Come to the free loving land of Sweden!

Hi again friends and family!

            Today’s blog is going to be a bit more brief and to the point than last weeks blog. I want to discuss with you how gender is viewed by our society in Sweden. In my opinion, Sweden is one of the more advanced cultures when it comes to having an acceptance for gender equality. According to the The Sweden Sverige, Sweden is known as a worldwide leader when it comes to equality. This scale measures equality based upon areas of politics, education, economics and health (Sweden Sverige, 2013).  The point I’d like to influence the most is that everyone, regardless of gender, has the ability and right to have a well-balanced family and career life by being able to support themselves financially as well.

            Sweden strives to ensure that women and men are able to experience the same benefits, opportunities, and rights in all aspects of life. With that being said, I would like to focus on an area that is closer to home for me. Like I have previously stated, I am studying early education at Stockholm University here in Sweden. I have conducted studies on gender equality within schools here in Sweden, and would like to share with you some valuable information that I found.

            According to Gender Across Borders, Sweden is known for its attempts to impart gender-neutral thinking, especially within early education.  In fact, the Swedish government has spent over $110 million Swedish crowns on promoting equality in schools. There have even been stipulations made that state teachers must do all they can to reverse gender stereotypes and influence equality to their best advantage with in their classroom ( Nathman, Avital). The primary goal here in Sweden is to allow children equal opportunities in life, regardless of their gender.

A School In sweden where they incorporate gender neutral interaction on the playground.

           

          I have lived in Sweden my whole life, and I may be biased, but I feel as if we are one of the most LGBT friendly countries. According to Swedish law, it is illegal to discriminate against anyone because of his or her gender identity. My Faster, Ingrid (aunt) has been happily married to her partner, Julia, for almost 5 years now. They have been together for many years, but were finally able to marry in 2009, when same sex marriage was legalized here in Sweden. They even have the same benefits as heterosexual couples do. In fact, one of my favorite festivals, The Stockholm Pride Festival, is just around the corner. At this festival us swedes celebrate the virtue of equality and being able to express ourselves as we please. My whole family and I are looking forward to attending( Zeldin, Wendy 2009).

           Another important virtue in Sweden is the notion that parents are entitled to a certain amount of "parental leave" when a child is born or adopted.  According to the Sweden Sverige, State-sponsored parental leave (‘föräldraledighet’) is arguably more 

accommodating  in Sweden than anywhere else. Parents are entitled to a total of 480 days 

paid leave per child. Sweden encourages both the mother and father to share the leave.  This was crucial for my family being that my Mum reared 4 children. In the case of my parents, they chose to equally split up who stayed home, but chose to split it up between each child. My Mum stayed home with me, the first born, and my sister, the second born. My Dad then stayed home with my two youngest sisters I have some friends who moved here from the states and a primary reason their family chose to was because of this helpful benefactor.(Sweden Sverige, 2013).

         Like previously stated, the principle of this act was for the parents to be able to split the time in half. However, women are known to take the most days, but in 2012 men took around 24% of the leave. In my opinion, it solely depends on the current situation of the family and the careers of the parents. Your probably curious as to what a parent’s allowance is when taking parental leave, so I will break it down for you the best I can. The majority of swedes are entitled to 80 percent of their salary, provided to them by the state. This is applicable for the first 390 days per child, but only for those who have legally worked in Sweden for over 240 days. It gets a bit sticky though because this only applies to salaries under a certain 

amount, currently 410,000 kronor per year (about 34,000 kronor per month). In american 

dollars its around $64,000 a year  ($5,300 a month). I'd say that is more than a reasonable 

amount to raise a family with! Of course, like any law, these rules have several conditions 

and exceptions. Nonetheless, it's highly generous compared to most other countries in the 

world, and another primary reason why you should move here to Sweden and experience  

the benefits for yourself!  (Sweden Sverige, 2013). 

            Well, that is all for now! I hope your brain is churning from all the valuable information you learned about the equality of Sweden! Hopefully this piece of information will sway you to want to move here even more now! I mean who could resist gender equality within schools, non-discrimination of same sex marriage, and parental paid leave? So, come one over to the lands of Sweden where equality is of our upmost importance! 

Education in Sweden (2013).  Sweden Sverige. Available at:

           http://sweden.se/society/education-in-sweden/. Accessed March 7th , 2014.

