These activation inspectors were effectively the influencers of the 1960s. They worked in close cooperation with local job centers but also through direct contact with women. They used public places for information purposes, like the lobbies of cinemas or community centers, often offering a cup of coffee while discussing how women could best enter the labor market. Even door knocking was used as a method to reach housewives.
But it’s still important to critically debate why the soft girl trend has emerged. There remain many gender inequalities in Sweden, including differences in disposable income, the labor market segregation, women taking the lion’s share of unpaid care responsibilities. Some women probably feel sick of doing it all.
Employers could also be pressured to take more responsibility, offering better working conditions. The fact that women are struggling doesn’t mean equality isn’t beneficial—it means we don’t have equality yet.
But the solution doesn’t have to be for women to step away from the labor market. The alternative would be to put even more pressure on men to take on care and household responsibilities.
Lessons for today
Today, women and men work almost the same amount in Sweden. And most young women will probably continue to pursue careers.
They were broadcast on TV and radio and published in national and local newspapers. One example was the radio show Hemmafru Byter Yrke (The Housewife Switches Jobs) in which housewives could learn more about the possibilities that came with a paid job.
As my research has shown, many housewives hesitated when approached by activation inspectors. They wondered if they could meet the expectations placed on them by having a job.
But most women eventually started working. Having your own income and not being dependent on your husband appears to have become more attractive than being a housewife.
Perhaps it is instead time to activate some of the arguments from the 1960s influencers, to meet the arguments made by the soft girls. Becoming an independent woman is still an ideal to fight for.
The influence of this social media trend stands in stark contrast to the movement that stopped housewife from being a common role for women in Sweden by the 1980s, after a government campaign to encourage women to get jobs.
The traditional housewife emerged in Sweden and other parts of the world in parallel with the transition from a rural to an industrial society. While men were employed in industry, more and more married women became homemakers in the 1930s, peaking in the 1950s.
This transformation of the family was made possible through various reforms such as individual taxation, the introduction of the parental leave insurance, the expansion of public childcare and active labor market policies.
The argument was straightforward. A paid job contributed not only to personal growth, but to economic independence and freedom for the woman, and ultimately a better life. A society built on such premises benefited all citizens’ well-being, they argued, and it was a prerequisite for a prosperous welfare state.