Compare and Contrast two different families of different cultures from Myanmar, Italy, Romania, Welsh, or Sweden. Compare relevant facts, statistics, traditions, historical trends and current trends among these cultures. Break your essay down by paragraphs denoting each variable (i.e. have a paragraph on birth rates, then compare statistics). Due by Sunday, midnight. Essays should be a 3 page minimum.
Compare Romania and Sweden families
Sweden:
Chapter 3
Diversity of Families in Sweden
Jan Trost
Introduction
The Kingdom of Sweden is by tradition a homogenous society despite several centuries of immigration. 1 For example, during the sixteenth century, Sweden “imported” skilled workers for the mining and iron industries. They came mainly from the Belgium area. For a couple of decades after World War II, Sweden imported skilled and semiskilled workers from countries such as Finland, Poland, and Greece. The immigrants, however, were rapidly assimilated and soon became Swedes. A new historical trend emerged during the last decade or so when rapid assimilation of immigrants from very different societies, Vietnam and Iran, for example, occurred. There are no significant minorities in the country. The sole minority consists of the Saami (previously called Lapps) living in the northern part of the country and numbering about 10,000 out of Sweden’s nine million inhabitants. Foreign-born of first-generation immigrants include Danes, Norwegians, Finns, Yugoslavs, Greeks, and Turks. Christianity, in the form of Lutheranism, is the prevalent religion (almost 90 percent of the population) and there are a few other denominations (e.g., Roman Catholic, Muslim, and Jewish) (World Factbook, 2006). Sweden has a high standard of living under a capitalist system (especially of high-tech capitalism) interwoven with substantial welfare benefits. Peace and neutrality have aided this for all of the twentieth century. Additional factors for the strong economy are a modern distribution system, excellent internal and international .(Families in a Global Context (p. 47). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) communication systems, and a skilled labor force. Around 90 percent of industrial output is from privately owned firms. Agriculture accounts for only 2 percent of gross domestic product and 2 percent of employment (World Factbook, 2006).
Families in Swedish Context
The dominant family pattern is the nuclear family. Almost all children are born into a household where both parents live and ideologically the parents/ spouses are to live together until one of them dies. However, social reality is different; there are many divorces and separations. More than one-third of all households are one-person households and about 40 percent of the population lives in households with four or more inhabitants (Trost, 1993). Politicians and the owners of factories realized at the beginning of the 1960s that workers need not be imported from other countries. Sweden had a pool of potential workers— that is, housewives. This realization occurred as the renewed sex-role debate began. These movements made housewives (i.e., traditionally defined as a social institution during the previous half century), disappeared as an institution around 1970. Housewives were encouraged to seek employment and schooling with the aid of various subsidies. Now, almost all men and women are part of the labor force. However, about one-half of the women are gainfully employed half-time or less while most men are employed full-time (Trost, 1993). The child-care system for children older than about one year of age is well established in most municipalities at a subsidized cost dependent upon the parents’ financial situations. Parents have the right to a parental leave of absence for up to one year with almost full payment. Parents can distribute this leave as preferred until the child is eight years old. However, the father has to take at least one month’s leave or the parents lose that month. The rational is to encourage fathers to be more actively involved with their children, for the sake of both the fathers and the . (Families in a Global Context (pp. 47-48). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) children.
For over a half century Swedish society has been characterized by its social welfare approach, as in many European societies. Schools and universities are free of charge; no one pays much for health care; and pension plans are funded to a certain level by government. Direct and indirect taxes are high by international standards. Inhabitants in return receive many benefits and therefore do not require much private insurance, except for housing, cars, and the like. It can be said either that all Swedes live on social welfare, or that no one does. The expression “to live on welfare,” does not have the same meaning in Sweden as it does in countries such as the United States. Welfare or social welfare are not pejorative terms. The welfare system consists of many benefits and programs for people in financial or other troublesome situations. By international standards families in Sweden enjoy a good life. The United Nations Human Development Index ranks Sweden at number five in the world. As just indicated, there are many social support programs and health care is universal and modern. Average life expectancy in Sweden is among the highest in the world at 78.3 years for men and 82.9 for women (2006 estimate). Infant mortality is low (2.76 per 1,000 live births) as is the death rate (10.31 per 1,000 population). Literacy rates stand at around 99 percent for both men and women. Per capita income is high. Only about 6 percent of the population lives below the official poverty line. Unemployment rates are relatively low (6 percent in 2006); only about 1 percent can be considered long-term unemployed. Inflation is very low and the economy is strong. Sweden is a member of the European Union (Statistiska Centralbyrån, 2003; UNDP, 2006; World Factbook, 2006).
