In an effort to speed up the labour market integration of immigrant women in Sweden, Minister for Social Security Ardalan Shekarabi has announced that the government intends to reserve a larger share of parental leave for fathers. According to public television programme SVT News, the government believes that the current parental leave system is a factor in the low activity rate of foreign-born women in the labour market. Shekarabi called the current system a 'segregation trap for women'.

The government plans to propose to parliament that 90 days' parental leave be granted to each migrant parent. This is already the allowance granted to most Swedish parents (the motivation being the encouragement of fathers to take parental leave as well as mothers). However, at present the allowance only applies to those Swedish parents who have an income high enough to qualify for sickness benefits, SGI. Parents with low income - or none at all - receive compensation at the basic level instead, with 89% being granted to women in 2020, and are granted no days of parental leave. While people receiving income-based parental leave benefits can receive a maximum of SEK 1 012 per day, the compensation at the basic level is capped at SEK 250 per day. This new proposal would allow parents at the basic level, of whom a large proportion are migrants, to be granted 90 days' leave as well.

The government will present its proposal to parliament this spring. It is estimated that if enacted, the new rule will affect approximately 70 000 people. A similar proposal was made by a previous government in 2018, but was ultimately not voted in.

This change would help to create better conditions for newly arrived women to establish themselves in the Swedish labour market, and to improve and secure their own livelihoods.