Opening statement by State Secretary Karin Strandås, State Secretary, Ministry of Employment
Madam chair,
Distinguished Members of the Committee,
It is an honour for me and the Swedish delegation to engage in a dialogue on Sweden’s Tenth Periodic Report and measures taken in accordance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
This convention is of great importance as there is still extensive discrimination against women and girls, in Sweden and all over the world. This dialogue is part of an important process to secure progress both nationally and globally. And for Governments, such as mine, to commit to the work on combating discrimination against women.
The promotion and protection of human rights, not least gender equality, is a central priority for the Swedish Government in national, as well as in foreign policy. When the international system for human rights and multilateral cooperation is being challenged by many, our commitment remains at the highest level.
The Swedish Government is committed to contributing to the development of gender equality world-wide. Being a feminist Government obligates us to do this. We have made progress over time, but we still have a long way to go before we can reach gender equality, also in Sweden.
Today, we will present Sweden’s Tenth Periodic Report and measures taken. The report is the result of an evaluation process which involves many ministries in the Swedish Government. This reflects the broad mandate of the Swedish Government’s policy for promoting gender equality, which covers all areas of governance.
Madam Chair,
Distinguished experts,
The Swedish Government is engaged in the daily work of implementing Sweden’s obligations under CEDAW. In the Statement of Government’s policy, the Prime Minister declares that the Government stands for the values that have built Sweden strong: community, equality, openness, and gender equality.
We are currently building a long-term, sustainable, and strong institutional framework for gender equality in Sweden.
To give a few examples:
In 2018 the Sweden Gender Equality Agency was set up by the Government. With this agency in place, the Swedish Government has access to expertise and support both in the development and evaluation of gender equality policies and goals. The agency works in close cooperation with other Government agencies and with regions, municipalities, and civil society organisations. It is one of our most important tools to make progress on gender equality issues on a broad front.
As part of developing an institutional framework, we have decided on permanent funding for the County Administrative Boards’ work on gender mainstreaming and men’s violence against women at the regional and local level. This in close cooperation with regions and municipalities, strengthening capacity and coordination at those levels of governance.
Moreover, in the Budget Bill for 2022, we have also proposed more extensive and long-term funding for the work to combat men’s violence against women. If Parliament approves our proposal, we will have a permanent level of a minimum of 300 million SEK to specific measures targeted at men’s violence against women per year. In addition to this, we have proposed that the state grants for non-profit organizations that support women subjected to violence will be increased and made permanent.
Other important areas such as economic equality between women and men and regional gender mainstreaming are also provided with new long-term funding.
The strategy of gender mainstreaming is crucial to achieve gender equality. In a feminist Government, every minister is also a minister for gender equality, responsible for the advancement of gender equality in their policy areas.
We have developed our methods for gender mainstreaming in the Government Offices in a renewed decision for the period 2021-2025. The decision clarifies the responsibility of each ministry to develop an action plan for gender mainstreaming within their areas.
As part of the gender mainstreaming efforts Sweden runs a programme for Government agencies. The agencies are assigned to draw up individual action plans on gender mainstreaming and the results provided by each agency are reported to the responsible Ministries on a yearly basis. The program now includes 60 Government agencies, and the Swedish Agency for Gender Equality plays a significant role in providing capacity building which reinforces the implementation.
To support the work with gender mainstreaming at local and regional level, the Government recently allocated 20 million SEK to the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions. Since local and regional authorities are responsible for many parts of the Swedish welfare system this will affect education, childcare, healthcare, and elderly care in a gender positive way. One of the priorities is reinforced, namely the work to combat men’s violence against women with a particular focus on honour-related violence and oppression, and harmful practices.
The Government has taken several steps to strengthen the sustainability and effectiveness of the work with gender-responsive budgets. This includes a formalised requirement that all ministries include a gender-equality impact assessments as part of the proposals they put forward to the Ministry of Finance.
