STOCKHOLM — One of Henrik Holgersson’s friends laughed in his face when he told him he was going to spend the better part of 2011 as a stay-at-home dad.
“What kind of a man are you?” the friend asked Mr. Holgersson, who works for an event management company. But just about everyone else was positive. His employer and co-workers patted him on the back and wished him luck.
Mr. Holgersson took 240 days of parental leave paid for by the government while his girlfriend, Jenny Karlsson, went back to her job as a real estate agent, after eight months at home with their son, Arvid.
“To take care of Arvid is a real fatherly thing to do. I think that’s very masculine,” said Mr. Holgersson, 34, gently rocking his 1-year-old son’s stroller on a walk around the block near his apartment in southern Stockholm.
Mr. Holgersson’s experience isn’t unusual here, largely because Sweden encourages dads to stay at home with their newborn through a parental leave policy that is among the most generous in the world.
While more than a dozen countries now offer paid paternity leave, usually for a couple of weeks, Sweden subsidizes such leave for up to 14 months.
In Sweden, men pushing strollers - sometimes in twos or threes - have become part of the landscape. Baby changing stations are typically found in both men’s and women’s restrooms. Brawny men with Viking tattoos can be overheard discussing their “pappaledighet,” Swedish for daddy leave, over a pint in the pub.
Parents share 480 days of paid parental leave for each child, courtesy of the government. The benefits amount to 80 percent of the stay-at-home parent’s salary for the first 390 days, but no more than 910 kronor ($135) a day. Thereafter the amount drops to 180 kronor ($30) a day for the remaining period.
Mothers are still taking more leave than fathers, but things are changing. In 2000, Swedish men took only 12.4 percent of the parental leave; by last year their share had nearly doubled to 23.1 percent, according to government statistics.
Though there is widespread agreement that the gap should close even more, Swedes so far have resisted calls by women’s rights activists for a compulsory 50-50 split.
However, Sweden has introduced incentives and rules to encourage men to take more time off with their babies.
To qualify for the maximum benefits, couples must split the parental leave so that one of them takes at least 60 days. (Single parents - male or female - can take the full 480 days on their own.)
In addition, the government awards an “equality bonus” in the form of tax breaks that are proportional to how evenly couples split the parental leave. A household with a 50-50 division qualifies for a maximum deduction of 13,500 kronor ($2,000).
Even at a time when Europe’s debt crisis is leading to painful austerity cuts across the continent, Sweden’s parental leave benefits appear safe. The economy is in relatively good shape, the budget is balanced and the government would commit political suicide if it scaled back on a program embraced by Swedes across all income brackets.
Foreigners often grow to appreciate it, too.
“I think it’s great, I’m a huge fan of it. Here is the Swedish state subsidizing it for both parents. It’s almost too good to be true,” said Joel Sherwood, a 35-year-old American living in Sweden.
He took more than six months off work to stay home with his daughter, Mary Lee. When he told his friends back home, they were flabbergasted that his employer was OK with it, and that the government would foot the bill.
“The more you get into the details of it, the more floored they get,” Mr. Sherwood said.
In the U.S. there is no nationwide policy for government-subsidized parental leave. Some states, including California and New Jersey, have begun adopting such policies, but most parents are instead offered 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Some companies offer paid leave to their employees.
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