Once mocked as so-called “velvet dads” for availing themselves of the newly-introduced “parental leave” in the mid-1970s, Swedish men are now embracing their all-important role in child care, thanks in part to government incentives to take paternity leave.
According to an article in The New York Times this week, eight in 10 Swedish fathers now take a third of the total 13 months of leave — and 9 percent of fathers take 40 percent of the total or more — up from 4 percent a decade ago. What’s more, those who don’t take paternity leave, “face questions from family, friends and colleagues,” writes Katrin Bennhold.
“Society is a mirror of the family,” Bengt Westerberg, who as deputy prime minister phased in the first month of paternity leave in 1995, told the Times. “The only way to achieve equality in society is to achieve equality in the home. Getting fathers to share the parental leave is an essential part of that.”
Many of those changes have been urged by the country’s progressive lawmakers and a conscious effort to reverse gender stereotypes of the formerly Viking (and thus macho) culture. Sweden became the first country to replace maternity leave with parental leave in 1974, but since women were still earning much less than their husbands, they tended to be the ones to take time off work for child care.
It wasn’t until 1995 that the country introduced “daddy leave,” a use-it-or-lose-it subsidy only available to families where dads took paternity leave. Laws now reserve at least two months of the generously paid, 13-month parental leave exclusively for fathers — a quota that could well double after the September election. Parents can use their 390 days of paid leave however they want up to the child’s eighth birthday — monthly, weekly, daily and even hourly.
“Sometimes politicians have to be ahead of public opinion,” Mona Sahlin, party leader for the Social Democrats, and potentially the country’s first female prime minister come election day on Sept. 19, told the Times.
All this progress at home has only helped equality in the workforce. The Times article cites a study published by the Swedish Institute of Labor Market Policy Evaluation in March, which showed that a mother’s future earnings increase on average 7 percent for every month the father takes leave.
While Sweden (population 8 million) is certainly a trailblazer when it comes to paternity leave, it’s not only small countries that are adopting such generous parental leave policies. Germany, with 82 million people, now allots two of the 14 months of paid leave for fathers.
Unfortunately, the US lags behind all other advanced industrialized countries in this regard. According to National Geographic, out of 192 countries, 177 provide some form of paid maternal leave, with 54 countries granting paid paternity or parental leave. However, neither the US nor Australia provide any government-paid maternity or paternity leave. US employer-based paid parental leave covers less than 10 percent of new dads. Australia is due to start providing paid parental leave in 2011, leaving the US as the only country in the world with no government-paid parental leave.
Image via Wikimedia Commons.