In 1969 the Swedish government opened up for municipalities to formally employ childminders. The history of this group of workers parallels the growth of women’s participation in the labour force and Swedish gender equality policies. But the history of childminders is also a story of strategies to separate private motherhood from professional day care. As the work of childminders take place in private homes, and as childminders almost always have children of their own to take care of – the division between motherhood and work needs to be constantly negotiated.
Public record material, union-employer-agreements and in-depth interviews with childminders are analysed in this article. From this material it is possible to conclude that the public/private-split is, in different ways, upheld at the policy level, at the level of labour market as well as in the everyday work practises of childminders. The article argues that childminders take great responsibility for u pholding the private/public division and that the institution and discourse of motherhood iscongruent with the private/public split and thus can be used as a strategic tool to uphold this division.