“It’s about moving away from the ‘girl boss’ ideal that we’ve seen for years, where there are very, very high demands for success in all aspects of life,” explains Johanna Geranssson, researcher at Ungdomsbarometern.
There is no official count of the number of young “soft girls” who quit their jobs altogether and live off their partners like Ms. Larson, and Ms. Geranson says it’s probably a small fraction.
But it has nonetheless become a major topic of conversation in Sweden, from opinion pieces in mainstream newspapers to debates at Almedalen – the huge annual cross-party political event – and on Swedish public television.
Gudrun Szyman – co-founder and former leader of Sweden’s feminist party Feministiskt initiativ – says she took part in a recent debate on the issue. She believes that women living off the wealth of their partners is “very dangerous” and a “step backwards” for gender equality.
Ms Szyman says young Swedes have been influenced by the country’s right-wing coalition government, which works with the nationalist Sweden Democrats, as well as the “broad development” of populism in Europe and the United States.
She also believes that there was a lack of awareness of life in Sweden before it adopted policies aimed at promoting gender equality, such as subsidized childcare and universal parental leave. “Today’s young women don’t know about how women had to fight for their rights – the right to work, the right to earn money and the right to economic independence.”
