Kids and careers – let’s make it easier
About the episode
Nordic Talks heads to California and learns that many parents in the U.S. have a hard time juggling work and family life. Can the U.S. draw inspiration from the Nordic model of paid parental leave for all? We find out about the differences between the Nordic and U.S. systems and how changes to parental leave provision can make the lives of all working parents easier.
“The idea is that the Nordic model is based on altruism. But the system in the Nordic countries is not about the wealthy paying for the poor – it’s about the middle class paying for the middle class. The middle class pays taxes for services that they use.”
– Anu Partanen
This podcast episode features the following speakers
Caitlyn Collins (U.S.)
Author of the book “Making Motherhood Work: How women manage careers and caregiving”. Assistant Professor of Sociology, Washington University in St. Louis.
Robert Strand (U.S.)
Executive Director of the Center for Responsible Business and Lecturer at the Berkeley Haas School of Business. PhD. Robert Strand researches and teaches in corporate social responsibility, the SGDs and Nordic sustainable business.
Robert Reich (U.S.)
Professor Robert B. Reich is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. He served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, which introduced 12 weeks' unpaid family leave, the first legislation of its kind in the States.
Anu Partanen (Finland)
A Finnish journalist who has lived in New York for more than a decade. Author of the book “The Nordic Theory of Everything” which debunks some of the most common myths about Nordic societies and discusses what the United States might be able to borrow from Nordic societies in order to help restore the American dream.