Along with its Nordic neighbors, Sweden features near the top of most gender-equality rankings. But Sweden is not only a good place to be a woman. It also appears to be an idyll for new dads. Close to 90 percent of Swedish fathers take paternity leave. Last year some 340,000 dads took a total of 12 million days’ leave, equivalent to about seven weeks each. Women take even more leave days to spend time with their children, but the gap is shrinking. Why do Swedish dads take so much time off work to raise their children?

Forty years ago Sweden became the first country in the world to introduce a gender-neutral paid parental-leave allowance. Benefits comprised 90 percent of wages for 180 days per child, and parents were free to divvy up the days between them in whatever way they pleased. But the policy was hardly a hit with dads: in the scheme’s first year men took only 0.5 percent of all paid parental leave.

Today they take a quarter of it. One reason is that the scheme has become more generous, with the number of paid leave days for the first child being bumped up from 180 to 480. But it has also been tweaked to encourage a more equal sharing of the allowance. In 1995 the first so-called “daddy month” was introduced. Under this reform, families in which each parent took at least one month of leave received an additional month to add to their total allowance. The policy was expanded in 2002 so that if the mother and father each took at least two months’ leave, the family would get two extra months.

Since Swedish men started to take more responsibility for child rearing, women have seen both their incomes and levels of self-reported happiness increase. Paying dads to change diapers and hang out at playgrounds seems to benefit the whole family.

为什么瑞典男人有那么长的产假？

跟它的北欧邻国们一样，瑞典在性别平等榜单上名列前茅。然而瑞典不仅仅是一个适合女人居住的国家，看起来它也是新爸爸的乐土。几乎90%的瑞典爸爸们休产假。去年大概34万父亲一共休掉了120万个假日，相当于每人休假七周。女性甚至休更多假来陪伴孩子，但是男女差距正在缩小。为什么瑞典男人从工作中抽出这么多时间来育儿呢？

四十年前，瑞典成为世界上第一个实施中性带薪产假津贴的国家。其福利包括每次生产后，父母都享受90%工资的180天产假，并且父母双方能自由随心地分配天数。

但是这个政策几乎没对爸爸们产生任何影响：在新政的第一年，男人们只休了0.5%的带薪产假。

现在他们休四分之一的带薪产假。一个原因在于这个方案变得更加慷慨了，给第一个孩子的带薪产假已经从180天增长到了480天。

但也有政策调整以鼓励两性更平均享受津贴。1995年，第一个“爸爸月”诞生了。在这一次改良中，父母双方分别休至少一个月假的家庭可以多享受一个月的津贴。2002年该政策得到扩展，如果父亲和母亲分别休至少两个月的假，该家庭就会得到两个月的额外津贴。

由于瑞典男性开始承担更多的育儿责任，女性的收入和自我报告的幸福水平都上升了。付钱给爸爸让他们给孩子换尿布、带孩子去游乐场似乎对于整个家庭都有好处。

    Words to Learn 相关词汇

   【田园诗】

    tiányuánshī

    idyll

    a charming or picturesque scene or event

    【微调】

    wēitiáo

    tweak

    make a minor adjustment to