Statues of men all over the country have been dressed in baby carriers with dolls on International Men's Day. From Jalmar Lindgren's Kalkarbetaren in Falköping to Sean Henry's Standing man in Umeå.
It is the think tank Arena Idé that is behind the initiative, with the campaign #quantitytimefather. The purpose is to highlight unequal parenthood – only about 30 percent of parental benefit days are taken out by men. The think tank wants employers to do more to change this, through the statue action and a new report on parenthood.
“When you talk about equality in the workplace, it's often about women and the negative consequences of inequality for them, but here we actually see that men are losing something important – time with their children", says Vilgot Österlund, statistician at Arena Idé.
The initiative is inspired by the activist group The Dad Shift, which earlier this autumn carried out a similar campaign.