Gender Equality in Sweden (2013).  Sweden Sverige. Available at:

            http://sweden.se/society/gender-equality-in-sweden/.  Accessed March 7th, 2014.

Nathman, Avital (2012). Gender Equality: Too Far or Not Far Enough. Gender Across Borders. 

             Available at: http://www.genderacrossborders.com/2012/04/10/gender-equality-too-far-or-not-

              far-enough/. Accessed March 7th, 2014. 

Zeldin, Wendy (2009). Sweden: Same Sex Marriage Law Passed. Global Legal Monitor: Sweden. 

              Available at: http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401187_text. 

              Accessed March 7th, 2014.

Culture and Developmental Processes

Hello there my friends and family! I finally caved in and decided to create a myspace account, so be proud. However, the purpose of this account is for me to inform fellow students, soon to be students, or soon to be residents with the knowledge I have learned as an early education major here at Stockholm University. During my studies here at the University I have also done some research on the side regarding cultural differences. Which in retrospect, is why I am trying to convince you non-Swedes to come to Sweden and learn our Swedish ways! Hopefully, with the information you obtain in this blog you will feel the inspiration to move here and receive the amazing cultural benefits that my family and I have while living here!

First and foremost, I would like to fill you in on the life of a “Swede”, and give you some inside information about Sweden, and of course, my hometown Stockholm. Sweden belongs to the European Union and holds place for the third largest country within. However, Sweden’s population does not justify that little fact.  The entire country has a population of roughly 9.4 million, and my hometown the capital, takes up 2 million of that number (Arbetsformedlinge). One important piece of information I like to brag about is how multi-cultural and ethnically diverse Sweden has become in the past few decades. Did you know approximately one million member’s of Sweden migrated from elsewhere, and many residents have extended family members that are immigrants(Arbetsformedlinge)? Now, I will always love my blonde hair and blue eyes, but it is nice to see some different ethnicities roaming around Stockholm and my campus here. J The only thing missing is you, so come one over and live the life of a Swede!

Alright, now let’s get down to business. Now that you know a bit of background information about Sweden, it is time to fill you in on the details of growing up as a Swede. Us Swedes are known for our constant progressing politics, and for our generously accommodating social benefits. You may be wondering what this has to do with growing up here, but you’d be surprised how beneficial it was for my six-person family. I’m surprised my Dad still has his vibrant blonde locks because I come from a family of 4 girls, me be being the oldest.  Now, we had our troubles like any family does, but I truly believe growing up in Sweden created tremendous benefits for my family and I.

My Morsan(Mama) and Forsan(Papa) have been happily married for 30 years. They have been lucky enough to experience many adventures along the way, much of those being with my sisters and I.  Sweden has been acclaimed for our virtue of supporting the combination of work and children. Thus, my close-knit relationship with my family would not have been the same if it weren’t for Sweden’s generous and beneficial family policy.  The incorporation of Parental Leave Insurance is one of the major benefactors that created this possibility of combing work and child rearing (Duvander, Ann-Zofie, 2006). Therefore, which is why I believe I was able to develop such a strong bond and attachment with my Morsan. Growing up, my mom was a firm believer of co-sleeping and breastfeeding. My sisters and I were breastfed until we were around two years of age. This is a common parenting style in Sweden, and has been correlated with why Swedes tend to have stronger attachments than other countries (Duvander, Ann-Zofie). As to if that’s true or not, I guess you will just have to figure that out for yourselves when you move here. J

Another interesting virtue of Sweden is the “Spanking Law.” I’m not so sure how many non-Swedes are well educated on the matter, so I will fill you in just in case.  According to the text I found within the Parental Code, Sweden became the first country in 1979, the International Year of the Child, to prohibit all physical punishment of children (DeJenner, Jan, 2008). Now, I understand this sort of parenting style is seen as sort of far-fetched or just plain pointless in other countries, however, to most Swedes it’s the only form of parenting that makes sense. I don’t know if my life would have been detrimentally affected growing up if this law was not enacted. Regardless, my parents are not the violent type, so I’m not sure if they would’ve used hitting as a form of reinforcement if they were able to in the first place. Nonetheless, it is an interesting topic, and I figured it would be useful to know, especially if you plan to move to Sweden and have children.  

