What are Swedes like? Recently, this question received a great deal of attention in the Swedish media, because of an article published in the Daily Mail by an English journalist, Geoffrey Levy. He described Swedes as being lazy, sick, and totally unable to enjoy anything nice in life. In addition, Swedish cars are wrecks, Swedes dress sloppily, and, if you do not want to work, you do not need to—but you are still fully paid. Finally, he described family policy in Sweden: "Just imagine a country where mothers as well as fathers can stay at home 12 months, with almost full pay after a baby is born, or a country where the state pays almost 6000 pounds for every child that goes to a day-care center—this would be totally impossible in Britain."
How did the Swedish public react to Geoffrey Levy's article? Surprisingly, most people agreed with his description of the Swedes. Yes, we are lazy, too many people are sick, and we are unable to enjoy the good things in life. There was only one major issue where most people disagreed with Geoffrey Levy. Very few were negative about family policy in Sweden. On the contrary, most people took parental leave, the possibility of staying at home with a sick child, and publicly funded day care for granted.
In the first part of this presentation, I will describe family policy in Sweden and, in particular, how the society supports and provides care for children under school age (which in Sweden starts at 6-7).
