Defense Minister of Finland, Antti Kaikkonen, has chosen to claim two months of parental leave from his job.
This comes as no surprise because the Finns and their Nordic neighbors, are used to family-oriented social policies and work-life balance.
The five Nordic countries, namely; Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden have made gender equality a top priority in their policies, and that includes encouraging fathers to spend more time with their children.
In Sweden, both parents together receive 480 days of parental leave per child, with each parent able to use half, that is, 240 of those days, which are also transferable.
In the case of multiple births, an extra 180 days are granted for each additional child.
Defense Minister, Antti Kaikkonen, a 48-year-old father of two, makes an intriguing argument for taking parental leave starting January 6, 2023 to dedicate mainly to his 6-month-old son.
“Children remain small only for a moment, and I want to remember it in ways other than just photos,” Kaikkonen tweeted.
Kaikkonen assured that Finland’s security “will be in good hands.”
Later, the defense chief intimated that “although ministerial duties are very important to me, you’ve got to be able to put family first at some point.”
In September, Finland launched a gender-neutral parental leave system allowing both parents to take 160 days of paid leave each and to transfer a certain amount of days between each other.
Top male politicians in the Nordic states have made use of their paternal leave rights to a certain extent but it’s still not a common practice.
In Denmark, Finance Minister, Nicolai Wammen began a two-month paternity leave in late 2020, saying that his son “has mostly seen his father on TV.”
Other leaders in Denmark to do so include the Former Minister of Immigration, Mattias Tesfaye, and Former Minister of Culture, Joy Mogensen.
In Finland, Former Prime Minister, Paavo Lipponen, a pioneer in combining politics and fatherhood, took paternal leave in the distant 1998, albeit for a much shorter period.
Lipponen, who is now eighty-one years old, received plenty of positive coverage in international media for his family arrangements.
Finland In A Politically Sensitive Period
Beyond the Ukraine war and rumblings from neighboring Russia, the Finnish defense minister’s decision also comes at a politically sensitive time.
Finland faces a general election in early April, 2023 and its NATO accession is in an indeterminate state mainly due to resistance from alliance member, Turkey.
Turkey claims that Finland and neighboring NATO candidate, Sweden must first address its concerns over alleged activities of Kurdish militants in the two countries.
The Parliaments of Turkey and Hungary are yet to ratify Finland and Sweden’s applications. However, the twenty-eight other NATO states have already done so.
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