Another benefactor my family had from my mom having paid leave from work, is that it allowed her to spend more quality time with my sisters and I as we were growing up. Thus, it also allowed for my parents to maintain a substantial income, so therefore, we were able to travel within and outside of Sweden quite frequently. One of my favorite vacation places growing up was to the second largest city in Sweden, Gothenburg. The pristine, natural scenery in Gothenburg is to die for. There are also many attractions for all age groups. My family and I enjoyed going to Liseberg Amusement Park, which is one of the largest parks in Europe. My Forsan is also quite the historical junkie, so the Alvsborg Fortress and East India House (which are two museums in Gothenburg) were perfect destinations for him (Travel Guide Post, 2014).

Thus, my parents were both actively involved in our lives. My Forsan is a teacher at a gymnasium here in Stockholm, and my mother is a therapist. I would say that my parents worked together equally in co-parenting my sisters and I. Both of them contributed to household duties, and took turns taking my sisters and I to our many activities growing up. I was fairly involved within school, had many vans(friends), and participated in several different sports.

I frequently forget Sweden has a different set up for school than most countries, so let me break it down for you. First, one begins with förskola, which is basically kindergarten, but is offered for children from ages 1-5. Nursery Schools are seen as a crucial tradition in Sweden due to the notion that it emphasizes the importance of play in a child’s development and learning. Once a child turns six they being compulsory schooling. This starts with, lågstadiet (elementary school), once in 4th grade they begin mellanstadiet (middle school), once in 7^th grade they begin högstadiet (junior high), and then finally advance to gymnasium (highschool). However, gymnasium is optional, but most students who finish compulsory school move on to gymnasium (Sweden Sverige, 2013). 

In retrospect, my Morsan is a therapist; so growing up I was always instilled with her holistic virtues and ways of thinking. Therefore, I’ve grown up having an eye for observation, especially when it comes to other people. I’ve done a lot of observing of social and cognitive development with in Sweden, which I find important to know for those who could possibly move here. Clearly, development of a child differs cross-culturally, depending on how a child is raised. I have previously stated some parenting styles I received as a child growing up within my household that could possibly justify my sisters and I’s social and cognitive development. However, like previously stated, development does not just occur within the homes. I may be a bit biased, considering I am studying early education, but from my research I have found some interesting topics of discussion. For example, according to Ingrid Samuelsson, in Sweden, play is considered to be an important process that relates to children’s learning and education. Thus, it can create a source of possibilities such as learning, empowerment and creativity, which could all influence social and cognitive development (Samuelsson, Ingrid, 2007).  Which proves the statement from earlier, that Nursery School is a crucial time in a child’s life here in Sweden due to the impact it may have on their developmental learning (Sweden Sverige, 2013).

Sorry to get all scientific on you, but remember I am a college student here in Stockholm trying to influence others to move here. It would be silly if I didn’t provide you non-Swedes with some accurate research. Especially, for those of you who plan to move here and start a family because everything I’ve previously stated can influence you differently depending on where you live. In my opinion, I think that parenting practices, attachment, as well as cognitive and social development, all play a crucial role in determining how a culture differs from another. Which is why I wanted to give you non-Swedes a bit of information on our forms of child development, and what I felt influenced me the most growing up. However, this is all I have for you for now. For my next post I will be explaining to you more about the culture, and how our culture plays an affect on gender.

Until next time,

hörs senare,

Stella! 

Work Cited

Arbetsformedlingen (2013). Living and Working in Sweden. Accessed February 20^th,

            2014.

DeJenner, Jan (2008).  Save the Children Sweden. www.rb.se Accessed February 18^th,

            2014.

Duvander, Ann- Zofie (2008). Family Policy in Sweden: An Overview.  Stockholm

           University Demography Unit and Swedish Social Insurance Agency.

           Available at: http://www.su.se/polopoly_fs/1.18718.1320939636!/WP5.pdf

           Accessed February 18th, 2014.

Education in Sweden (2013).  Sweden Sverige. Available at:

           http://sweden.se/society/education-in-sweden/. Accessed February 18^th, 2014.

Interesting Places to Visit in Sweden (2014). Vacation & Travel. Accessed February 20^th,

           2014. Available at: http://www.mytravelguideposts.com/2010/09/interesting-

           places-to-visit-in-sweden.html

Samuelsson, Ingrid (2010). A Perspective of Play in Three Nations: A Comparative

           Study in Japan, The United States, and Sweden. Early Childhood Research and

           Practice. Accessed February 17^th, 2014. Available at:

           http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v12n1/izumi.html