Couple Formation and Marital Dynamics After World War II, the marriage rate increased and in 1965 it was higher than ever before. However, after 1966, .( Families in a Global Context (pp. 48-49). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) the rate for first marriages and remarriages steadily decreased, dropping. by about one-half within less than a decade and has continued to decrease but at a slower pace (Statistiska Centralbyrån, 2003). As the marriage rate decreased, the cohabitation rate increased. The loss in the number of marriages was more than equaled by the increase in the number of cohabitations. These changes have occurred in most Western societies, but they started earliest and are the most extreme in Sweden (Trost, 1979). Before the middle of the 1960s, there were few cohabiting couples and there was no term for the phenomenon. After a decade of decreasing marriage and increasing cohabitation rates, cohabitation became a social institution. Cohabitation has not replaced marriage, but is an institution alongside marriage (Trost, 1981). Before these changes occurred, four elements were closely connected in time: the marriage ceremony; moving in together; having sexual intercourse together; and having the first child about a year later (Trost, 1979, 1995). With some exemptions, the marriage ceremony and the moving in together occurred at the same time, that is, the same day. This seems to have been true for all Western societies. To start having sex together was normatively prescribed. While the ideal norm prescribed chastity before marriage, almost all couples had sex before they married. One indicator of this is that around the year 1960, one-third of all brides were pregnant at the time of their weddings (97 percent of the weddings were with a religious ceremony) (Statistiska Centralbyrån, 1968). The fourth element, having a child, was connected to the others in a double way. Preferably and normatively, children should not be born to unmarried mothers, but should come soon after the wedding. These four elements lost their normative power when cohabitation became a social institution and they are no longer connected to each other in the pattern of the past. In some countries, for example Belgium, there is still a connection between having a child and being married. In Sweden, more than one-half of all children born and about two-thirds of all first born children are born to a mothers .( Families in a Global Context (pp. 49-50). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) who are not married (Statistiska Centralbyrån, 2003). In Belgium, only about one out of seven children are born to a woman who is not married (Trost, 1993). In many countries today, when the two in a couple are in love, they move in together if possible. They might move in together after a thought out decision, or one person just increasingly stays over night until the couple realizes that they are cohabiting. Frequently, others look upon cohabitation as premarital. That is a misperception. Many couples can be classified as postmarital (if one or both are divorced) or postcohabiting. Few couples decide to cohabit and then to marry. They just move in together. For a majority, marriage is a reality in the end. Within the context of these trends in decreasing marriage rates and increasing cohabitation, something happened to bring about a spike in the marriage rate in 1989. January through October was typical. About the same number of marriages occurred as in previous years and as in the following years. In November, the rate doubled. About 2,000 couples could be expected to be married, but 4,000 couples married. In December, the rate was thirty-two times higher than in the previous and following years. While 2,000 couples could be expected to marry, 64,000 did so (Statistiska Centralbyrån, 2003). The rules about widows’ pensions changed January 1, 1990; those who were married before this date were partially covered when widowed. The amount is, however, low and with many restrictions. In September and October the mass media reported that there were long lines of couples at registries to get married. This was not so when reported but the message became a self-fulfilling prophecy. This can partly be understood by the fact that there existed a large pool of couples ready to marry when “time is ripe,” as many say. The mass media’s reports, as well as the marriages of friends and others, were cues for a large number of couples to marry. Weddings
Within the traditional system, which ended around 1970, the parents of the bride alone or together with the .( Families in a Global Context (pp. 50-51). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) groom’s parents organized the wedding, including the ceremony and the party. The party was preferably grand with many guests invited if the parents could afford to do so. Mainly, the parents invited their close relatives and friends. Restrictions were applied for friends of the bride and groom with only some of their very close friends being invited. For the most part, the party was for the parents to show that their daughter and son married. This system has changed. Now, many marriages are remarriages for at least one of the spouses and large numbers of grooms and brides are of mature age, meaning in their thirties and forties, and financially independent. Most organize and pay for their weddings themselves and decide whom to invite. The wedding is theirs and not their parents’. The median age at marriage for women in 2002 was 31.5 years and for men 34.3 years. In 1960, the corresponding ages were 23.3 and 26.4. The median age for first marriages in 2002 was 29.9 for women and 32.2 for men. In 1960, the figures were 22.8 and 25.7 (Statistiska Centralbyrån, 2003). Younger couples often want the same, a marriage of their own, and they organize the wedding in cooperation with their parents (of whom many are themselves divorced and with new spouses or partners) who are to pay for the wedding. The invitations are often restricted to a few relatives and many friends of the couple, with restrictions on the number of friends of the parents. As a father said at his daughter’s wedding party: “We four parents gladly pay for this party which the bride and the groom have organized, and we are happy we were invited, too.” The decision of when to marry has also changed. In the traditional system the decision of when to marry was closely connected to such events as the finishing of an education and having a good job, or having found an apartment (at that time most Swedes lived in rented or co-op flats; now more live in houses of their own), or the bride being pregnant. It is important to stress that pregnancies rarely made forced marriages. Rather, pregnancy gave a cue for a decision of when to marry. . (Families in a Global Context (pp. 51-52). