how is feminism doing in Sweden?
What grieves me most as a Swedish feminist is hearing that our movement is dead or that it is only a trend. I’ve argued with anti-feminists, whose best argument nowadays is that feminism advocates female supremacy. If this group of anti-feminists were small, I would not worry about their opinions because there will always be people who disagree with you. What troubles me, however, is that this way of viewing feminists seems to be mainstream in Sweden.
The Swedish media thrives on stories about feminists, who, the media says, claim that “men are animals” and that “any man would rape any woman at any time.” Hardly anyone seems to know what feminism is really about.
As a socialist-feminist I think that laws could help our society become more equal. I believe in quotas that would help women reach higher positions in the labour market, like chief-positions. Here in Sweden, almost no one seems to agree with me and many people (especially men) argue that “that would be discriminatory against men.” They ask “so the gender of a person should decide the position, and not the qualifications?” In Sweden 90% of the absolute highest positions in our economy are held by men, and these men tend to hire other men for high-level positions. How can we ever break that trend without quotas?
In a perfect world, there would be no need at all for laws that could seem in any way unfair or discriminatory. In a perfect world people would not be hired based on their gender or connections. But there’s a long way from here to there.
As long as there are thoughtful and brave people left in the world who demand equality, the “trend” of feminism that has already achieved so much will never die!