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It is a problem. In some ways, this is why I'm ok with the government setting the rules, sometimes fairly strict ones. One example might be laws limiting busi
by geebee 10y ago
It is a problem. In some ways, this is why I'm ok with the government setting the rules, sometimes fairly strict ones. One example might be laws limiting business hours, or laws the make a certain amount of vacation leave mandatory. They violate individual freedom, but they may also make it possible for people to close shop or take a vacation.
Sweden recognized this problem - it created very generous programs for women, but realized that this was providing an incentive for women to leave the workforce, often in their 30s, an important decade for rising through the ranks, while men remained in the workforce. They then created more generous incentives for me, but discovered that the men weren't taking them - partly because of social and organizational pressure not to (perhaps related to the article I posted above). They finally created a very generous "use it or lose it" system where the men were just walking away from too much benefit not to take the policy, and I believe launched a major campaign to get men to take the leave. The idea is to create enough of a critical mass that the "male child leave" stigma would fade and this would become the norm.
- Grustaf 10y agoWell Sweden doesn't really have the same views on "individual freedom" as the US, but even here a lot of people were upset at the "mandatory" 3 months to be taken by the father when it was instituted. Even as a fairly libertarian person, I didn't mind it, since it's just an option, nobody's forcing anyone to take it. And nudging fathers to take a more active role in child rearing is definitely a good investment for society, even economically speaking. I'm not sure it had much of an effect though, at least in my circles I haven't noticed any big shift in paternal leave taking. And I must say that at certainly for the last 10 years there's been no stigma at all around it, again in my circles.