“Nordic welfare institutions influence work incentives for women in a number of ways. The Nordic welfare system has been designed to encourage parents to engage in market work while benefiting from various forms of public funding. But research suggests that national paid and unpaid leave policies, work entitlements, and other family benefits encourage women to work part-time rather than full-time. This hinders their ability to develop top careers.

The European Commission’s research suggests that part-time work often accompanies public parental benefits in Sweden. Eva Meyersson Milgrom and Trond Petersen similarly conclude in a study that the glass ceiling ‘appears to be more severe in the Scandinavian countries with their generous family policies, than in the U.K., U.S., and other comparable countries.'”