瑞典爸爸:两个月陪产假够用吗?

Jim Butcher's decision to join Sweden's army of 'latte dads' last year didn't win him any popularity contests with family and friends back home in the U.K.

英国人吉姆・布彻(Jim Butcher)去年决定加入瑞典"拿铁爸爸们"的行列，不过这个决定并没有得到他在英国的亲朋好友们的赞许。

'When I told my friends in England, they spat up their tea,' said the 35-year-old head of communications for digital-music company Spotify Ltd., which is based in Stockholm.

布彻现年35岁，在总部位于斯德哥尔摩的数字音乐公司Spotify Ltd.负责公共关系，他说，"当我这事儿告诉我英国的那些朋友时，他们把口里的茶都喷了出来。"

'They thought my out-of-office replythat I was gone for six monthswas a joke.' His father, a self-employed bricklayer, was concerned his son was jeopardizing his career.

他说，"他们以为我不在办公室的自动回复──说我要休假六个月──是在开玩笑。"他的父亲是一名个体经营的瓦工，很担心儿子这样做会威胁到自身的职业生涯。

But Mr. Butcher had a serious agenda for his half-year hiatus: Spending uninterrupted time with his newborn daughter.

不过，布彻为他暂停工作的这半年做出了很认真的安排：要把所有时间都用来陪伴自己刚出生的女儿。

Sweden's paternity-leave benefits, enjoyed by citizens and foreign residents alike, are the most generous in the worldand a debate is under way nationwide over whether to extend them even further. Sweden should require men to take a minimum of three months' leave, instead of the current two months, some politicians argue.

瑞典的产假福利是全球最优厚的，而且对待本国公民和外国居住者一视同仁──即便这样，瑞典如今还在就是否要进一步延长产假时间而在全国范围内进行着争论。一些政客主张，瑞典应该要求男性至少休三个月陪产假，而不是现在的两个月。

Fathers currently can take off work for as long as 240 days with a government-backed paycheck. Even if a father decides to take a more modest leave than allowed, he must take at least two months before the child is 8 years old to receive the government benefits.

目前在瑞典，父亲可以休长达240天的带薪陪产假，这段时间将由政府为其支付工资。即使某位父亲决定放弃一部分陪产假时间，他也必须在孩子八岁前至少休够两个月假，才有资格拿到政府支付的工资。

Scores of dads can be seen during typical business hours strolling the streets of Stockholm, Gothenburg and other big cities pushing a stroller with one hand and nursing a cup from Espresso House or Wayne's Coffee in the other. It isn't uncommon to see men feeding babies and changing diapers in Stockholm's famous Djugarden park island, which is within view of some of the city's biggest companies and financial institutions.

在平常的工作日里，在斯德哥尔摩、哥德堡以及其他瑞典大城市总能看到众多的爸爸们一手推着婴儿车、一手端着Espresso House或是Wayne's Coffee的咖啡杯在街头漫步。在斯德哥尔摩著名的动物园岛(Djugarden)上，男性在给婴儿喂奶、换尿布的情景并不鲜见，距离这个公园不远处，就是斯德哥尔摩几家最大的公司和金融机构的办公场所。

Since being instituted in 1974, the paternity-leave policy has evolved from being a mechanism to encourage women to join what was a depleted workforce in the 1970s, to serve as a tool for gender equality and home stability today.

瑞典的产假政策制定于1974年。在上世纪70年代，推出这套系统的目的是为鼓励女性加入就业大军，以改变当时女性就业不足的局面。而今这个系统已经逐步演变成为一个确保男女平等和家庭稳定的工具。

The Swedish government will pay 80% of a parent's salaryup to a cap of about $65,000for 13 months. One parent can sign over all but two of these months to the other.

瑞典政府将为父母中的一方支付13个月的工资，数额是其月薪的80%，最高不超过6.5万美元左右。父母中的一方可以在休够两个月的前提下，将剩余的全部产假时间转让给另一方。

Government statistics show the vast majority of fathers take off at least the minimum two months. And about 72% of working-age women living in Sweden are employed at least part time, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. This is more than in most other countries. Iceland and NorwayNordic nations which also grant generous leave benefits, have more women in the workforce.

瑞典政府的统计数据显示，大多数的父亲都会休够这至少两个月的底限产假时间。而根据经济合作与发展组织(Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)的数据，大约72%在瑞典居住的工作年龄女性有工作，包括全职工作和兼职工作。这个比例比其他大多数国家都要高。只有冰岛和挪威这两个北欧国家的女性就业比例高于瑞典，而这两个国家的休假福利也同样十分优厚。

'If only women stayed home with children, women would be at a considerable disadvantage compared with men,' says Johanna Noren, a mother of one who works as a systems developer at Sweden's Royal Library. Although she supports the idea of fathers taking a third month of leave, 'it's better if people make decisions on what they want and believe, rather than on what they feel forced to do.'

