When do we really start to innovate?

When do we really start to innovate?

By Ina Brouwer, Author, Public Affairs, Politician

Aan geen gehuurde borst

werd ooit een kind gevoed

Ina Brouwer

Work, motherhood, childcare in the past and how do we go on from here?

Historical roots of work and motherhood in the Netherlands and Sweden.

The Netherlands1. A centuries-old tradition of

motherhood

No tradition of wetnurses, like in France

The Dutch poet Jacob Cats warns in the 17th century against this French tradition, saying:

The little child will get the character of the woman who feeds him with her milk.

andHe who drinks the milk of a goat as a baby will get the

character of a goat!

:

2. The Netherlands escaped from dramatic events in history

•No great War ( 1914-1918) like England ( 1,5 million women were mobilized) and France

•No mass poverty, nor mass immigration in the 19th century like in Ireland and Sweden

•The Netherlands then is already overpopulated

3. Culture of Private life;women should be at home with

their children

1784 Society for the wellbeing of all people was raised in an attempt to develop the 2nd Golden Century in

the Netherlands.Only men could become a member

In the 19th century women of the middle and higher classes were not allowed to have paid work.

They were allowed to make music, embroider sheets and handkerchiefs, paint or do charity.

International developments influence the Netherlands

1893 in Chicago en 1895 in KopenhagenWorld-exhibitions of the new industrial world,

including the modern position of women’s labour.The Netherlands do not have much to deliver and

that inspires the debate among women

1898 National Exhibition of women’s work in The Hague

Opened by the young queen of that time,Wilhelmina.

Sweden 19th century: mass-emigration, poverty, low birthrate;

a dying people?

19th centruy: because of poverty and bad harvests 1 out of 5 young Swedes

emigrates to the United States of America1934: the social democrats Alva en Gunnar

Myrdal write:Kris i Befolkningsfragan

Only a modern position for the family and for women can save Sweden

The Netherlands versus Sweden

Sweden:1939 Law against resignation of women

because of marriage

The Nederlands: 1904-1940 12 times a proposal in- and

outside parliament to forbid the work of married women.

Great majority, including liberals

Sweden: from 1950 on starts the building of a modern welfare state, including childcare

Crèches, long parental leave, also for men, equal pay

Result in 201480% of the Swedish women work, mostly

vrouwen fulltime75% is economic independent, including

their own pensionOnly 48% of the Dutch women is economic independent, Even a lower percentage have

their own pension

Differences within the EU:parttime labour and childcare

The Netherlands- 74% of women work parttime

Top in the EU2nd place: Germany with 45%

• The Netherlands have the highest prices for childcare in the EU

• Germany- since 2013 every parent has the right to childcare at reasonable

prices.

What does this mean for changes of growth and a career for women in the Netherlands and Sweden?

Future developments:

More parttime work in Sweden?More private life and less collectiv childcare?

OrThe Swedish model in the Netherlands?

What model encourages personal growth and careers for women? What is best for children? Or

does it not make any difference?

At no hired brest ever a child was fed

Ina Brouwer

Questions & answers