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Family policies are a combination of social and economic policies, programs, and laws aimed especially at families with children. These policies are usually created to ensure a balance between the work and family life. Although today, Scandinavian countries are admired for their effective support for families with children through policies that balance work and family life, share paid and unpaid work equitably among men and women, and make the interest of the child the main focus. It is important to realize that the family and children have not always been regarded as important in the Scandinavian countries. The origin of family policies in Scandinavian countries can be traced back to the 19th century during the beginning of the industrialization. The transition of communities from rural to industrialized led to an increase of idle children on the street. In a show of nationalism, protecting children became an important social issue. Most Scandinavian countries made laws on child protection and began to see children as future citizens whom they needed to invest in. One of the key goals of the social democratic welfare state is to guarantee children's welfare and security.

There are a variety of family policies, however, the most common ones within the Scandinavian countries are the provision of childcare and education, parental leave, child maintenance, child benefit, joint custody of family breakup and individual tax assessment to support the dual-earner- dual career model. Although these policies are common across Scandinavian countries, different countries place more emphasis on certain policies. Sweden in 1974 was the first country to implement parental leaves that allowed both the father and mother to take time off work to care for their children. All three Scandinavian countries have since then implemented similar policies. Although there is a shared belief in the ideal of gender equality, there are differences between countries in the extent to which family policies incorporate gender equality as an active component in policy development. Two things, however that is common between these countries is that access to this policies is based on citizenship, not on input or merit, and the use of the dual-earner-dual career model.

The dual earner-dual career model creates a higher labor force participation rate among men, women, and young mothers. Critics of the Scandinavian family policies argue that these policies create weaker labor market positions for women. Women are left with fewer career opportunities and less pay compared to men. Another argument that critics make against the use of generous family policies in Scandinavian countries is that these policies are responsible for the negative economic growth in this countries