While gender mainstreaming is an essential tool to make sure that progress towards gender equality is made everywhere it must be combined with special targeted measures for gender equality.
Madam Chair,
Distinguished experts,
To fight discrimination of women and girls and to achieve gender equality is a means to ensure that every girl and boy, every women and man, can reach their full potential.
The Government’s view is that a comprehensive discrimination law is a prerequisite for effective work against discrimination.
An inquiry has been appointed to analyse whether the current provisions regarding supervision are appropriate for effective compliance with the discrimination law. The inquiry has received additional directives and shall, among other things, consider how the protection against discrimination in certain public activities can be changed. The purpose is for the protection against discrimination to be as comprehensive as possible.
Other legislative work include preparation for a new, modern gender affiliation law.
To promote the protection of human rights, the Government has decided to establish a National Human Rights Institution, in full accordance with the Paris Principles. The Institution will be placed in the city of Lund and will start its operations on the first of January 2022. The role of the Institution is to promote the protection of human rights in Sweden.
The fight against discrimination targets several grounds: sex, gender identity or expression, ethnicity, religion or other belief, disability, sexual orientation, or age. Persons exposed to discrimination on multiple grounds are particularly vulnerable.
The Government is committed to strengthening the Sami people and the national minorities in their right to their own language and culture. The Government recently received a mapping on gender equality among the Sami people in Sweden and is planning for continued support to initiatives aimed at strengthening gender equality with the Sami population.
The Government is committed to ensure equal rights and the full and equal enjoyment of human rights of LGBTQI-persons. The Government supports that gender equality also applies to non-binary people.
Several Governmental agencies have been assigned to implement LGBTIQ issues in its operations. In July 2018, the Swedish Gender Equality Agency was given this assignment and is now operating as an LGBTIQ strategic authority.
Madam Chair,
Distinguished experts,
With the COVID-19 pandemic the world is experiencing a global crisis affecting human life and health. It was soon clear that the crisis would affect people differently.
Our experience from the COVID-19 pandemic shows that those with least resources and in the most disadvantaged circumstances are those who suffer the most. Critically, COVID-19 pandemic increased the risk of women being subject to men’s violence as isolation increases the risk of violence and the possibility of control. It also exacerbated the vulnerability of children and young people at risk at home.
As a response, the Government increased funding to civil society organisations working with vulnerable groups and children.
To combat men’s violence against women has been a priority for the Swedish Government for a long time. The basis for the Swedish Government’s work is a ten-year cross-sectoral national strategy for preventing and combatting men’s violence against women, decided upon in 2016.
In June this year, the Swedish Government presented a package with 40 measures to intensify work against men's violence against women. The package includes measures to prevent the use of violence, support and protection for victims, and stricter legislation when it comes to prosecuting offenders who have used violence against their partner or former partner.
A permanent national and cross-sectoral competence centre against honour-related violence and oppression will be established. One of the centre's tasks will be to regularly investigate the extent of honour related crimes in Sweden.
Strong legal protection against men's violence against women, including sexual offences, is of the outmost importance.
In 2018 a new sexual offences legislation based on consent was introduced. It is now an offence to perform a sexual act with someone who is not participating voluntarily. This means that to convict a perpetrator of rape it is no longer required that violence or threats was used, r that the victim’s particularly vulnerable situation was exploited.
With the consent-based regulation in place, we finally have a sexual offences legislation that clearly states that sex that is not voluntary is illegal.
In 2020 a national inquiry was tasked with reviewing the scales of penalties for sexual offences. The inquiry proposes that the scales of penalties for several sexual offences should be raised. The inquiry also proposes introducing a new law instructing health care services to secure tracing evidence following sexual offences. The report's proposal is being processed in the Government Offices.
In the work to prevent men’s violence against women it is the Government’s aim to influence attitudes in society contributing to a culture of consent regarding sex and intimate relationships. In this pursuit, the Government has extended the Swedish Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority’s mandate to disseminate information about the new legislation on consent aimed at young people and professionals.
