Grandparents in Sweden became eligible for paid parental leave this week after a groundbreaking new law was enacted to extend childcare benefits beyond a child’s immediate family.
Parents can transfer part of their parental leave to other caregivers under reforms that took effect on Monday, cementing Sweden’s reputation as a global trendsetter for progressive parental leave policies.
According to the Swedish government, the law allows single parents to transfer up to 90 days of paid leave to other caregivers, and couples can transfer up to 45 days of paid leave. Social Insurance Agency.
The law was approved by Sweden’s 349-seat parliament in December last year.
Leo Gullbring, a freelance writer in Lund, Sweden, whose second grandchild is due in August, said he hopes to help his son, who lives in the nearby city of Malmo, care for his grandchild.
Asked what he thought of the new law, Mr Gulbrin called it “fantastic” and praised Sweden’s already generous welfare system for becoming “even better”.
This is not the first time Sweden, whose citizens pay some of the highest taxes in the world but receive state-funded health care, free university education and generous unemployment benefits, has experimented with groundbreaking social services.
This Nordic country with a population of more than 10 million also has the most extensive patriarchal system in the world. Leaving the Law It also provides 480 days of paid leave per child, divided between the parents. In the first year of a child’s life, both parents can take 30 days of leave together.
Sweden’s guidelines contrast with those of the United States, one of the few countries that do not guarantee Any paid maternity or parental leave.
Only federal employees and workers in a few U.S. states can get it Legal protectiond parental leave, which is an outlier in many wealthy countries.
“The policies in the Nordic countries were already generous, and they’re becoming more generous and more flexible, while we seem to be falling further and further behind,” said Richard Petz, a sociology professor at Ball State University and an expert on parental leave.
Professor Petz said that while parental leave policies in countries such as Sweden are seen as the “gold standard” around the world, such generous policies are “not realistic for the United States” because the American public resists raising tax levels.
Research Research shows that maternity and parental leave programs tend to improve families’ health after childbirth, which benefits both mothers and babies in the long run.
Professor Petts said Sweden’s new, more expansive guidelines could improve work-life balance in the country, especially for single parents.
He said the new law “recognizes the increasing complexity of balancing work and family.”
Christina Anderson contributed reporting from Stockholm, Sweden.
