In Sweden, few institutions are as ideologically celebrated as preschool. For decades, Swedish childcare has been held up as proof that gender equality and a strong welfare state can coexist with high labor-force participation. Universal childcare, one of the many progressive family reforms that were introduced during the social democratic Prime Minister Olof Palme, enabled women’s mass entry into the paid workforce while simultaneously promising children professional care and early education regardless of class background.

Preschool was not supposed to be mere storage for children while parents worked. It was to be pedagogical, developmental, and emancipatory for children. The transformation was linguistic as much as institutional. “Daycare” became “preschool.” Staff became educators. National curricula were introduced. Childcare was reframed as a social right and an educational project rather than a private family responsibility.

The expansion of Swedish childcare rested on a broader social democratic promise: care work would no longer fall entirely on individual families, and women would be less economically dependent within the household. Children’s upbringing would no longer hinge entirely on the unequal resources available to their parents. The system was made materially accessible through heavily subsidized fees and universal provision.