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Stockholm 15 June 2001

Report to the CEDAW Committe with respect to Sweden´s commitments under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

United Nations Association of Sweden Stockholm Chapter of UNA Sweden Swedish UNIFEM Committe Swedish NGO Foundation for Human Rights Swedish Bahá`i Community Swedish National Association Home and Society Association of International Women in Sweden Forum Women and Disability in Sweden Soroptimist International – European Federation – Swedish Union West Sweden Women´s Lobby CONTENTS

Summary p. 3-6

Report To The CEDAW Committee Article 6 Violence p. 7 Rape p. 9 Trafficking p.10 Women asylum seekers p. 10 Area of special concern p.11 Violence, Women and Disability p. 11

Article 10 Introduction p.11 Equality in schools – the societal background p. 12 Prevalent Macho ethos in many schools: Sexual harassment allowed? p.12 Areas of special concern p. 13 General Recommendation No. 19 p. 13 Equality begins at home: Can Home Economics revolutionise the practise of equality? p. 13 Article 10c p. 14 Patriarchy is always re-created at day nursery p. 14 Article 10e p. 15 Strategy for literacy work p.15 The situation of migrant women in the ”world´s most woman-friendly society” p. 15 The possibility for adult migrant women to enter working life p. 16 Article 10f p. 17 Distribution according to sex p. 17 Women shun advanced IT programmes p. 17 Are only male qualities professorial enough? p. 18 School child or child bride? p. 18

Article 11 Economics – structure and power p. 19 Which sex earns 25 percent more than women? p. 20 Swedish companies still in hands of men p. 20 Wage discrimination – who cares? p. 20 Women and men as physicians – an illustrative example p. 21 No gender business among bankers p. 21 Women and men on the income ladder – a report from LO p. 22 Part time – women only p. 23 Children unfavourable for women´s careers only p. 23 Uneven – even after working life p. 23

Article 12 Article 12, para.1 p. 24 Article 12, para.2 p. 24 Area of special concern p. 24 Health, women and disability p. 24

2 Summary

Sweden is often ranked as the country that has come furthest in terms of achieving equality between men and women. The government has taken genuinely positive steps to achieve equality and has worked successfully in a number of areas, as is evident from its report. Equal opportunities are maintained as a value in legislation and most regulatory decisions. However, in reality the implementing activities have not been forceful or judicious enough to realise the good intentions. A lack of implementation and enforcement of legislation and regulations tend to perpetuate inequality and discrimination. - The insuperable obstacle may be the remaining patriarchal structures and the myths and stereotypes we still live with and which belittle what are considered to be female and value what are male characteristics. Socio-cultural, discriminatory attitudes and economic inequalities do still reinforce women´s subordinate place in society. Male structures and values seem to be normative. - The government considers at the present that gender mainstreaming is the most important method for gender equality work (governmental report p. 4). This has meant that there is no separate Minister for Gender Equality - the Minister for Agriculture holds also this post. A Minister for Gender Equality should be based in the Prime Minister´s office to be able to fulfil a truly proactive, co-ordinating and advisory role in relation to the ministries. - In December 1999 the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women was opened for signature, ratification and accession by those States that are already party to the Convention. Even though Sweden was among the first States to ratify the Convention we still are eagerly waiting for the Government to ratify the Optional Protocol.

Article 6 Violence - Violence against women and girls whether occurring in public or private life, is a human rights issue. - According to official statistics, violence against women in Sweden has increased consistently during the last decade. - The increase in violence against women is perhaps the most evident proof of existing inequality and lack of power balance between men and women. - There is a lack of comprehensive programmes dealing with the perpetrators. They are the ones who should bear the brunt of the crime, not the women victims. The state has an obligation to exercise due diligence to prevent , investigate and punish acts of violence. This entails not only extended resources to the police and the judiciary, but also having a public and ongoing discussion and research on the subject.

Rape - Recent studies support our belief that the general opinion among Swedes is that the core of the crime of rape is not force, threats, coercion or violence, but lack of consent. - The proposals for new legislation on the crime of rape do not present enough or convincing arguments for not focussing on consent. We recommend that this will be investigated further, and that sexual integrity and right to sexual self-determination will be more highly respected in future legislation.

Trafficking - Definition of the crime of trafficking should not be limited to crimes that end up in forced prostitution. The wider UN definition should be considered in future legislation, explicitly criminalizing trafficking. We also urge the government not to treat trafficked women who end up in e.g. forced prostitution as illegal immigrants, but that their right to asylum should be protected.

