Kvoterad föräldraledighet - Jämställdhet eller tvång?

Sammanfattning: The essay’s purpose is to illustrate the topic of parental leave and the distribution of the domestic work in the households. Furthermore this essay aims to investigate the following questions: § Which factors will be of importance while considering how to divide the parental leave? § How do families with small children distribute the domestic work? § What are the opinions regarding equal allocation of parental leave quotas in families with small children? We have used a quantitative method to gather our empirical data. Surveys were handed out to parents visiting six “Öppna förskolan” in Örebro. The data was then analyzed using rational choice and structure functionalistic theory. The conclusions that we have been able to draw from this study are that most parents, who answered our survey, are against an equal allocation of parental leave quotas. They thought that it should be up to each family to decide what is best for them, when deciding how to divide the parental leave. Economy and nursing were the two main points taken under consideration for the division. To assure the validity of this research we have compared our results with results collected by “Statistiska CentralByrån” (SCB). Key words: parental leave, domestic work, equal allocation of parental leave quotas