约翰娜・诺伦(Johanna Noren)是一个孩子的母亲，在瑞典皇家图书馆(Sweden's Royal Library)从事系统开发工作，她说，"如果只有女性在家带孩子，那么和男性比起来，女性会处在相当劣势的地位。"虽然她支持让父亲们休三个月产假这个做法，但是她认为，"要是人们能够就自己希望和相信的事情自行做出决定，而不是被迫做出选择，那么会更好。"

Her husband, Marten, returns to work as a computer-systems developer on Wednesday, after going on paternity leave in October. Their son, Elis, was born in November of 2010.

诺伦的先生马滕(Marten)是位电脑程序开发员，上周刚刚回去工作，在那之前，他自去年10月起一直在休陪产假。他们的儿子埃利斯(Elis)出生于2010年11月。

In addition to allowing him to share a lot of time with his son, 'it also felt important for me and my wife to share the parental leave equally,' says Mr. Noren. 'We said we wanted to split it evenly from the get-go and that's what we did.'

马滕表示，除了能够有更多的时间陪伴儿子以外，"我和我太太能够平等地分享产假这件事本身也让我感觉很重要。我们之前说过，我们希望从一开始算起，平分休假时间，事实上我们也是这样做的。"

The generosity comes at a cost. Exact figures aren't available, but a report published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates public spending on parental leave cost 0.8% of gross domestic product, or the equivalent of $3.7 billion in 2007 alone.

优厚的福利是要付出代价的。虽然得不到确切数字，但根据经合组织公布的一份报告估算，仅2007年一年，产假相关的公共支出就大约是瑞典国内生产总值(GDP)的0.8%，相当于37亿美元。

Nevertheless, many Swedish politicians are arguing for even stiffer paternity requirements, including requiring dads to stay home a third month.

尽管如此，许多瑞典政客还在主张应该制定更为严格的产假规定，包括要求爸爸们在家至少休假三个月。

The majority of the speaking time at the yearly policy meeting of liberal Folkpartiet party in October was devoted to the issue of extending paternity support. (The Folkpartiet is a member of the country's ruling coalition, led by the country's deputy prime minister.)

在去年10月份召开的自由派的自由人民党(Folkpartiet)一年一度的政策会议上，大部分发言时间都用来谈论关于是否应该延长产假这件事了。（自由人民党是瑞典的执政联盟成员之一，由瑞典副首相领导。）

Although the party rejected the proposal to add a required third month, the number of members in favor of the idea is rising. 'The fathers of today are not cavemen with clubs in their hand, but men that take an ever increasing responsibility for home and family,' wrote leading party member Lisbet Enbjerde in a November editorial in the Helsingborgs Dagblad newspaper.

虽然自由人民党否决了将强制假期延长至三个月的提议，但是支持这项提议的人数却在增加。自由人民党的领导成员里斯波特・恩波约德(Lisbet Enbjerde)去年11月份在《赫尔辛堡日报》(Helsingborgs Dagblad)上发表社论称，"如今的父亲们不是手里举着大棒的原始人，而是对家庭对亲人肩负着不断增加之责任的男人。"

Tina Acketoft, a Folkpartiet member of parliament, says 'it would have been unthinkable' to see a Swedish man taking care of children in the 1950s. 'The fact that it is (now) legislated makes it socially acceptable.'

瑞典国会议员、自由人民党成员蒂娜・阿克托夫特(Tina Acketoft)表示，在上世纪50年代，若要看到一位瑞典男性在照顾孩子，"那简直是不可思议的"。她认为，"（如今）有立法支持这一举动，才会使之为社会所接受。"

Not everyone welcomes the potential for the government to get even more deeply involved in families' home lives.

并不是每个人都对让政府更多地干涉家庭生活这种可能性表示赞同。

'We don't mind if fathers want to take paternal leave, but this is something that families themselves should decide, not the government,' says Emma Henriksson, a member of parliament for the conservative Christian Democrats party.

国会议员、保守派的基督教人民党(Christian Democrats)成员艾玛・亨里克森(Emma Henriksson)称，"如果父亲们想要休陪产假，我们不会介意，不过这样的事情应该由家庭成员而不是政府来决定。"

Although she is in favor of extending parental leave, she says families should decide how they allocate it. 'We don't want the government telling families how to plan their lives.'

