Swedish Men have it all - do they?

08:20 mareku 0 Comments

A nice article in the New York Times about Sweden and the social structure. In Sweden laws 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. If you don't take the two months you lose your right - so everybody is taking them.
Actually you can take that leave until the child id 8 years old, and in months, weeks, days or even hours. Next to that is the 120-day annual allowance for parents to tend to sick children and of course the (free) preschools - starting at 12 months.
So there is a tremendous pressure on parents to take at least a year off - and dads to take at least 2 months (after September 4 months) of. Some mothers are not that happy with daddy staying at home (while they have to get back to work) We all know that whatever dad is doing with the baby has seldom the approval of mom ;-)
On the other hand the whole idea of fathers earning money and mothers staying at home is vanishing - could this be the future? Or is Sweden n example of a (womens) state gone wild and where men are forced into patterns they don't really belong or want to be?