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) Soon wanting a child was another cue for the couple marrying. The system of today is different. Few couples in Sweden who cohabit decide to marry when they want a child. Likewise, housing, a good job, or being in a good financial situation are no longer cues for marrying. The cues vary widely and the ideas of “when the time is ripe” are often invisible. For example, the contributor knows a couple who had decided to marry to celebrate the day they had begun cohabiting five years ago. However, some months before that date, the bride-to-be learned that she was pregnant. She did not want to marry when pregnant because she wanted to be able to take an active part in the party. The couple simply decided to postpone the marriage until the seventh anniversary of their cohabitation. The historically low marriage rates during the last three decades have resulted in a large number of cohabitants, with many intending to marry sometime in the future. It can be argued that the previous marital ceremony and party were a rite of passage— after which the two changed statuses, started living together, could openly share a bedroom, and were expected to soon have a baby. Now, the marital ceremony and party make a confirmation rite— confirming that the two are a couple. As they have been living together, many have a child or children. This means that there are few real changes because of the marriage. Slightly cynically, it can be stated that the sole differences are that the couple has to divorce if they want the relationship to end, and there will be financial impacts when they divorce or when one of them dies that differ from the case if they were cohabiting without being married. In general, during cohabitation and marriage there are no discerning differences. However, at separation/ divorce, there are clearer rules for those divorcing than for those separating from cohabitation. Divorcing couples share all assets equally (unless they have a marital contract stating otherwise). Ex-cohabitants share only what is bought for their common use during the cohabitation. The financially well-off benefit from . (Families in a Global Context (pp. 52-53). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) cohabitation while the less well-off benefit from marriage when separating or divorcing. Inheritance rights also differ; cohabitants do not inherit from a deceased partner. For some, the idea of a confirmation rite is not fully adequate. The contributor of this chapter has interviewed couples who held the idea that in the long run one should be married. They decided to marry because they had been invited to so many marriages of friends that they felt a push to have a big party themselves. This means to marry.
Remarriages, Recohabitations, and Stepfamilies
With the high dissolution rate among couples and with remarriages and recohabitations, many stepfamilies are formed. That is, a parent marries or cohabits with a person who is not the biological parent of the same child. The extent of these stepfamily households is not known, but an indicator of their increasing amount is the remarriage rate. In 1900, 10 percent of all marriages were remarriages in which one (or both) partner was remarrying. In 1950, the figure was 19 percent and in 1998, as many as 30 percent of all those marrying were couples where at least one of the spouses was previously married (Historisk statistik för Sverige, 1969; Statistiska Centralbyrån, 2003). How many of those who marry are separated from a previous cohabitation? No data are available, but an educated guess would be, many. Traditionally, one could only speak about remarriages. Now, recohabitation has to be considered. Many of those living in a marriage are living in a remarriage, and even more of those cohabiting, are recohabiting. In a remarriage, at least one of the spouses has to be previously married. The other spouse might have cohabited with someone other than the present spouse before starting a cohabitation with him or her, in what later became a (re) marriage.
Dissolution of Relationships
The number of divorces is known, but not how many cohabiting couples separate. There are some estimates, but . (Families in a Global Context (p. 53). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) they are not fully valid. Many of those cohabiting separate after months or years, and quite a few marry. Some cohabiting dyads are eventually dissolved by the death of one of the partners. However, no valid data exist on these patterns. When speaking about separation among cohabiting couples, one has to consider the nature or structure of the phenomenon of cohabitation. On one side, it can be claimed that they live under marriage-like conditions. On the other side, cohabitation is not a homogenous category. Some couples start to cohabit very early in their relationships, some even from the first day they know each other. Some start later. Some cohabiting relationships should be compared to the going-steady period (or even the courtship period) in the traditional mate selection and marriage system, while others start as late as during what was the engagement period. Two hundred years ago, marriages tended to be dissolved through the death of one of the spouses when the other was still young and had minor children. The mortality rate decreased rapidly during the nineteenth century and continued to do so during the twentieth century. This means that there was not a great demand for divorce until about a 100 years ago. For example, in the period 1881– 1890, there were thirty divorces per 100,000 existing marriages. In 1950, there were 500 (Historisk statistik för Sverige, 1969). Now, few marriages with minor children are dissolved by the death of one of the spouses/ parents, but divorce and separation dissolve many. In a sense, there are few bad marriages or cohabiting relationships. Divorces were uncommon a hundred years ago. Now they are common. Bad relationships end while the better ones continue. Today it is no shame to divorce or to have divorced parents or children. This does not mean that the divorces and separations are easy matters for the people involved. On the contrary, almost all individuals divorcing, as well as their children, and to some extent relatives and friends, find the dissolution of the relationship difficult and hurtful. . (Families in a Global Context (pp. 53-54). