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http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050527/lf_afp/swedenpoliticsfeminism_050527152826
Feminists step up struggle in egalitarian Sweden
Fri May 27,11:28 AM ET
STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Sweden already tops the world gender equality league, but the country's feminists, far from resting on their laurels, are stepping up the fight to put an end to what they label "the patriarchal society".
The depiction of women as sexual objects, violence against women, wage inequality and unequal access to positions of power are giving defenders of women's rights ample fuel to continue the struggle, including in the political arena.
"There is a global backlash for women and this backlash is also seen in Sweden," said Gudrun Schyman, 57, one of Sweden's most vocal politicians.
Schyman, a former leader of the ex-communist Left party, quit the party because she felt the class struggle was not going to give women equal rights.
Last month, she and other women created "Feminist Initiative", a political grouping which she plans to turn into a fully-fledged political party in September, exactly one year ahead of the next general election.
"You have the same pattern all over the world.... gender gap, salary gap, violence against women, pornography, prostitution and trafficking which are the results of the understanding that women are less important than men, have less value and can be looked upon as an object ready to use," she told journalists recently.
Not content with just forming a 1970s-style pressure group, "Feminist Initiative" wants to garner more than the four percent of the popular vote, the level required to enter parliament and make a real difference in Sweden's political landscape.
But the Scandinavian country has not waited for a political party to tackle some long-standing misogynous practices, taking some landmark decisions against the exploitation of women as mere sexual objects.
In 1999, Sweden became the first country to outlaw the purchase of sexual services.
Beauty contests became another target. For the first time this year, there was no "Miss Sweden" pageant, and there will be no Swede at the forthcoming "
Miss Universe" contest in Thailand.
"It's a huge symbol, it shows that ordinary citizens can make a difference," Fia Sandlund, an artist and feminist campaigner who disrupted the 2001 "Miss Sweden" competition, told AFP.
Due to the protests, the beauty contest had to be held under tight security in subsequent years, before being abandoned altogether.
Night clubs have also come under fire, and clients and staff of a Stockholm strip joint recently required hospital treatment after clashing with feminist demonstrators armed with baseball bats and umbrellas.
In a sign of the times, Prime Minister Goeran Persson lashed out at the weekend against advertisers and tabloids showing scantily-clad women, and threatened them with a future law banning such pictures.
One of the companies that has drawn the most criticism is Swedish fashion retailer H and M, which has become famous, or rather infamous, for its sexually charged lingerie ads.
Sweden is also waking up to the fact that physical violence against women is much more widespread than has been admitted in the past. A television programme at the weekend on shelters for victims of domestic violence provoked a strong emotional reaction.
Workplace inequality is becoming a major issue again since Sweden, although world leader in salary equality, has seen an earlier trend towards more fairness reversed.
Women's wages now stand at 83 percent of those of men for comparable work, against 85.6 percent 25 years ago.
Women are getting better representation in corporate boardrooms, but 2004 figures showed that female board members still made up just 11.3 percent of the total.
Feminists step up struggle in egalitarian Sweden
Fri May 27,11:28 AM ET
STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Sweden already tops the world gender equality league, but the country's feminists, far from resting on their laurels, are stepping up the fight to put an end to what they label "the patriarchal society".
The depiction of women as sexual objects, violence against women, wage inequality and unequal access to positions of power are giving defenders of women's rights ample fuel to continue the struggle, including in the political arena.
"There is a global backlash for women and this backlash is also seen in Sweden," said Gudrun Schyman, 57, one of Sweden's most vocal politicians.
Schyman, a former leader of the ex-communist Left party, quit the party because she felt the class struggle was not going to give women equal rights.
Last month, she and other women created "Feminist Initiative", a political grouping which she plans to turn into a fully-fledged political party in September, exactly one year ahead of the next general election.
"You have the same pattern all over the world.... gender gap, salary gap, violence against women, pornography, prostitution and trafficking which are the results of the understanding that women are less important than men, have less value and can be looked upon as an object ready to use," she told journalists recently.
Not content with just forming a 1970s-style pressure group, "Feminist Initiative" wants to garner more than the four percent of the popular vote, the level required to enter parliament and make a real difference in Sweden's political landscape.
But the Scandinavian country has not waited for a political party to tackle some long-standing misogynous practices, taking some landmark decisions against the exploitation of women as mere sexual objects.
In 1999, Sweden became the first country to outlaw the purchase of sexual services.
Beauty contests became another target. For the first time this year, there was no "Miss Sweden" pageant, and there will be no Swede at the forthcoming "
Miss Universe" contest in Thailand.
"It's a huge symbol, it shows that ordinary citizens can make a difference," Fia Sandlund, an artist and feminist campaigner who disrupted the 2001 "Miss Sweden" competition, told AFP.
Due to the protests, the beauty contest had to be held under tight security in subsequent years, before being abandoned altogether.
Night clubs have also come under fire, and clients and staff of a Stockholm strip joint recently required hospital treatment after clashing with feminist demonstrators armed with baseball bats and umbrellas.
In a sign of the times, Prime Minister Goeran Persson lashed out at the weekend against advertisers and tabloids showing scantily-clad women, and threatened them with a future law banning such pictures.
One of the companies that has drawn the most criticism is Swedish fashion retailer H and M, which has become famous, or rather infamous, for its sexually charged lingerie ads.
Sweden is also waking up to the fact that physical violence against women is much more widespread than has been admitted in the past. A television programme at the weekend on shelters for victims of domestic violence provoked a strong emotional reaction.
Workplace inequality is becoming a major issue again since Sweden, although world leader in salary equality, has seen an earlier trend towards more fairness reversed.
Women's wages now stand at 83 percent of those of men for comparable work, against 85.6 percent 25 years ago.
Women are getting better representation in corporate boardrooms, but 2004 figures showed that female board members still made up just 11.3 percent of the total.
