The Politics of Gender Equality: Explaining Variation in Fertility Levels in Rich Democracies Frances Rosenbluth, Yale University Matthew Light, Yale University Claudia Schrag, Cambridge University ABSTRACT. A consensus has emerged that gender-friendly policies can promote higher fertility in rich democracies (Esping-Andersen 1999). This paper supplies a political explanation for why these fertility-en- abling policies diverge across countries. Using Sweden and Germany as our primary case studies, we argue that the strength of the left party’s hold on government, rather than economic or social factors, underpins the expansion of the public sector that draws women into the labor force and allows them to balance family and career. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: <docdelivery@haworthpress.com> Website: <http://www.HaworthPress. com> © 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.] Scandinavia scores higher than the rest of the industrialized west on most indicators of gender equality: high female labor force participa- tion, a small gender wage gap (women make about 90 percent of what a man makes for comparable work), and negligible feminization of pov- erty. One unintended consequence, and one that makes many other countries deeply envious, is that fertility is higher in Scandinavia as well. Because Scandinavian governments heavily subsidize child care, and because large public sectors absorb much of the female labor into relatively secure and remunerative jobs, women have an easier time Women & Politics, Vol. 26(2) 2004 http://www.haworthpress.com/web/WP  2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Digital Object Identifier: 10.1300/J014v26n02_01 1