Wilma LarsonSweden has a global reputation for gender equality, so why is it embracing social media trends celebrating young women leaving work?
Wilma Larson, 25, previously worked in a grocery store, a care home and a factory. But she quit her job a year ago to become a stay-at-home girlfriend and says she’s never been happier.
“My life is soft. I’m not struggling. I’m not too stressed. “
Her boyfriend works remotely in finance, and while he spends his days on his laptop, she’s at the gym, out for coffee or cooking. The couple grew up in small towns in central Sweden, but now travel a lot and spend winters in Cyprus.
“Every month he pays me a salary from the money he earns. But if I need more, I ask him. Or if I need less, I don’t – I save the rest,” Ms. Larson explains.
She shares her lifestyle on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok 11,000 followers. Some of her posts have nearly 400,000 likes, though she says she isn’t making an income from her content.
She uses the hashtags “Hemmaflikon” and “Hemmafru” (Swedish stay-at-home girlfriend and housewife) and describes herself as a “soft girl” – an identity that focuses on embracing a softer, more feminine way of life. career
The soft girl lifestyle has been a microtrend on social media in various parts of the world since the late 2010s. But in Sweden – with Five decades of policies Behind it was designed to promote two-income families — a concept whose recent popularity has sparked both surprise and division.
Ungdomsbarometern – Sweden’s largest annual survey of young people – put the national spotlight on Swedes who embraced the soft girl trend a year ago, becoming the popular choice when asked 15- to 24-year-olds. Predict trends By 2024.
Another study A report released by Ungdomsbaromatern this August indicated that this is becoming an aspiration among younger schoolgirls, with 14% of seven- to 14-year-olds identifying as soft girls.
Wilma Larson“It’s a move away from this ‘girl boss’ ideal that we’ve seen for a lot of years, where there are high demands for success in every aspect of life,” explains Johanna Göransson, a researcher at Ungdomsbarometern.
Ms Goransson says there is no official data on the number of young “soft girls” like Ms Larsson who leave their partners altogether and live on, and it may be small.
From opinion pieces in broadsheet newspapers, to panel discussions at Almedalen – a large annual cross-party political event – and on Swedish public service television, it is a major topic of discussion in Sweden.
Gudrun Skyman – co-founder and former leader of Sweden’s feminist party Feminist Initiative – says she has participated in recent discussions on the issue. She believes women living off their partners’ wealth are “extremely dangerous” and a “backward step” for gender equality.
Ms Skyman argues that young Swedes are influenced by the country’s right-wing coalition government, which cooperates with the nationalist Sweden Democrats party, as well as the “broad development” of populism in Europe and the United States.
She thinks there is a lack of awareness of life in Sweden before adopting policies designed to promote gender equality, such as highly subsidized childcare and shared parental leave. “Young women today don’t have a history of how women had to fight for their rights – the right to work, the right to be paid and the right to financial independence.”
Maddie SavageAt the other end of the political spectrum, the Sweden Democrats are positive towards the soft girl trend.
“I think people should decide their own lives,” says Denis Westerberg, national spokesman for the party’s youth wing. “And if you have the financial possibility to do that (to live off a partner) good for you.
“We still live in a country where we still have all the opportunities to have a career. We still have all the rights, but we have the right to choose to live more traditionally.
Apart from ideological debates, debates have focused on social and cultural factors that may influence young women to leave work – or at least seek a softer lifestyle.
Sweden has a reputation for work-life balance – something most employees get Six weeks holiday per annum, And less than 1% work more than 50 hours a week.
Still, Ungdomsbaromatern’s research points to rising stress levels among young people, and Ms Göransson believes the soft girl trend may be an extension of recent global work trends. “leave alone”This encourages employees not to overextend themselves.
Meanwhile, the Generation Z age group (the cohort born between 1997 and 2012) is producing and influencing social media content that celebrates leisure time rather than career goals.
“If you look at lifestyle content on social media today work doesn’t really feature much, it’s more about exercise and wellness,” explains Ms Göransson. “And if young people are an image of what normal life is like, of course, you’re not keen to spend eight hours a day in an office.”
But perhaps the biggest talking point is whether the trend is a response to the limitations of Sweden’s pioneering gender equality policies.
In addition to Slovenia, Sweden has to the highest extent Among working mothers in Europe, government statistics still indicate that women in heterosexual couples do a greater share of housework and child care than men.
They also take 70% of state-funded parental leave and are more likely to go on sick leave for stress. Meanwhile, the income gap between men and women remains below the EU average of 12.7%, but remains stagnant. about 10% From 2019.
Ms Larson – who wants to have children in the future – says her decision to become a stay-at-home girlfriend was partly motivated by seeing older women struggling to juggle career and homelife.
“I think a lot of women are burned out from their jobs,” she says. “And I think about my mom and her mom, my grandma and my sister, everybody. They’re always under a lot of pressure.
Peter Wikström, head of policy analysis and monitoring at Sweden’s state-funded Gender Equality Agency, believes that the soft girl trend can be seen as a “rational response” to the “demands” young women feel.
Shoka Ahrman, an economist at SPP, one of Sweden’s largest pension funds, says he doesn’t believe enough Swedish girlfriends or wives will give up work to have an impact on the country’s economy.
However, they are working to raise awareness among Swedish women that leaving the labor force (as well as going part-time) affects their personal finances, savings and salary levels from pensions if they return to work.
Ms Åhrman hopes the current soft girl debates will serve as a wake-up call to politicians and businesses that work still needs to be done to address ongoing structural inequalities in Sweden.
“I think the source of the mental health issues, the burnouts and all that, is more worrying, because it only affects some of the younger girls who want to stay at home as soft girls,” she says.