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) Since 1916, the law has permitted divorces based on no-fault as well as fault principles. In 1975, a new divorce law allowed divorce without stating grounds. Before 1975, the spouse wanting a divorce had to accuse the other spouse of some misbehavior like adultery, or to claim that the marriage broke up. Since 1975, the one who wants a divorce just says so. During the first half of the twentieth century the divorce rate increased and then remained stable until 1966, when the rate started increasing again (Statistiska Centralbyrån, 2003). However, during the last thirty years or so the rates reported are not valid. This is because with the decrease in marriage rates, many of the current marriages are long-term and are much less divorce prone than newer marriages. As the divorce rates are somewhat misleading, following marriage cohorts is enlightening. Of those who married in 1956, about 25 percent had divorced after thirty-five years. Those who married five years later were at the same level of divorce after twenty years of marriage, and those marrying in 1981 were at that level after only twelve years. Recently, the increase in divorce rates seems to have disappeared, at least there have not been any remarkable increases among those who married in 1976 and later. However, those marrying in 1991 reached 20 percent divorced after only seven years of marriage (Statistiska Centralbyrån, 2000). One problem with cohort data is that one has to wait many years to discover what happens to a cohort. Current trends are thus hard to predict. Families and Children
At the end of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s, the birthrate in Sweden as well as in many other Western countries was decreasing and reached low levels. Genetics as well as eugenics were popular subjects in several countries at that time. In Sweden, governmental committees suggested ways to increase the birthrate so that immigrants would not replace the “Swedish race.” There was also concern about “cleanliness” to the effect .( Families in a Global Context (pp. 54-55). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) that “lower quality” persons should not have children. In order to increase the birthrate it was suggested that the state should give each mother a certain amount of money (as a child alimony) until the child was sixteen years old. This has been in effect since 1947. Households with many members and a sparse financial situation could receive housing subsidies, in effect from 1945. These are just a couple of examples of pronatality as promoted by the Swedish parliament. However, the birthrates started to increase at the end of the 1930s and a decrease started in 1948 (Historisk statistik för Sverige, 1969; Statistiska Centralbyrån, 2000, 2003). Cleanliness of the population (i.e., eugenically correct) was addressed by a law requiring that some persons should be sterilized if they were, for example, schizophrenics or morons. In 1938, the parliament passed an abortion law, not to provide women with solutions to unwanted pregnancies, but to make sure that cleanliness would be upheld. Since 1939, a woman can have an abortion if raped (rapists could give negative genes to the child), in case of incest, and if she or the father of the fetus had genetically inheritable negative traits. A fourth ground was severe medical problems that could harm the pregnant woman or the child. More recently, the fertility rate has decreased and was at a Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 1.6 children per woman in 1983. In the beginning of the 1980s, a calculation was undertaken of what would happen with the birthrates, building upon the fact that Swedish women, on average, wanted 2.4– 2.5 children during their lifetime (Trost, 1990). As almost no woman has more children than she wants given the availability of modern contraceptive techniques and with access to free abortions, the TFR would never exceed that value for more than a short time. Additional considerations were that few women want to have a child when in a bad relationship or without a husband/ cohabitant, the high divorce and separation rates, and estimates of sterility and the risk for sterility increasing with age. The conclusion was reached that the TFR would increase and reach a maximum of about 2.1 in . (Families in a Global Context (pp. 55-56). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) 1990/ 1991 and then decrease again. That is exactly what happened. A further decrease was expected for some years and in 1999, the TFR reached a record low level of 1.5. Predictions were that there would be an increase again after 2000 to about 2.1, unless the value system changed dramatically. The current (2006) fertility rate is estimated at 1.7 children born per woman and the birthrate is 10.27 births per 1,000 population. The current population growth rate is about 0.16 percent but is expected to become a negative 0.02 percent in the next few years. If this happens, the prediction is that by the year 2015, Sweden’s population will decline by about 200,000. A consequence will be that the proportion of the population below the age of fifteen will be further reduced (to about 16 percent) while the proportion older than age sixty-five will increase to around 21 percent (Trost, 1990; UNDP, 2006; World Factbook, 2006).
Abortion
The legal abortion rate increased during the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s and has since remained stable. Since 1975, Sweden has had a law giving women the right to an abortion until the end of the eighteenth week of gestation. About 95 percent of the abortions take place before the end of the twelfth week (Statistiska Centralbyrån, 1995a). The increase in the abortion rate was not due to legal changes, but changes in decision-making practices. The discussion here is about legal abortions. Today there are no illegal abortions, but four decades ago there were many. For obvious reasons, no one knows how many. However, there is no evidence that abortions have been used as “delayed” contraception as may have been the case in other European countries. In the past many Swedish teenagers had children. Currently in Sweden, few do. With intensified and compulsory sex education in schools, the teenage pregnancy rate has dropped considerably. For example, the abortion rate for seventeen-year-olds is about twenty per 1,000 girls of that age. Almost all pregnancies among . (Families in a Global Context (pp. 56-57). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) teenagers are aborted and few babies are born. In 1995, only 0.4 percent of all children born were to a girl aged seventeen or younger. For the category of fifteen to nineteen year-old children, the age-specific fertility rate for the same year was 0.0086 compared with 0.1257 (the mode) for the twenty-five to twenty-nine-year-old category (Statistiska Centralbyrån, 2000). Teenagers who were Swedish citizens had an age-specific fertility rate of 0.0069, while non-Swedish teenage citizens living in Sweden had a rate of 0.0331. Immigrants have a somewhat higher birthrate than others, but traditionally the rates have paralleled each other.
