It is often said that the unfinished business of feminism is at home. I've been in Finland for the past week on a fact-finding trip about the country's number-one in the world education system, and the experience has certainly brought home the truth of that statement. Finland's excellent childcare system begins during maternity leave, when women are eligible to receive 90 percent of their salary for 18 weeks. After baby is born, either parent can take 26 weeks of parental leave at 70 percent of their regular salary, and are guaranteed their old job back upon returning to work. And as soon as baby is 10 months old, he or she becomes eligible for 24-hours-per-day, 365 days-per-year government daycare, provided by college-educated professionals. This care continues, at a maximum price to families of €233 per month, until the child is ready for first grade.
As you might predict, these incredible supports for parenthood increase women's workforce participation. In Finland, about 80 percent of mothers with children over 3-years old are working, compared to about 72 percent of American mothers. But as in the United States, women's changing place at work hasn't necessarily changed attitudes about who should perform childcare at home. Though most fathers in Finland take advantage of their three-week paid paternal leave right after a baby is born, only about 5 percent of fathers use Finland's 26-weeks of paid parental leave -- even though the weeks can be split between the two parents in any way they like. In other words, dad can stay home for all 26 weeks or just one of them -- but only 5 percent do. It goes to show just how stubborn the idea is that mothers are the natural caretakers of infants. And the trouble is that once mothers take on the lion's share of care early in a child's life, it becomes difficult to equalize responsibility later on.
--Dana Goldstein
