A new trend involving girls and women is spreading rapidly on social networks, especially in Northern European countries.

In Sweden, otherwise a country that protects human rights, there are many young women who are joining the trend that has become very popular on social media. It is about "soft girls", in other words: soft/fragile girls.

What is the "soft girls" trend?

Basically, the trend promotes or depicts women giving up their careers for family, a decision that is "applauded" in solidarity.

The human stories of this trend

Vilma Larsson, 25, previously worked in a grocery store, a nursing home and a factory. She quit her job a year ago to become a homemaker and says she has never been happier.

"My life is more peaceful. I don't fight about everything anymore and I'm not too stressed."

Her boyfriend works from home in finance and while he spends his days on his laptop, she is at the gym, coffee or cooking. Both grew up in small towns in central Sweden, but now travel a lot and spend the winter in Cyprus.

"Every month my partner gives me a salary from the money he makes. If I need more, I just ask. Or if I need less, I save the rest," she explains to the BBC.

While staying at home, she shares her new lifestyle on social media, where she has amassed 11,000 followers. Some of her posts have nearly 400,000 likes, though she says she doesn't earn an income from her content.

She uses the hashtags ' hemmaflickvän ' and ' hemmafru ' (Swedish word for girl and housewife) and describes herself as a "soft girl".

The "soft girl" lifestyle has been a micro-trend on social media in various parts of the world since the late 2010s, but in Sweden, the concept's recent popularity has been surprising.

"Ungdomsbarometern", Sweden's biggest annual youth survey, has shown Swedes' penchant for the stay-at-home-girl lifestyle.

 Young people, mainly between the ages of 15 and 24 are in her favor, where 14% of students aged 7 to 14 identify themselves as "soft girls". 

"It's about moving away from the 'boss girl' ideal that we've seen for many years, where there are very high demands for success in every aspect of life," Johanna Göransson, researcher at Ungdomsbarometern, explained to the BBC. "There are no official figures on the number of young people who have left work and live on income from their partners, but it is probably a relatively small percentage, still."

Reactions about the "soft girl" trend

Despite all this, the issue has caused reactions in the country, in which politicians have also been involved. Gudrun Schyman – co-founder and former chair of Sweden's feminist party, Feministiskt – believes the trend is very dangerous and "a step backwards" for gender equality.

Schyman argues that Swedish youth have been influenced by the country's right-wing coalition government, which works with the nationalist Sweden Democrats party, as well as the "broader rise" of populism in Europe and the United States. She also believes many don't know what life was like in Sweden before policies aimed at promoting gender equality, such as heavily subsidized childcare and shared parental leave, were adopted.

In addition to ideological debates, reactions also focus on the social and cultural factors that may affect young women if they give up work.

Sweden has a reputation as a country that has mastered work-life balance, with most workers taking six weeks of vacation a year and less than 1% working more than 50 hours a week.

However, Ungdomsbaromatern's research suggests increasing stress levels among young people, and Göransson believes that this trend may be an extension of recent global work trends.

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