Generous laws on parental leave is not enough to get to an equal and shared parenting. For despite the fact that Sweden is the country in Europe which has the most generous rules as regards the right to paid parental leave takes Swedish dads out less than a third of the days that mothers take out.
– To not talk about it here or have any plan when an employee wishes to go on parental leave seems to be sitting in the walls. It has gotten a little better since we looked at it a few years ago but there is still a lot of talk and small workshop, ” says Philip Hwang, a professor of psychology who conducted the studies along with Linda Haas, professor of sociology at Indiana University, USA.
they conducted a series of studies that focus on paternity leave and equal parenthood. In the new study, has conducted survey and in-depth interviews with 56 men in five large Swedish companies. The reason why you selected that particular category is to 80 per cent of Sweden’s working-age men working in the private sector. They also take less parental leave than men in the public sector.
” the point is that this affects equality. The picture we get is that these are almost without exception inclined towards the law that exists, that is to say, allows the worker to take out the statutory parental leave of three months, but does not encourage in any way the employers to find out more.
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the Study also shows that this culture has its basis in the assumption that the ”ideale employee” prioritize their work over family and children. This also affected how they participated in the study felt about their opportunities to take leave, for example if it would affect their ability to advance within the company.
Other research shows that if men would take out more parental leave, it would lead to that they take more responsibility for home and children, which, in turn, would contribute to a more equal society. That women will be away from work to take care of the children, on the contrary for granted.
workplaces need to create structures that make it possible for the parent to be gone through to be able to offer individual and flexible solutions where, for example, would do a lot of work from home.
– But even when you look at the trade-union organisations, it does not seem to be a priority. When you ask important are the many open with that it is not particularly important, despite the fact that the parents beat the knot on themselves in order to get it to go together. And despite the fact that we know that you feel good in private works better on the job.
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