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#parentalleave

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Vidar

When Statues Become Fathers: Creative Street Art on Equal Parenting

What happens when male statues become fathers for a day? A creative campaign in Sweden is challenging traditional norms about parenting roles.

Imagine a bronze statue of a stoic leader, now wearing a bright pink baby sling with a doll nestled inside. On International Men’s Day, November 19th, male statues across Sweden were adorned with baby slings and carriers as part of a unique campaign to spotlight unequal parenting responsibilities.

Traditionally representing power, labor, or other masculine attributes, these statues were reimagined to symbolize fathers as caregivers. The campaign, organized by the think tank Arena Idé, is part of the #kvantitetstidspappan initiative, aimed at encouraging fathers to spend more time with their children and urging employers to play a larger role in enabling this.

Despite Sweden’s globally recognized parental leave policies, significant disparities remain. Swedish fathers take only 30.9% of parental leave days and 38% of sick leave to care for children.

A recent Novus survey, conducted in collaboration with Make Equal, further reveals that expectations around parental leave remain unequal in Swedish workplaces. Through this campaign, Arena Idé hopes to challenge these norms and has proposed an employer bonus for workplaces that encourage an equal division of parental leave.

The statues involved in the campaign—such as Standing Man in Umeå, Det svenska tungsinnet in Malmö, and Hjalmar Branting in Stockholm—were decorated with dolls in baby slings and carriers.

This created a contrast between the statues’ traditional symbolism and the modern role of engaged fathers.

The initiative draws inspiration from the UK-based group The Dad Shift, which earlier this year launched a similar campaign highlighting gaps in Britain’s parental leave policies.

Vilgot Österlund, a statistician at Arena Idé, emphasizes the importance of changing workplace norms: “When discussing gender equality in workplaces, the focus is often on women and the negative consequences of inequality for them. But here, we see that men are also losing out on something invaluable—time with their children. Through the statue campaign, the new statistics, and our proposals, we hope to make this clearer!”

Read more about the campaign and the proposed reforms in the original article by Arena Idé: Link to the original article.

More statues: 30 Sculptures You (probably) Didn’t Know Existed

How do you perceive the use of public art to challenge parenting norms? Can such initiatives drive societal change? We invite you to share your perspectives in the comments below.

A historical statue of a man, symbolizing leadership and authority, is humorously adorned with a white baby sling carrying a doll. This creative intervention is part of a campaign by Arena Idé, highlighting the unequal division of parental responsibilities in Sweden. It calls attention to the underrepresentation of fathers in caregiving roles, despite progressive parental leave policies. The statue, set against a backdrop of urban architecture and autumn leaves, represents the campaign's goal to challenge societal norms and advocate for shared parenting responsibilities.
A statue of a man standing in a snowy urban plaza is wrapped with a yellow baby sling holding a doll wearing a pink hat. This is part of a campaign by Arena Idé for International Men’s Day, aimed at addressing unequal parental roles in Sweden. The use of the baby sling symbolizes fatherhood and caregiving, highlighting the need for greater participation of fathers in childcare and challenging societal norms about gender roles. The surrounding area features benches, shops, and evening lighting, emphasizing the public and thought-provoking nature of the campaign.
#Kvantitetstidspappan#ArenaIdé#creativeActivism
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The Conversation U.S.

Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated in Australian workplaces (as they are in the US), despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination there, according to a recent study.
A survey by researchers found most of the 1,200+ pregnant and parent-worker respondents experienced discrimination during their return-to-work phase, parental leave, and while pregnant at work (via The Conversation AU/NZ).
theconversation.com/pregnant-w
#workplaceculture #parentalleave

The Conversation‘Just a mum’: pregnant women and working parents feel overlooked and undervalued in the workplacePregnant women and working parents are often excluded from training and other opportunities despite extensive workplace and anti-discrimination laws.
Public
Nadav Perez-Vaisvidovsky

Interesting findings from my survey on #ParentalLeave for #fathers :
Among fathers who took parental leave, the distribution of religiosity level (secular, traditionalist, orthodox, ultra-orthodox) matches almost exactly the distribution in the population.
Same for intra-Jewish ethnicity (except for a slightly lower rate of Ethiopian-Israelis).

VERY interesting and quite anti-intuitive

Chart of ethnic identity
Chart of religious identity
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Phil McAleer

It’s kind of mind blowing the responses you get when you tell people you are taking over the parental leave and your wife is going back to work. Mums are almost treated like they must not love their child whilst dads are lauded like some remarkable mythical superhero. Sort of shows how antiquated the UK’s views, and approaches, to parenting still are. It really shouldn’t be that unusual for parents to both want to spend time raising their child!

#parenting#parents#ParentalLeave
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