Cultural Research Application : Sweden

Becoming a parent is beautiful yet stressful time in many people's lives. Emotions of joy and worry fill the mind of expecting parents as they work to provide a loving and financially stable home for their family. Both parents wish to actively support their child and their spouse during this time of transition, however, corporations are making this task difficult. Maternity leave is a benefit that most companies provide, but only for their female employees. Male employees are not given the same opportunity to share the responsibility of childcare with their wife or to develop a bond early on with their child. Providing fathers maternity leave would give them time to dedicate themselves to the growth of their child, allow the mother to heal from giving birth, and promote equality within the family unit and in the workplace.

It is vital to recognise the long-term value fathers uptake of parental leave brings to children’s wellbeing, reduced gender stereotyping, family economic stability and women’s employment prospects. Researchers Duvander and Jans (2009) found a decrease in gender stereotypes within the family and an increased involvement with children, which last as the child ages. The research revealed that the longer the length of leave taken by fathers, including where parents had separated, the greater amount of contact fathers had with their children as well as the greater amount of time they spent on household chores compared to fathers who took little to no leave (Duvander & Jans, 2009; Hass & Hwang, 2008; Ray, Gornick & Schmitt, 2010). Research has shown the important impact of fostering a relationship between both a child’s mother and father has shown a positive long term for a childs cognitive development and social and emotional wellbeing (Cabrera, Tamis-Lemonda, Bradley, Hofferth & Lamb, 2005; Sarkadi, Kristiansson, Oberklaid & Bremberg.

Research from Israel shows that when more time is given off to new fathers, the more their brain changes to better suit them to be a parent (Thompson). Being around the new child and caring for them allows the father to share responsibilities that a baby brings along. Having time to dedicate solely to the child gives the father the ability to bond with their baby. A study by two Columbia University professors discovered that fathers who are given time off (two or more weeks) are more involved with their child’s lives in nine months, proving that better parental relationships come from paid paternity leave (“Columbia News”). Paternity leave also creates a foundation of trust between father and child, and relieves the pressure put on mothers. When fathers are around immediately after the baby is born, mothers are not forced to do all the work around the house while caring for a newborn. The two-week (or more) time frame when fathers are around would allow for a period where both parents can get settled and adapt to taking care of the child. In Sweden, to qualify for government benefits, the father is required to take off two months from work before the child becomes eight years old. More research has proven that for every month that fathers took leave to take care of their child, the income of mothers increased about 7% (Johansson, Elly-Ann). Thus, paternity leave not only benefits the newborn child, but also mothers. This paid leave can give new parents the ability to get to know their child and adapt to the new responsibilities. There are a multitude of countries that provide paid paternity leave, and the United States is one of nine counties who does not have this option. There is no reason that fathers should not have an allotted time to spend at home with their child and spouse, and so this country should mandate the option of giving paid paternity

According to Statistics Canada, the amount of two parented full time working families has gone up 17% since the 1980’s. As a result of such an outcome, more employees in larger and smaller based companies are finding it harder to keep up with both risen work loads and home life necessities, which in turn have caused more absentees in the work place. The reason being for this is due to

Ensuring that women and girls can enjoy their fundamental human rights is both a duty within the framework of our international commitments and a prerequisite for Sweden’s broader foreign policy goals on development, democracy, peace and security”(Golosky,2013). In the intervening 20 years, few of the federal government’s recommendations have been implemented, however, in the meantime their communities still continue to face gaps in education, child welfare, housing and

The idea that gender inequality is still something that is a big issue in the modern era is shocking. Many women and men work at the same jobs and even do many things the same but women and men are not the same not only in individual’s eyes but countries as well. Many believe that changing the way counties think about genders will force or make a movement for the new ideas of gender inequality to be scratched off the list of issues of today. Lisa Abend’s article “Boys Won’t Be Boys”, talks about the idea of Sweden making these needed changes to achieve this goal. This article uses allusions, ethos, and logos to prove that Sweden is on the path of changing the idea of gender inequality to something humanism.

Pregnancy and early child development is a fundamental aspect of human society, and is pertinent to the development of a successfully functioning community. The developmental and social progress of any civilization relies on children, as they will compose the future working population. Therefore, a mother or father’s involvement in the child’s development is of extreme importance, which is why family leave has been implemented all over the world. Family leave refers to the period of time granted to the employee to care for their newborn child. As communities evolve economically, financial stability is necessary, for what is perceived to be socially successful for a child’s development, which is why paid family leave is popular throughout the world’s nations. However, ABC News reports that “the U.S. is only one of three countries in the world that don't offer paid maternity leave” (Kim, 2015); the same is true for paternity leave. The United States government has an interesting track record dealing with family leave, but in order to analyze what the US government and advocacy groups have done to solve this issue, there first needs to be an understanding on why this issue is so difficult to resolve. The arguments that support and oppose paid family leave in the United States are equally valid, therefore causing a stalemate in the attempted policy making of legislative bodies.

