One of Åsa's last posts, written on May 20, 2005.

Subject: [SWC-N] National insurance for maternal and paternal leave when you have a child

Hi,

As you may know Sweden has a national insurance that says that mothers or fathers can be home to take care of their kids in a certain number of days. If you take all of it they last one year. If you spread it out, it lasts about 1,5 years in which you then earn 75% of what you made before..but the employer can not fire you under this period when you are on maternity leave. You are entitled to the same job, the same salary when you get back to work. That is a law that the employer has no way of getting out of but closing the workplace and go bankrupt..

The father gets a 10 day leave in connection with the birth of their child. There is now talk about making it a law that all dads take out 6 months of the 12 months that this maternal leave insurance with 80% of your salary (up to a breaking point)

The very rich don't get 80% of their salary.. but the middle class do and also those who makes less than the middle class. My husband makes more money than the breaking point will lose but that is not a big deal cause what you get in the highest amount is rather good anyway.

You get to have 365 days.. so if you want to take out 5 days a week you can make this last up until the child is 1,5 years old. Now the talk about this law that they are handling and we will see if it comes through.. that would mean for most families, since it is still the man that most often makes more money than the wife, sad enough!! Some has protested against this and says this is up to the family.. but since it is now clear that a survey shows that Sweden is the country that provides the most equal opportunity for men and women at least in Europe.. this is quite clear since many of the European countries have not come as long on the road to equality between men and women.

The Swedish government wants to make the fathers take out maternity leave and be with their children.. this promotes equal opportunities for men and women. And a Dad is as important as the mother. Of course these 6 months will probably be after the child turns 6 months or older. Breastfeeding makes it almost impossible to take out the first months for the father.

Sweden came in first place when it came to equality between men and women, both in the homes and at the jobs according to a survey in the EU. We still have to get the women's wages up to what the men make for the same job. It is outrageous that a woman makes almost 20% less in wages for the same job as a man does. This has been going on for a long time but we do try to take care of this problem. If a woman can prove that she has the same job and qualifications the employer can no longer give her a salary that is less than what a man would make for the same job.. the company can get in lot of trouble if they do this and we are stepping up the checks on this.. we monitor this closely with the help of the national unions as we feel that men and women should have the same salary for the same job.

This is strong signal to men that they need to be more involved in their kids, especially when they are small. It sends out a signal that society won't accept that men say that they can not take out this maternity leave cause then their career will go out the window.. but the law says that nobody can be demoted if you take out maternity leave. Your old job is waiting for you and this is in the law.

What do you guys think of this arrangement? Do you believe that men and women should be more equal?

My husband was home 3 months with our daughter, while I worked. It was great for him and the bonding he has with his daughter is better than it would have been had he not been home with her.

Would you guys go for this?

Åsa Sweden
Clarion S-series nov 1999

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