ABSTRACT
Sweden's late industrialization meant that its unions came upon the scene when working men's initial fierce opposition to women's employment was ebbing in the industrializing countries on the European continent. As cosponsors of the campaign, the trade unions circulated it through their network of union courses and schools. Trade unionists were to take the lead in spreading the new view of equality—the sharing of roles and responsibilities by men and women. There is nothing obvious in the early history of Swedish trade unions that would explain why they were not the last but among the first to jump on the bandwagon, and have even helped to write the music for the band. They have put their organizational strength, officially at least, behind a new concept of the future in which the sexes are to play equally important roles in both public and private life.