Child Rearing Ideology
In some countries, one can speak about a child rearing ideology. However, it is hard to demonstrate a real ideology for child rearing in Sweden. However, child rearing values are related to Swedish democracy. Sweden is one of the oldest democracies in the world. The first parliament was held in the city of Arboga in 1435, but even before that, the inhabitants elected their kings. The idea of democracy is connected to more than elections and parliaments; it has to do with the rights of humans to be treated with respect. For example, Sweden never had slaves. There has been a long tradition of freedom for everyone including for children. The idea of treating children as human beings thus has a long tradition. The second influence on child rearing is related to the first. For a long time teachers and others have been forbidden to spank children. During the 1970s, Swedes debated if parents could be allowed to spank their children. The debate resulted in a law prohibiting parents from spanking their children. This law prohibits not only physical, but also emotional or mental, “spanking” or abuse. One peculiarity with this law is that there are no sanctions connected to the prohibition. If a parent spanks a child, no authorities could interfere. If the spanking is classified as child abuse, other laws with sanctions apply. While there are no exact legal definitions of the terms spanking and abuse, in Swedish there are clear differences . (Families in a Global Context (pp. 57-58). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) between the meanings of the terms. In any case, severe spanking is abuse. The democratic background is important to understanding the new law and what happened. There is no tradition of spanking in Sweden as there is in some other European countries (even if some of the Ingmar Bergman movies might give an impression of the opposite). People agreed, and still do, with not correcting their children either physically or with harsh mental punishment. Teachers spoke often about the law, and still do so. Children are aware that their parents are not allowed to spank them. If they did, what would their neighbors say or believe about them? Immigrant parents who come from cultures where spanking is not only permitted but also prescribed, soon learn from their children that in Sweden spanking is a criminal behavior (i.e., against the law). Even worse, it is defined as a disgusting behavior. DeLey (1986) compared American and Swedish students’ attitude toward parents spanking their children. The results showed that 90 percent of the Americans had been spanked, compared to 60 percent of the Swedes. Similarly, 60 percent of the Americans indicated that parents should spank their children, while only 20 percent of the Swedes agreed.
Families and Gender
Equity between women and men is a major issue in Sweden just as it is in many other Western countries. This is true on a macro- as well as a microlevel; that is, in society more generally as well as in intimate relationships. The ideology is that women and men should work for equality in their homes, in the relationship between spouses as well as in child rearing. One can see quite a few fathers taking their children to day-care centers and picking them up. Fathers are in the playgrounds with their children. Still, most of the care and responsibility remains with the mothers. Similarly, couples share a lot of the household work; but still more common to find wives . (Families in a Global Context (pp. 58-59). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) taking responsibility for making sure that dishes are washed, that the home is vacuum cleaned, and that the clothes are washed, to mention some examples. Christensen (1982) wrote about the woman’s new burden, meaning that she has the responsibility to make sure that her husband/ cohabitant behaves according to the rules of equity. If he does not, it is her fault; she is to be blamed. Andenæs (1989) said about the same; that equity in reality is the task of the woman. If she fails at this task, she should not let others see that she fails. Therefore, many women pretend that their husbands/ cohabitees behave according to the ideology. In this way, women mask their lack of capacity for making their male partners stick to the rules of equity.
Ideological Code
Gender equity is an issue where political unanimity has been demonstrated for decades. Nevertheless, to some extent in Sweden as well as in so many other countries, this is close to what is called lip service. In the socialization of small children at home and in the child care organized by municipalities or other organizations, gender equity is certainly an issue. However, the ideological code of men as the standard against which women are compared is prevalent and active (Smith, 1993). To illustrate, boys can be more active and aggressive than girls, and boys receive more attention. This is the case throughout society even though strong attempts are made to ensure equity in all aspects of life, including socialization and training. For example, schoolbooks and other socialization mechanisms are scrutinized carefully so that they do not contain biased information or give messages contrary to the gender equity ideology. Real social life, however, cannot be controlled in the same way, and it is in life that the ideological code acts. The standards for men and women, for boys and girls, are set although society tries to act in a contrary manner. Although there have been many changes, traditional views on selecting an occupation or profession still survive. There are examples of changes (e.g., previously .( Families in a Global Context (pp. 59-60). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) almost all students at law and medical schools were males, but now the majority is females). At the same time, almost all nurses are still females. One can say that some of the traditional male occupational areas have changed so more females are included, but the traditional female areas have remained as they were. There are important differences in the incomes or salaries of men and women. Men have, on average, salaries more than 18 percent higher than those drawn by women (Statistiska Centralbyrån, 1995b). These differences are partly due to many women working part-time, especially those with minor children. Few men work part-time, even those with small children. There is still a difference in salaries in favor of men when occupation and work time are held constant. This difference is small in most occupational areas, varying from almost no difference up to more than 20 percent difference (Statistiska Centralbyrån, 1990– 1991). 2 More important, however, is that when a male-dominated area turns into a female-dominated one, the salaries do not have a tendency to increase as much as for male areas. Salaries seem to adhere to the ideological code. Largely, women are mothers and fathers are men. Or as an eightyear-old girl said, “Men are so lazy— they only work” (Åberg, 1996). She added that when men/ fathers come home from their jobs they just sit down, read the newspapers, and watch the TV. Women/ mothers, when they come home, prepare food, clean up, and do other household tasks. However, quite a few fathers (and mothers, the ideological code, again) bring their children to day care and/ or pick them up in the afternoon. Fathers are seen with baby strollers nowadays, which one would not have seen a few decades ago.
