While some campaigners see more generous shared parental leave rights as a silver bullet to address gender inequality, such legislation in Sweden offers a cautionary tale as fathers are still reluctant to take full advantage of their extensive leave allowance, further hindering women’s careers.

Sweden has an incredibly generous 480 days paid leave for new parents to share. Since its introduction, the policy has led to around 90% of eligible Swedish fathers taking at least part of their offered paternity leave.