虽然她赞同延长产假，但她认为产假如何分配应该由家庭成员自己决定。"我们不希望由政府来告诉每个家庭该如何规划他们的生活。"

At Swedish companies such as global retailing powerhouse Hennes & Mauritz AB, long spans of parental leave and time off for new fathers are standard. H&M pays the difference if an employee's salary goes above the government-set salary cap.

一些瑞典公司──比如业务遍布全球的零售集团H&M公司(Hennes & Mauritz AB)──是按照统一标准规定父亲们的陪产假时间。如果员工的薪资比政府设置的薪资上限要高，那么H&M公司会补上高出的那一部分。

'Our company makes no difference between mothers or fathers taking parental leave; it's all parental leave to us,' says Jeanette Skijle, H&Ms human resources chief. She adds that H&M sees parental leave-taking as an opportunity for its employees to try out different jobs and develop new skills. She noted the manager at H&M's store in Kalmar, located in southern Sweden, is on six months paternity leave.

H&M公司负责人力资源的珍妮特・斯基吉尔(Jeanette Skijle)表示，"对于我们公司而言，母亲或是父亲休产假没什么区别；对我们来说这都是产假。"她补充道，H&M将员工休产假视为一种机会，员工可以利用这个机会尝试不同的工作，发展新的技能。她特别提到，该公司在瑞典南部城市卡尔马(Kalmar)的分店经理目前正在休为期六个月的产假。

'The fathers taking leave are actually more worried than we are (and) wonder how we'll cope in their absence,' she says, adding each H&M employee has a person appointed to take on his job if he goes on parental leave. 'People think they're irreplaceable, but frankly, nobody is irreplaceable.'

珍妮特说，"那些休假的父亲们实际上比我们要担心得多，他们很想知道他们不在时我们会如何处理他们的工作。"她接着指出，每一名H&M员工都有一位替补，可以在这名员工休假时承担他的工作。"人们以为自己是无可替代的，但坦率地说，没有人是不可替代的。"

As the chief executive of videogame maker Electronic Arts Inc.'s Stockholm-based studio, 47-year old Sean Decker found this out firsthand. The Los Angeles native took two months of parental leave after his daughter's birth and managed it by delegating key tasks before he left. He only took two serious phone calls while off, he says.

现年47岁的肖恩・德克尔(Sean Decker)对此有切身体会。德克尔是洛杉矶人，是美国视频游戏制造商艺电公司(Electronic Arts Inc.)设在斯德哥尔摩工作室的首席负责人。他在女儿出生后休了两个月的陪产假，休假前他将主要工作都授权给了其他人去处理，这样才得以脱身。他说，在休假期间，他只接了两个很重要的电话。

Even though things apparently hummed along fine at the office without him, he found a stark reality at home alone with the child, with his wife back at work.

尽管办公室那边没有他似乎一切也都运转正常，但在家里，妻子回去上班后，他在独自带孩子时却发现了一个严酷的现实。

Before going on leave, Mr. Decker says he thought: 'You get up, you eathow hard could it be?' He was looking forward to getting a lot of personal tasks accomplished during his time off. He was wrong.

德克尔说，他在休假前曾想着："你每天起床，吃饭──这能有多难呢？"他本打算借着休假的机会顺便做许多私人的事情。他发现自己想错了。

'You're pretty much switched on all day, except for a brief nap midday,' he said. 'And then there was the food. One week she liked eggs, the next day she didn't＃It's really hard to schedule life with an 11-month baby.'

他说，"你基本上全天都要满负荷运转，只有中午小睡的时候例外。然后你要面对吃什么的问题。这周她喜欢吃鸡蛋，随后的一天她又不喜欢了……面对一个11个月大的婴儿，你实在很难规划你的生活。"

Mr. Butcher, from Spotify, had originally planned on spending his six-month leave drinking coffee and writing a script while taking breaks in the park to watch his daughter play.

Spotify的布彻起初曾计划在六个月的假期中，利用带女儿去公园玩的时间，边看孩子，边喝咖啡、写一个剧本。

In reality, 'I'd be lucky to have 30 minutes for myself a day. The rest was just endless cleaning, feeding, changing and picking up.' He says that, two weeks into it, he wondered if he was going to last the entire leave, 'but I'm happy I did it and could bond with my daughter.'

实际上，"如果每天我能有30分钟属于我自己，那就算足够幸运了。其余的时间我只是在没完没了地打扫卫生、喂孩子、换尿布以及把掉在地上的东西捡起来。"他说，这样过了两周后，他就开始怀疑自己能不能撑下来整个假期了，"不过我很高兴我做出了这个选择，能够有机会陪伴我的女儿。"