Gender And Parental Leaves
The legal rule about parental leave (of which the father, if he exists, has to take one month or the parents lose it) is also aimed at reaching the goal of gender equity. Most fathers use their right to a month with almost full payment. However, according to many informal sources, .( Families in a Global Context (p. 60). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) what happens is not the same as when mothers take a leave of absence. Most of these fathers take care of their children, but they do not take the same responsibility as mothers in preparing food, cleaning dishes, cleaning the home, or washing clothes. Fathers often say they are babysitters— mothers never say the same about themselves. While most fathers take at least some leave of absence to care for their children, the number varies. The more education and the higher the occupational position, the more leave of absence fathers take. At the same time, the more one’s workmates would suffer from taking leave of absence, the fewer the number of fathers who take leave. Fathers employed by the government take more leave than fathers employed by private companies. There are no good recent data, but older data show that the smaller the work place, the fewer the number of fathers who use their right to take a leave of absence (Trost, 1983). Gender differentiation still exists in Sweden despite the long tradition toward democracy and gender equity. A great deal more is to be done. However, one should recognize the various means employed for reaching the ideal— a society where gender is not a differentiating categorization.
Families and Stress
Given the current social, political, and economic conditions, families in Sweden do not face the magnitude of stressors sometimes found in other nations. In a sense, Swedish families face many of the same stressors found in any Western, industrialized society. There are a few issues discussed in this chapter that indicate some distinctive areas of stress. These are the dissolution of relationships, the responsibility placed on women for ensuring an equal division of household labor, and immigrant families perhaps finding assimilation difficult.
Dissolution of Relationships While the divorce rate is high and stigma is not an issue, . (Families in a Global Context (p. 61). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) and many cohabitation relationships end, the breakup of intimate relationships are typically stressful. As in other societies, whenever people have been involved in a close personal relationship, the ending can be hard not only for the intimate partners, but also for their children. As noted in previous text, many children are born to cohabiting couples. These children, as well as those whose parents divorce, can experience loss and other negative feelings and consequences. To some extent, relatives and friends will also find the dissolution of the relationship difficult and hurtful. Cohabitation breakups are less institutionalized and harder perhaps in some ways but easier perhaps in other ways. It could be quicker, but not having a definite end date as a legal divorce might make it more ambiguous. One major difference between ending a marriage and cohabitation is the clearly institutionalized means for divorcing. Ending cohabitation is less defined by social and legal rules. There are also differences in financial impacts. When divorcing, unless there is a marital contract stating otherwise, couples share all assets equally. There are thus clear guidelines and a person who brought fewer assets to the marriage can benefit financially from divorce. This can lead to concerns about fairness but helps maintain a more equal standard of living postmarriage. Cohabitants who are ending their relationships share only what they have acquired for their common use during cohabitation. Consequently, people who were/ are less financially well-off will not benefit to the same extent financially when cohabitation ends compared with the situation if they had been married. A less equal postcohabitation standard of living could result, perhaps in more financial difficulties for some people.
The “New Burden” on Women
As noted in previous text, couples share in completing household work and child care. Compared with some other cultures, the stress of women being almost totally responsible for the upkeep of the home and the raising of children is relatively absent in Sweden. Women do not .( Families in a Global Context (pp. 61-62). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) suffer in this regard as has been noted in many other nations. However, women still are more responsible for ensuring that household tasks are completed. While he might help, she is often responsible for making sure the domestic chores are completed. The new burden for women is the responsibility of ensuring that their husbands or cohabitant partners act in accordance with the cultural rules of equity. It is considered her fault if he does not. If the inequality is known, she could be criticized for not being able to maintain, on the microlevel, the cultural expectations for gender equality. If equity is in reality the task of the woman, this is obviously not fair or equal. The necessity for women to monitor men to ensure that gender equality and a fair division of household labor are maintained can be stressful. If a woman fails at this task, she understands that the blame is hers. It is her responsibly, her burden. Consequently, if she does not succeed at maintaining the desired equality, she will likely keep this a secret. The result is women pretending that their mates behave according to the gender equality ideology to mask their inability to ensure that their partners stick to this ideology. In many situations then, stress can result— from striving to achieve equality (the emotional work, the negotiations, and the conflicts), from the worry of trying to adhere to a cultural norm, and from the shame that can result from failure.
