In my article I write that it is impossible for me to not see both patriarchal and capitalist opposition to economic equality in the Swedish society. In the underlying report, ”How we reach equal pay in the working class?”, I expressed it a little more cautious as to ”there are some obstacles on the way also in some of the ingrained thought and känslomönstren among the social partners and the establishment of lönebildningens area”. Chief economist Stefan Koskinen, Almega, shows in his reply that I am on the right track.
Koskinen writes that I ”spins […] into the planned economic reasoning” and ”It will not work with a central committee which shall determine all salary increases”. This is subscribed to an image of a wage formation in line with what I outlined in my report would mean that Sweden was transformed to a centrally planned economy from a current state of the ”market economy”.
Both the image of Sweden as a ”market economy” as the image of what Sweden would be with my proposal for a wage determination for equal pay for women and men in the Swedish working class – the ”planned economic reasoning” – is so grossly crude that they would not pass even an introductory seminars in the social sciences.
. We – as well as any other comparable nation-states – have both ”market” and ”plan” (or ”the organization”) in all possible combinations. And it should most of us be extremely grateful for. A pure ”market economy” is something that disadvantages folkmajoriteten. The global system is, unfortunately, in a high degree a more purely ”market economy” and precisely why are so many people absolutely need, and that is why we are so unable to deal with crime and environmental degradation.
For each of the steps that have been taken since the Industriavtalets the signing, the degree of centralized planning increased. I quote from the Lars Calmfors report, which preceded my own in the 6F’s lönebildningsprojekt: ”the Industry lönenormering constitute an informal arrangement that accomplishes a similar coordination with socio-economic considerations of the wage cost increases as the earlier LO–SAF-centralisation” (page 9).
They are also variations on the lönebildningsmodeller already agreed on in the Swedish labour market. They are plans that achieves a certain goal, namely, the more economic equality between the sexes. And it is quite obvious much more effective, and humanly more reasonable way than that the hundreds of thousands of women and men in the middle of your life to retrain and change profession, something which amazingly enough seems to be the idea to gender equality policies Almega’s chief economist represents.
One of the architects behind the Industriavtalet is now the country’s prime minister. Each discussion of a serious kind must be assumed that wage formation in a mixed economy, is the policy, negotiated between the social partners and their respective political branches in party politics.
It is nearly 25 years ago I came in contact with the academic discussions around the issue of gender equality. The pay gap between female dominated jobs and male-dominated professions were, and are, perhaps, the most significant gender issue that is. Unlike many other much more difficult issues, it is actually to solve with the wise decision. The women – and men – who take care of our children, clean our offices and give us the care should be better paid! I think that a lot of people agree with that.