How Equality Looks in Sweden

Meanwhile in Australia…

By comparison Australia seems to be more than a few steps behind. Ok, make that a few kilometres behind. Or a few centuries behind. Yes, we love the ‘lucky country’ but it doesn’t appear to be that lucky at all. Paid parental leave is notoriously complicated and regularly changing, with many parents unaware how they can claim or what they’re even entitled to. Stigmas remain about fathers taking time off following the birth of a child, and mums face pressure to get back to work despite the prohibitive cost of childcare.

In some cases the cost of children in care makes it a waste of time to work at all, with the vast proportion of a mother’s wage being spent on having others care for your children.

via topdreamer.com

In that case it’s no surprise that in Australia workforce participation, i.e. the number of women at work, is just 59% compared to 77% in Sweden. You might call us lazy or even out of touch but the truth is for many mums it just doesn’t make sense.

Clearly Australia has some distance to go when it comes to making things equal for citizens of both genders, but we do have countries like Sweden to learn from. Of course if you can’t wait there’s always the option of uprooting and heading over to Sweden, in order to get it straight from the source. Sure, in winter the sun is absent for months, but cafes have lights and they’re full of sexy Swedish daddies. Yes please!

In which aspect/s of our society do you think needs to have gender equality?