In the 1970s, the parental insurance system was implemented in Sweden. The country needed women’s skills, training and professional experience in the labor market. It was economically indefensible to let the majority of the women remain outside the working market. This paved the way for a new perception of women and men and their relation to working and family life, the private and the public spheres.

Despite its reputation, gender equality is not something Sweden has quiet yet achieved. It is rather something that is constantly strived towards and the country is constantly taking action towards equality on many levels. The Swedish Institute has stressed the importance of showing that much remains to be done if Sweden is to attain full equality and that the country has a lot to learn in it’s encounters with the outlooks of other countries in this area.

Relating to families and fatherhood, Sweden has the most generous system of parental leave in the world along with the largest proportion for employed mothers of young children and has a high birth rate and a new generation of fathers for whom paternity leave is a natural part of parenthood.

“Life puzzle” is a Swedish expression for managing your life with children, parents, friends, work life, home life, personal economy and gender equality and how to fit all the aspects together so that everything works. The Swedish Institute and the Swedish embassy thus presents the exhibition Life Puzzle in Kiel with the specific focus on the role of fathers and how society can make it easier to combine gender equality, parenthood and a career.

The exhibition has travelled in different parts of the world and now has arrived in Germany. It includes 24 documentary photographs that have been exclusively produced for the exhibition. The exhibition is open to the public between May 4th and May 20th. 

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