To combat trafficking in human beings and prostitution, the Swedish Gender Equality Agency was given a mapping assignment regarding prostitution in Sweden. This was reported in October 2021. The report shows that children are at greater risk than before of being exploited in prostitution and trafficking in human beings, as perpetrators find new ways and arenas to reach them online via various websites, dating sites, social media, and even gaming apps.
An important part of the Government’s work is to focus on preventive and protective interventions and to discourage the demand for sexual services. The increased funding for combatting men’s violence against women also includes prostitution and trafficking in human beings for sexual purposes.
Madam Chair,
Distinguished experts,
Economic equality between women and men is crucial. Sweden’s relatively high degree of economic gender equality derives from a high level of women participating in the labour market. Reforms such as individual income taxation, parental insurance and access to affordable child-care have contributed to high levels of labour market participation for women since the 1970 s.
Other important factors are the pay gap and the differences in working hours between women and men which have been steadily decreasing for many years. The proportion of women working part-time has fallen sharply, while the proportion of men working part-time has increased slightly over the last decade. The gender pay gap has also continued to narrow, reaching 9.8 % in 2020.
Still, differences between women and men in terms of part-time work, responsibility for unpaid work in the home, use of parental leave, level of sick leave affects economic gender equality. Women also have lower income from work, partly because of the gender-segregated labour market, as professions dominated by women often have lower wages. On average, women’s capital income is also lower than men.
The Swedish Government appointed a Commission for gender-equal lifetime earnings in March 2020. The Commission is tasked to submit proposals aimed at increasing the long-term economic equality between women and men. Part of its work is to ensure a broad discussion in society and spread knowledge about how economic equality and gender-equal lifetime earnings can be promoted. The Commission shall present its proposals in February 2022.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, work conditions in female dominated sectors, such as the health and care sector have been highlighted.
The Government has decided on new state support for municipalities and regions to finance initiatives that promote a sustainable working life in care and elderly care, a reform called the recovery bonus.
The Swedish Gender Equality Agency has also been assigned to analyse the impact of Covid-19 on economic equality between women and men in Sweden which will be presented in December 2021.
The Government’s ambition is to rectify structural inequalities in society that has been exposed to during the pandemic.
The Swedish Government is engaged in the UN Women global action coalition on economic gender equality. Here, Sweden will contribute with its experience from working with economic and social reforms and gender equality policy. Sweden shares the leadership of the action coalition with South Africa, Mexico, Spain, and Germany.
Madam Chair,
Distinguished experts,
On the 12th of September 1921, women in Sweden could exercise their right to vote and stand for parliamentary elections for the first time. Now, in 2021, it is a hundred years since democracy had its breakthrough in Sweden. The struggle for equal suffrage continued also after 1921 as there were still certain groups of the population that were not allowed to vote.
As Sweden this year is commemorating the 100th anniversary of suffrage we are reminded that it takes time to achieve equal representation of women and men in decision making.
Women and men in Sweden are relatively equally represented in political assemblies even if it remains some differences. After the election in 2018 women are underrepresented in the national parliament by four percentage points, in the regional councils two percentage points and in the municipal councils by seven percentage points.
In areas where the Swedish Government exercises influence over the appointment process, equal representation has been achieved. Examples of this include managers and members in Governmental Agencies, chairs of Governmental Agencies, national inquiries, including the boards of state-owned companies.
Although gender balance has been reached in some areas, women’s possibilities to fully perform their role as political representatives is hampered by gender-based violence in terms of threats, hate speech and harassment, online and offline.
The Government has therefore continued with new measures to combat on-line harassment and violence, with a focus to increase knowledge and prevention.
Within the framework of a national initiative to commemorate the 100th anniversary of equal suffrage, the Government has included knowledge-raising and educational initiatives with the aim of strengthening the conditions for people to participate in democracy.
