 per cent. In all three coun- tries the proportion of males supporting a ban is about one-half of the proportion among women. In Sweden and Norway this is the issue where we find the strongest polarization between men and women.

Table 7. Attitudes towards issues/instruments to promote gender equality. Percentages who think it is a “good” or “very good” proposal. Per cent. Denmark Sweden Norway Females Males Females Males Females Males Ban against buying sex 32 17 76 40 63 33 Earmark parental leave for fathers 34 34 33 25 47 42 Legislation on gender quotas in boards of directors 12 8 25 12 30 17

In all Nordic countries except Denmark, part of the parental leave is earmarked for fathers. In Denmark this had been promised by the centre-left government (2011-15), but it was given up by the government which was severely pressured in the opinion polls and did not want to provoke anybody in this field. Surprisingly, however, attitudinal differences between countries, and be- tween men and women, are small. It is possible that the question has been interpreted differently in Sweden and Norway as a proposal to change current rules; this might explain why only 25 per

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V12B cent of the Swedish men seem to support the proposal, even though protests are seldom heard against the current regulation. At any rate it seems clear that this issue does not really divide women and men, and in Denmark where there is little doubt about the interpretation, the pro- posal, at least when framed as ear-marking, does not generate very much support among women.

In 2008, Norway introduced a gender quota requirement for board members in large companies. And Norway followed what was later to become a EU recommendation in 2012 that at least 40 per cent should be female (and at least 40 per cent male) – a (very) “soft law” recommendation with a higher target than in those countries (like Germany, France and others) which already had gender quotas. Denmark was among the countries fighting successfully against “hard law” regu- lation in the EU, but used a “nudging approach” where 1100 among the largest companies be- came obliged to report about their goals and achievements as regards gender representation. In Sweden the issue was much discussed in 2015, but a quota system was not introduced. In Nor- way, according to Heidenreich (2014), the regulation has not generated much dissatisfaction in the affected firms but rather been welcomed.

None the less, support for this requirement seems rather limited in Norway, even though it is higher than in the other countries. In Denmark, support is extremely low, 12 per cent among women and 8 per cent among men. In Norway and Sweden, the proportions are 30 and 25 per cent, respectively – and substantially higher than among men.

4. Generational diversity

As we ran out of time, the manuscript unfortunately stops here.

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