Immigration and Assimilation
The homogeneous nature of Sweden was described in the Introduction to this chapter. There are few minorities in the common sense of the word. The country is mainly Swedish and Lutheran. In the past, immigrants typically came from societies similar to Sweden, and quickly assimilated to become Swedes. More recently, families have been migrating from regions dissimilar to Sweden, bringing different customs, family patterns, and religions. Some of these families might find social life difficult for various reasons. There are few other families from the same cultural . (Families in a Global Context (pp. 62-63). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) background for one thing. Fewer natural support systems are available. Another reason is that Swedish culture is rather hegemonic and less multicultural in orientation. While Swedes are tolerant and respectful of human rights, families from climates and cultures quite different from Scandinavia could discover that maintaining a distinctive cultural identity is problematic. Quick assimilation might also prove difficult given the distinctive differences in values, norms, and religion. These newer immigrant families could find that living in a homogeneous society is stressful in ways not found in more multiethnic, multicultural societies. This is not to say these families are unwelcome or that they will fail, only that the assimilation process might prove more difficult than anticipated for former immigrants and be a more stressful experience for these families. As indicated in the Introduction, with more immigration from diverse cultures, the historically rapid assimilation might be a thing of the past. If so, future immigrants might experience less stress at the same time that some Swedish families experience the stress of a changing society.
Families and Aging
Prenatal and infant mortality rates are low in Sweden. The infant mortality rate is 2.76 and the under-five mortality rate is 4 per 1,000 live births. Maternal mortality ratio (1990– 2004) was 4 per 100,000 live births with the adjusted ratio being 2 for the year 2000. Life expectancy for males as well as for females in Sweden is among the highest in the world. One hundred years ago life expectancy at birth was 52.7 years for men and 55.3 for women. Now, the life expectancy is 78.3 years for men and 82.9 for women with an overall average life expectancy of 80.5. Among the 2000– 2005 cohort, 86 percent of males and 92 percent of females are expected to survive to age 65. A great proportion of the population is of an advanced age; 17 percent are sixty-five years of age or older. After age sixty-five, the sex ratio is 0.77 males for each female. With the low birthrates during some decades . (Families in a Global Context (pp. 63-64). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) and the probable low birthrate in the years to come, the aging of the population is inevitable (Historisk statistik för Sverige, 1969; Statistiska Centralbyrån, 2000; UNDP, 2006). As is true elsewhere, a few more boys than girls are born; in Sweden, 6 percent more boys are born. Under age fifteen years, the ratio is 1.05 males to females. With the low mortality rate, the gender ratio changes from a surplus of males to a surplus of women at about age fifty-seven. At age sixty-five, retirement age, there are 11 percent more women than men, while at age eighty there are 52 percent more women than men (Statistiska Centralbyrån, 1996). These figures mean that most minor children have both maternal and paternal grandparents who are still alive. It also means that quite a few minor children have great-grandparents and that many middle-aged persons have parents who are alive and have adult children and grandchildren. However, there has never been a tradition of extended families in Sweden and there are no tendencies visible for any change in that direction, if extended family means persons of more than two generations living in the same household.
Families and Housing
One can look at social reality in these respects from society’s point of view, such as using a demographic perspective with the household as the unit of analysis. In such a case, the term household could substitute for family, which seems to be a better term from this perspective. However, if looking from an individual or small group perspective, the view is different. Many persons have family members who are not restricted to the same household as the person herself or himself. For example, when asked about who are the members of her family, a child might include one or several grandparents and a great-grandparent. Her answer includes not only the household where she lives but also a number of other households or parts of other households. These households might be in the same geographical area, or distributed . (Families in a Global Context (p. 65). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) over a large area, perhaps on more than one continent. From the perspective of a seventy-five-year-old, his or her family might consist of members from various households. For example, from households of the person’s children and grandchildren as well as from his or her own household (Levin & Trost, 1992). The census shows that 40 percent of all households in Sweden are one-person households, 31 percent are two-person households, 12 percent have three persons, and 17 percent of the households have four or more members (Statistiska Centralbyrån, 1992). Historically, these figures show a strong trend toward smaller households, as is the case in all Western countries. Given the number of one-person households, the conclusion is often drawn that many persons are living alone and lonely. This is, however, a misinterpretation. Using proportions of the population, rather than proportions of households, just under 18 percent of the inhabitants of Sweden live in a one-person household. The rest of the population is distributed as follows: 28 percent live in a two-person household, 16 percent in a three-person household, and 38 percent live in households with four or more members (Statistiska Centralbyrån, 1992). Second and very important, a person is not lonely just because he or she lives in a one-person household. Loneliness has little to do with the housing situation. Some people are lonely even when living with others, and many people living alone have lots of friends and relatives with whom they frequently interact. While many of the one-person households are those of elderly people and while many of the elderly live in institutions or similar arrangements, evidence shows that few of the elderly are lonely (Tornstam, 1994). Most old people have children or grandchildren who visit, who call over the telephone, who communicate by e-mail, and the like (Tornstam, 1994). Furthermore, there are many self-organized associations for retired people, and groups organize dancing parties, card parties, and the like. . (Families in a Global Context (pp. 65-66). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.)
