Enriching Swedish Women's Work Environment: The Case of Social Enterprises in Day Care

This article addresses the dramatic increase of work-related demands and the deterioration of the psychosocial work environment for women employed in the public service sector in Sweden during the 1990s and the potential contribution of social enterprises to enriching women's work environment. The empirical part of the study of the staff of 57 day care centres, chosen throughout Sweden, compares the three main types of social enterprises providing day care services, namely parent cooperatives, voluntary organizations and worker cooperatives, with each other and contrasts them, in a retrospective study, with similar municipal services. The staff study shows that social enterprises provide good jobs in the sense of being both demanding and providing decision latitude for the employees. Women gain more control over their jobs through greater participation and influence in the decision-making processes of social enterprises. This both enriches their work life and results in a more engaged staff and better quality services.