These statues are being turned into fathers with babies to promote equal parenthood

It is a well-known fact that art draws inspiration from life. At the same time, life draws inspiration from art, too. A new public campaign launched in Sweden on International Men's Day embodies that idea. The initiative involved strapping babies to male statues around the country, challenging traditional gender roles as well as a generalized perception of what masculinity can look like. The dolls were strapped to the statues by the Swedish think tank Arena Idé for their #Kvantitetstidspappan campaign.

The campaign aimed to draw attention to the unequal parental leave policies where dads take less parental leave. Hence, they spend less time with their children. The images of several statues with babies strapped to them were shared on Arena Idé (@tankesmedjan) Instagram page. The caption read, "Fathers take both less parental leave and less sick leaves to care for their children than mothers. Today, on International Men's Day, statues around Sweden take a stand for equal parenthood." The campaign urges dads to spend more time with their children and encourages employers to make that possible. The statues included Det svenska tungsinnet in Malmö to Standing Man in Umeå as per the website.

The campaign translates to quantity time with dad. The press release from the think tank explained that although Sweden has one of the most liberal parental leave policies in the world, dads take only 30.9 percent of the leave offered and 38 percent of the vacation days. The statement also explained how most workers expected women to take more parental leave than men. Vilgot Österlund, statistician at Arena Idé, believes that more has to be done for fathers to want and become able to spend more time with their children. In order to make that happen, Arena Idé has announced an employer bonus for employers whose employees share parental leave equally. They believe the bonus would encourage employers to urge fathers to take more parental leave.

"When you talk about equality in the workplace, it's usually about women and the negative consequences inequality has for them, but here we actually see that men lose something important – time with their children. With the statue action, the new statistics and our proposals, we hope to make it a little more visible!" Österlund expressed. Many people on Instagram expressed their thoughts on the initiative in the comments.

@murke_n wrote, "Why would it just remove the SGI protection? Now, of course, it is mostly the middle class who can save days, but how would it benefit children and families if parents must take 5 days a week from the start? Then more children will have to start preschool much younger than today. By the way, with us, the SGI thing has led to my husband taking more days even though we have divided the leave 50-50. He had to take 5 days a week when he was free while I could save. So I've given him days... (We will figure out how he can compensate me in terms of pension, as parental days are the basis of pension...)" @carros89 commented, "It's best anyway that all families do what's best for them. But a suggestion to get through would be extended parenting days so children do not have to start at preschool when they are just little babies."