Swedish dads encouraged to take paternity leave

Paternity laws changed in the UK last year, but there’s still a lot of confusion among new parents and women are typically the ones to take time off work to care for a baby. In Sweden, where gender equality is getting closer to perfect, men are strongly encouraged by the government to take paternity leave.

Andrea Rangecroft of BBC Magazine reports that the country has been promoting shared parental leave since 1974, but a new incentive allows fathers to take up to three full months at home. The original policy was six months’ paid leave to be divided between parents, but men had the option of giving their allowance to their wives.

In 1995, the state introduced an official quota for men to take 30 days, but they would lose the paid leave if they didn’t take the time. This was raised to 60 days in 2002 and has this yea gone up to 90.

Swedish couples get around 480 days’ allowance. The government provides 80% of their salary, or up to £76 a day, for the first 390 days and companies often top this up to around 90%. They can then take up to 90 days extra at a lower pay rate.

Sweden currently has the fourth narrowest gender pay gap in the world, according to the World Economic Reform.

Anybody else up for relocating to Sweden?

Read the original article at bbc.in/1JvYks3