Sweden remains deeply concerned that respect for democracy continues to decrease globally. We continue our strong support to democratic institutions and processes, and to defenders of democracy. Therefore, Sweden launched the Drive for Democracy in 2019.
The Drive for Democracy includes activities that aims at improving women’s enjoyment of human rights, and increased influence of women in democracy.
Madam Chair,
Distinguished experts,
Women and men, girls and boys must have the same opportunities and conditions regarding education and training, study choices and personal development.
The Swedish Government works to promote gender equality in schools. The main instrument for this is the Swedish Education Act. It states that the national curricula from preschool up to adult education shall work actively for equality between girls and boys as well as equal rights, opportunities and obligations for all, regardless of gender. Furthermore, the Education Act states that education shall be designed in accordance with basic democratic values and human rights, which include gender equality.
The Government has commissioned the Swedish National Agency for Education to develop study and career guidance in the school system to contribute to counter gender-based study choices in all parts of education and to provide a strategic focus to the work for gender-equal education.
The Agency has also been commissioned to improve schools’ work to prevent honour related violence and oppression and the work to raise awareness and knowledge among school personnel.
The Government has modernised the comprehensive sex education and introduced the concept of “consent” to clarify the importance of reciprocity and voluntariness. The Government has also introduced new qualitative targets for teacher education to ensure that teachers have the competence to teach about sex and relationships.
Madam Chair,
Distinguished experts,
The Swedish health system aims to ensure good health care on equal terms for the entire population, regardless of ability to pay. It is publicly funded and accessible to all.
Even though the public health in Sweden steadily has improved in the last centuries, health gaps still exist today, both between women and men, girls and boys as well as between different groups in society.
Women with short educational background and women with disabilities are among those whose health is not improving at the same rate as other groups. Young women suffer more than men and older women from mental health issues. At the same time, men are more likely to die from several diseases and from suicide than women are. Knowledge about differences in health between groups of women and men, girls and boys and about the underlying factors need to be enhanced.
More needs to be done to achieve gender equal health and care. In 2015, the Government started an initiative to strengthen maternity care and women's health in general. The Swedish Government has so far allocated 7,6 billion SEK for this purpose.
Madam Chair,
Distinguished experts,
Sweden’s feminist Government wants women and men to have equal opportunities to shape society and their own lives. This is also the goal for the Government’s foreign policy. Since 2014, Sweden pursues a feminist foreign policy agenda. We are thrilled that several countries have followed our lead and adopted similar policies of their own.
The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated critical gaps in equality, particularly gender equality, worldwide. Women and girls have been disproportionally affected. Sustainable development, peace and security are not possible when women and girls are left behind.
At a time when opposition to gender equality and the rights of women and girls continue to increase worldwide, and this interacts with the shrinking democratic space, it is more important than ever to pursue a feminist foreign policy
Targeted support for gender equality is carried out through Sweden’s ambitious development cooperation agenda. This includes support to promote women’s economic empowerment, to combat men’s violence against women to increase women’s political participation and access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).
Madam Chair,
Distinguished experts,
Climate change is the defining issue of our time. In 2017, the Swedish Parliament adopted the most ambitious climate reform in Sweden’s history, aiming at net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2045, and negative emissions thereafter. Women and gender equality need to be at the centre of climate and environmental policies, both in Sweden and internationally.
Since submitting the tenth periodic report Sweden has passed a Government Bill with a climate policy action plan which states that gender equality is to permeate all climate policy, both in Sweden and internationally. All climate action is to be based on different prerequisites as well as equal possibilities and rights of women and men, girls and boys.
The Swedish Government has committed to implementing the Paris Agreement including the guiding principles on gender equality and the empowerment of women.
Madam Chair, distinguished members of the Committee, thank you for your attention.
We are now prepared to answer any questions you may have to the best of our ability.