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Sweden is the Best Place in the World to be a Mother. |
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I didn’t say it. Save the Children did.  According to International Save the Children’s ninth annual Mother’s Index, Sweden places first in the world for mothers. Second and third on the list of 146 countries are Norway and Iceland. Last is Niger. The US comes in on number 27th. And it’s not so strange. While there is no federally funded paid maternity leave in the Unites States, Sweden offers 1.5 years off in parental leave that can be split between the parents as the couple sees fit. Sweden also has universal healthcare, and a highly valued but equally affordable daycare system that is lauded across income brackets. One affluent young mother who we interviewed yesterday puts her 2 and 4 year-old in full-time public daycare because she, who can afford to choose to stay home or hire a private nanny, deems it the best option for her children. Furthermore, parents are paid a so-called “child allowance” of 950 Swedish crowns (about 157 US dollars) per child per month up until the child is 16 years old.
Beyond policies, young mothers in Sweden assert that, as mothers, they are met with great respect professionally. Our recent interviewee even claimed that she has been given greater responsibility and more interesting job offers now that she is a mother! This should come as a big surprise to anyone who has a clue about the situation for mothers in America, where motherhood—or even the prospect of future motherhood— typically serves as a negative stigma in the hiring process.
I spoke to my own mother last night and was left oogly-eyed after the conversation. My mother has five children, but she is also the Secretary General of a sizable international non-profit organization. How does that equation compute? She told me that she was given lengthy maternity leave in Sweden already in the 1970’s, and, perhaps most remarkably, that her employers guaranteed that she could return to her jobs even after several years of leave to take care of my handicapped sister, and to travel with my Diplomat father to his posts abroad. Her basic message was: “I was always able, and encouraged, to keep my hand in, to always know that I had a career to go back to.”
Perhaps that is the main reason that Sweden continues to be such a fantastic place to be a mom: you’re not penalized professionally for procreating. What a novel idea.
- Astri photo by Erik R. Bishoff on Flickr under Creative Commons License
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