Caregiving .
Unlike some other cultures, there is no tradition of the younger generation taking care of the older generation in Sweden. During earlier periods when there was high mortality, there were few elderly requiring care. Sweden started its process of industrialization late compared with most of the Western world. This means that in the middle of the nineteenth century, the majority of the population was still in agriculture, mainly farming and forestry combined. Most of these farmers were peasants, meaning they were family-farming households with no or almost no people employed at the small farm. When the oldest son had found a wife and married, he would customarily take over the farm from the parents (the father and the mother if both were alive). The tradition was that the son and his wife would buy the farm. A contract was usually written to the effect that a small house or a cottage, a small garden, and a certain amount of cut wood for cooking and heating, and a certain amount of grain per year were given to the parent( s). The son and his wife made up one household and the parents made another. The households were independent of each other except for what the contract stated. This meant that the parents were satta på undantag, “put on exemption,” in direct translation. If the elderly were poor, often the case with male and female servants, they were assigned a bed in the poorhouse of the village (together with mentally and physically disabled poor persons). This tradition of society taking care of the poor, aged, and disabled still exists. A great share of the welfare state builds upon this tradition of collective caring for those in need. . (Families in a Global Context (pp. 66-67). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.)
Other Family Situations
A dyadic relationship that had not been visualized until recently is named with an acronym for Living Apart Together (LAT). A LAT relationship consists of two persons who define themselves as a married-like couple, but who are living in two separate households (other people might also live in the households). They are . (Families in a Global Context (p. 67). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.) likewise considered a couple by their closer social network. The two can be married to each other, or not. These dyads could not have existed before the changes (discussed earlier in this chapter) in the marital and cohabitational structure, for the simple reason that previously, such couples would not have been visible. The four elements mentioned in previous text (the marriage ceremony, moving in together, having sexual intercourse together, and having the first child about a year later) with their normative structure would not have permitted LAT relationships. In the mid-1990s, about 2 percent of the Swedish population aged eighteen to seventy-four were living in LAT relationships: approximately 60,000 couples or 120,000 persons (Levin & Trost, 1999). A poll conducted in the beginning of 2000 showed an increase to more than 125,000 couples, 250,000 persons, or more than 4 percent of the population. Most of these persons live in Sweden but some have their LAT partners in other countries. Examples of such couples include those not wanting to move in together due to minor children living at home, or those being unable to obtain employment close enough to live together. The phenomenon of LAT relationships appears on the increase with, for example, high divorce and separation rates, high geographical mobility, and increasing occupational specialization. It might be assumed or presumed that LAT relationships would be found only among the economically well-off. This thinking is based on it being more expensive to live in two households than in one and the longdistance LAT relationships including travel and telephone costs. However, quite a few LAT couples are not so well-off financially. In most cases when a LAT relationship is formed, the two already have their housing and are adapted to the costs. The new relationship thus does not necessarily mean any extra expenses unless the two people involved live far away from each other. . (Families in a Global Context (pp. 67-68). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.)
For the near future of Sweden, as well as for the rest of the Western world, family life deals with marriage, LAT relationships, and cohabitation. Other aspects of family will probably continue as they have during the last few years. There is no observable reason for any remarkable changes in the number of divorces, separations, children born, mortality, child rearing, or relations between women and men. However, the number of marriages will remain at a low level in the entire Western world and more countries will experience sudden increases in the number of marriages as happened in Sweden the last month of 1989. With a considerable “pool” of cohabiting couples, where quite a few see marriage as something to occur in the future, booms can easily occur. LAT relationships will likely increase as one of the alternatives for couples, the others being marriage and cohabitation. LAT relationships could not reasonably have become a social institution without the institution of nonmarital cohabitation. Before cohabitation became common, marriage was the sole institution. With Swedish society’s acceptance of cohabitation came an understanding that couples did not have to marry in order to live together with the expectation that they will also have a sexual relationship. Now couples do not even have to live together while still being a couple. Most LAT relationships now are made up of two people who are not married. However, it is possible that with the social acceptance of these relationships more married and cohabiting couples will separate in order not to divorce or end their relationships. Couples can save a relationship by not living together and thus maintain a relationship in which they do not have to be irritated, as easily happens in the long run with couples living together. .( Families in a Global Context (p. 68). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.)