3 Women asylum seekers - Recent Swedish regulations concerning women asylum-seekers may in fact be discriminatory and as such constitute a violation of article 2 of CEDAW. The government should make it clear that the purpose of the new guidelines was to ensure that women asylum-seekers are granted asylum on their own merits.

Violence, Women and Disability - Disability is a risk factor, which in cases of abuse and maltreatment, combined with the gender factor of the female victim, subjects her to a higher risk of violence than women in general. Special measures are needed at all levels to integrate disabled women into the mainstream of development.

Article 10 Equality in schools - Education is indisputably one of the most effective ways of shaping the values, behaviour and skills that citizens need in order to function effectively in an integrated society. Gender equality work in schools is a pedagogical issue that requires gender-aware teachers with knowledge, competence and empathy. Develop and make obligatory awareness-raising pre-service and stimulating in-service training programmes on gender from a pedagogical perspective, the meaning of gender in school and society established as a separate field of study in the selection of courses offered within training programmes for teachers and child care staff.

Prevalent Macho ethos in many schools - Girls are sexually harassed in co-educational schools and in their free time. Teachers have legal protection against sexual harassment whereas schoolgirls do not. Remove the hot-bed for abusiveness and foul play, through adequate legislation, among other things. Adults working in schools be given opportunities to actively confront abusive student behaviour.

General Recommendation No. 19 - No adequate policies have been designed to target disabled women's and girls' need for education at all levels. Design and implement policies and programmes, to fully address specific needs of women and girls with disabilities, to ensure their equal access to education at all levels, including technical and vocational training and adequate rehabilitation programmes.

Equality begins at home - Women work more, have less influence in decision making and receive fewer economic rewards than men, all three forms of discrimination seemingly related to the increasing difficulties to combine children, home and work. Home Economics as a school subject may in fact be the most effective form of citizenship and equality education practised today. Pull Home Economics out of its obscurity in the present school system. Expand it from its present 118 class hours over 12 school years, to be offered also at upper secondary school.

Patriarchy is always re-created at day care centres and pre-schools - Pre-school working methods can unintentionally create or reinforce inequality through treatment on the part of the adults. Stereotypical gender role behaviour can then re-appear through primary school and secondary school, even up to university level. Promptly initiate and stimulate comprehensive innovation and teaching at every educational site, providing adequate human and economic resources, and relevant follow-up, in order to give teachers the opportunity to reach this important but remote equality goal.

4 Strategy for literacy work - In Sweden there is no statistics on people that cannot read and write. The state does not have a strategy for literacy work. Illiteracy is a hidden scandal. It must be exposed and worked on with all the pedagogical effectiveness that the Swedish school system can procure.

The situation of migrant women - The downsizing of the state apparatus has primarily affected women. A regular monitoring of this development is clearly lacking, not only in the Swedish report now being scrutinised, but also in the everyday practice of the government and other public institutions. It is extremely important to systematically assess and report on the progress made or set-backs suffered by different groups of women to be able to counteract unfair consequences. - The unemployment rate among immigrant women is more than twice that among women born in Sweden. Marginalisation and discrimination disempower the former both economically and politically, resulting in social and psychological maladjustments.

The possibility for adult migrant women to enter working life - The Swedish system is unable to effectively use the competence and education many women have acquired in their native countries Address the recent proposal on permanent supplementary education of immigrant academics, with the intention of widening its scope in the immediate future, facilitating productive employment.

Distribution according to sex in schools - A subject-related distribution of boys and girls in schools is obvious. University students and graduates follow the same basic pattern. Women feel estranged toward certain areas and avoid them. Even if measures have been and still are being taken to attract women to choose more freely, they have not proven sufficient. Much more needs to be done in order to break our cultural heritage and to change our view that technology and computers are exclusively a male domain.

Are only male qualities professorial enough? - Sweden no longer heeds CEDAW's exhortations in Article 4.1 and Special Recommendation 5 on special measures to enforce the integration of women in education and the labour market, with regard to the recruitment into higher university positions. Immediately produce a constructive inquiry into gender-neutral indicators suited for judgment of merits, which will promote equality without being gender-biased.

School child or child bride? - Swedish legislation can unfairly curb the education of girls belonging to immigrant families, as they are allowed to quit their studies at a very early stage in order to get married. We call for clear, accurate information on the requirements of the law concerning schooling and follow-up of individual cases; measures such as individually-adapted schooling, education and group counselling in sex, intimate relationships and parental influence.

