The fact that Sweden has extremely progressive family-leave policies isn?t news to anyone.
We?ve heard about the 16 months of leave that can be split between parents, most of it at 80% of salary, per child. We?ve compared it to our own sad family-leave track record that sees new moms rushing back to work at six or three months, if not six or four weeks, and men taking off the minimal amount of days required for their wives to let go of their hand. And we?ve said ?Wow! That?s just crazy unbelievable.?
More unbelievable still is a recent push, according to the Wall Street Journal, for men to take even longer paternity leaves.
As of now, new fathers in Sweden are required to take at least two months of the almost year they are entitled to if they want to get any government benefits at all.
?The Swedish government will pay 80% of a parent?s salary?up to a cap of about $65,000?for 13 months. One parent can sign over all but two of these months to the other.?
But, according to the article, some politicians are now pushing for men to be required to take three months. That?s right. They are pushing even harder for men to step off the hamster wheel, go home, or to the coffee shop, and interact with their babies.
Makes sense to me. Infant and toddler care is not just for moms. Right?
Sure. But not everyone is thrilled by the thought of the increased legislation:
?If only women stayed home with children, women would be at a considerable disadvantage compared with men,? says Johanna Noren, a mother of one who works as a systems developer at Sweden?s Royal Library. Although she supports the idea of fathers taking a third month of leave, ?it?s better if people make decisions on what they want and believe, rather than on what they feel forced to do.?
While not every Swede is happy to have the government tell them how much paternity leave to take, it?s not hard to imagine all the benefits of treating the father as equal partner in early childcare. On a less earnest note, there is something invaluable that can be gained by legislating paternity leave: Perspective.
One British father in the article, living and working in Sweden, discovered a major disparity between his fantasy image of paternity leave experience, and the actual experience:
?I?d be lucky to have 30 minutes for myself a day. The rest was just endless cleaning, feeding, changing and picking up.? He says that, two weeks into it, he wondered if he was going to last the entire leave, ?but I?m happy I did it and could bond with my daughter.?
Fantasize with me: If you and the father of your child each had 16 months paid family leave between you, how would you split it up?
Source: http://blogs.babycenter.com/mom_stories/0801201sweden-pushes-for-3-months-required-paternity-leave/
fabrice muamba collapse prometheus trailer patrice oneal shamrock slainte the quiet man yellow cab
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.