Sweden's Centre Party says it wants an investment of SEK 6.4 billion over the next four years to tackle the wage gap between state-employed men and women.
“It is completely unacceptable to distinguish between men and women who have the same education, the same duties and are the same age,” party leader Annie Lööf is quoted as saying by Swedish news agency TT.
“The state has the role of employer when it comes to this matter, for public employees in the courts, police, universities and government agencies.”
Swedens Centerpartiet is calling for a total investment of SEK 6.4 billion to address the pay gap issue by raising womens wages.
The party also aims to get started wage negotiations with the countrys trade unions over the next four years.
“Its politicians duty to deal with this unfair situation of unequal pay,” argues Lööf.
“It really frustrates me that despite several decades of legislation in Sweden relating to equal pay for equal work, we are still being pigeonholed as women.”
According to stats from the Swedish Mediation Institute, the public body thats responsible for official wage statistics in the country, there is an unexplained pay gap of 4.3 percent on average in Sweden, favouring men over women.
The wages gap is even wider in Swedens private sector – 6.5 percent – although Lööf and her party are aware that it would be a lot harder for the government to address that disparity.
Lööfs goals also include putting a stop to established structural wage differences that for example make female-dominated professions lower paid.
