Cleanliness seems to be particularly important to Swedish women over the age of about 40. Or rather, the act of cleaning seems to be important. Merel tells me she knows a number of Swedish women with high-paying jobs who spend their Sundays cleaning the house. We're talking cleaning, not straightening up for the week. How many female directors in the U.S. or Britain do you think there are who scrub their own kitchen floors? And Karin says women who do pay someone to clean their house would prefer than no one knew, especially not their mothers or grandmothers.
How to explain all this self-mopping? Well, it's got to be connected to what the Scandinavians call the Jante Law. The Jante Law (Jantelagen in Swedish anyway) is a phrase coined by Danish author Akzel Sandermose in 1933 to describe the egalitarian/restrictive pressures of small-town life in Scandinavia. Briefly, the tenants of the Jante Law are:
- Don't think that you are special
- Don't think you're better than anyone else
- Don't think you're smarter than anyone else
- Don't think you'll amount to anything
- Wash your floors yourself, missy
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3 comments:
I hate mopping too - must be an American trait :-)
We Americans can proudly lay claim to a lot of things. But I never realized that individualism and a dislike of mopping were unique to us. I suppose it must be like freedom and bravery. Only we Americans know what they are.
Joan Rivers summed up my philosophy nicely when she said, "I hate housework! You make the beds, you do the dishes--and six months later you have to start all over again.
-Claudia
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