The nurses' strike continues

The nurses' strike continues in Sweden and Denmark, triggering a debate about the welfare state in both countries. "We think it is only natural that people receive an appropriate salary for vital work", three young politicians write in the Swedish daily Göteborgs-Posten. "Education must pay off in a modern society. The fields of work in which women with university degrees work and which deal with matters of life and death do not receive the same respect as male-dominated professions requiring an equivalent level of education, for example programmers or IT experts. ... We can no longer accept that professions that are predominantly exercised by women continue to be governed by outdated standards. ... In an international comparison Sweden is a country where women have equal rights, but this does not seem to be the case when it comes to how we regard different professions and education. Is a woman's knowledge less valuable than a man's? Is knowledge of people's needs worth nothing? We want a society that does not distinguish between the sexes when it comes to appreciating merit."

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