Many believe that the success of a functioning community can be measured by the development of the youth, with the assumption that they would progress society as the future generation. Today’s children are tomorrow’s working class and the main contributors of social progress. Thus, the developmental stages in a child’s life is pertinent to success of a community, and in these stages parental involvement is a necessary component, which is why Family Leave is a policy implemented worldwide. Policy regarding family leave refers to the leave granted to employees in order to care for their newborn child. All countries, with the exception of two, have gone a step further by requiring employers to partially or fully compensate employees during family

The lack of a paid parental leave law in the country does not necessarily mean that it is absent in the U.S. labor market. Some generous and more progressive companies do recognize the importance of the leave to employees and do offer it. According to the Employee Benefits Survey of 2015, 21% of employers nationally offer some paid maternity leave while 17% offer some paid paternity/adoption leave. However, about a fifth don’t have any kind of protected maternity, paternity, or adoptive leave. (Ray, 8; Time, n. pag.)

Recently women’s rights and women’s equality in the workplace has come back to the fore as a topic for discussion in government agencies and the United Nations. Whilst this is a very important topic, when it comes to time off from work when a new child is born, women in the US have some provision, whereas men have none.

The birth of a baby is a very important time in the lives two of parents. During this time all parents should be allowed special bonding time with their babies. Nearly 20 years after the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), it is time to take stock of U.S. policy on parental leave, particularly as it affects infant care and child development (Time off with Baby). The problem with this Leave is that it is unpaid and sometimes parents can’t afford to not work and take care of their family.

Paternity leave should be a right for all male workers for two weeks. Paternity leave is a period of absence from work granted to a father after or shortly before the birth of his child. Usually, pregnant women who are nearly due for delivery are able to take parental leave from their employment, what about men? Shouldn’t they have the ability to go on leave for the birth of their children? Paternity leave should be granted for male workers for many reasons. This essay will consider some of those reasons, such as if the partner is not well after the birth of the child, needs care and supervision or if she is going through tough pregnancy and needs her male partner to assist her delivering their child. It is also important for an infant-father bonding as much as an infant-mother bonding after the child is born. Also if a horrible circumstance occurs like mother passing away during her delivery, that would leave the father as the first and only carer.

The article, “Without Taking Away Her Leave”: A Canadian Case Study of Couples Decisions on Father’s Use of Parental Leave” explains, “More than one in four Canadian fathers now takes some paid leave at the birth of a child.” While this certain explanation is shown in a positive perspective, more fathers in the workplace should be taking hefty advantage of paid parental leave particularly to form the bond in the first six weeks. While in countries like Canada in the province of Quebec, paternity leave is more accepted by men than it is in countries like the United States. In the United States it is more likely for a father not to take any time off after his child is born. One might argue that taking too much time off after the birth of a child might take away opportunities in the workplace, but because paternity leave is becoming more accepted, it will be normal for a man to take time off. It is likely that they will have to use vacation time which might leave room for not being able to call off for an emergency. In most cases, taking twelve weeks unpaid could really hurt a family. That is why those first six weeks should be paid for. The idea

Comparatively, to Sweden’s policy to decrease domestic work, it also has policies in place to ease the workload of child care. As most parents would agree, taking care of a child is a full-time job and society has normalized the idea that a majority of that job

Access to paid leave is often identified as an issue that primarily concerns working mothers, yet paid leave is also critically important for working fathers. In a society that continues to evolve, it is even more imperative to address this unequal access with an increasing number of fathers who are serving as stay at home parents (International Labor Organization, 2014). Legislation that supports fathers having the support they need to prioritize family responsibilities can significantly increase the personal and economic well-being of their growing families (United States Department of Labor, 2015). Despite these advantages, the growing importance of paternal involvement with their newborns is not always supported in today’s society. The economic and social barriers fathers face may hinder them from taking paternity leave altogether, such as inadequate access to paid leave and outdated cultural norms about male breadwinners. According to survey data, most fathers in the United States only take one day of leave time for every month the typical mother takes (Harrington et al., 2014). This means that even in the twenty-first century, it appears to be more widely accepted for mothers to take off time from work to care for their families than fathers. Fewer than half the countries in the world provide men with access to paid leave to care for a new child, while virtually all provide paid maternity leave (ILO, 2014). Paid paternity leave and laws related to promote