Article 11 Which sex earns 25 percent more than women? -There are considerable differences between women’s and men’s access to and opportunities to exert power over economic structures even in a country like Sweden. -The overall pay gap between women and men today is as wide as it was 20 years ago, in some areas not only persisting but increasing during the 1990s. The state has to assume a more active and innovative role as an employer. The government has to consider how to implement the ILO conventions regarding discrimination of women. A state budget with a clear gender perspective can be one way of highlighting the injustice and can possibly lead to a reallocation of resources to benefit the whole society.

5 Swedish companies still in hands of men only - The almost totally sex-segregated labour market is unfavourable to women in all respects. Discriminatory attitudes prevent them from fully utilising their competence in working life. - Very few women work in managerial positions and on the boards of companies. Even in the public sector the proportion of women in managerial and supervisory positions is small despite the fact that in the public sector female employees are in majority. Employers should be made aware of the benefits of the advancement of women. Where progress has been made in integrating gender perspectives, programmes and policies, effectiveness has also been enhanced.

Part time – women only - Short working hours increase the income gap between women and men. Of all the registered part time unemployed about 80 percent are women. Short working hours not only affect present incomes but also future pensions.

Children unfavourable for women´s careers only - More than every second woman in the age group of 15-49 feels that her career and pay have been unfavourably influenced by childbirth. The majority of men feel that their career and pay would not be influenced by the family expecting a child. It seems that a more adequate sharing of family responsibilities between women and men can have a substantial effect on women's opportunities to participate in the labour market.

Article 12 Para. 1 - Women are clearly the losers in the medical system according to a recent study. Lone mothers and immigrant women are the main victims of the savings in the health care system. - Women do not either benefit from medical research and are thus often prescribed older and cheaper medicine and treated to a lesser extent We recommend to the government to allocate money for more research on women, health care and medical treatment, as required in the official report “Equal health care” from 1996 but not yet implemented. - Women more often than men suffer from work-related ill health and early retirement due to insecure working conditions We recommend to the government to deal urgently with the matter: discuss with the parties on the labour market; if ineffective, initiate legislation; implement EC-directives concerning equal rights at all workplaces.

Para. 2 - The lack of adequate child delivery facilities is notorious in big cities and in the countryside, especially in the North, where women have to travel for many hours to give birth. Such huge geographical differences in accessibility are not acceptable. We recommend that the government accepts the responsibility to counter-check such an unsatisfactory state of affairs regarding women´s and children´s right to health.

6 Report To The CEDAW Committee

Comments concerning the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

This Report is a result of studies and discussions among Swedish Women´s Organizations - parts of a Network for CEDAW. The aim has been to highlight some of the forms of sex discrimination to be found in our society. Bearing in mind the limited resources available for the collection of facts and data, the network decided to give priority to some areas where the discrimination is obvious and information and statistics are available. The articles we decided to concentrate on are: - Article 6: the increasing violence against women, also pointing to the fact that there is an increasing threat against women’s human rights - Article 10: the discrimination deeply rooted in the educational system, starting with pre-school and through the entire system up to the university level - Article 11: the ongoing debate in the society on gender-economic issues and the political decisions bearing directly on men’s and women’s access to the economic resources - Article 12: the serious indications that Sweden is currently unable to live up to the standards set by the Convention.

Article 6

This article does not specifically deal with the prohibition of or the elimination of violence against women, but considers the issue of trafficking in human beings and the exploitation of prostitution. In fact, CEDAW does not specifically deal with the issue of violence against women. However, in its General Recommendation no 19 the committee has asked for information on the existence of violence against women, and measures taken to eliminate it and to prevent it. Violence not only prevents women from enjoying their rights and freedoms, it is a violation in itself of basic human rights such as the right to life, security etc. Gender-based violence is thus a form of discrimination against women and it must according to e.g. article 2 of the Convention and General Recommendation no 19 be dealt with by the state parties to the Convention. Sweden has, in its report to the Committee, included information on the existence of violence against women and measures taken to eliminate it, and has thus accepted the interpretation of the content of the convention made by the committee. Even though reports and information on gender-based violence may be dealt with under many different articles, the Government has mainly reported on the subject under article 6. We intend to make our presentation similarly. For the purpose of this report, the expression “violence against women” encompasses physical, sexual and psychological violence wherever and however it occurs. This means of course both domestic violence and violence outside the family. Consequences such as the inability of the state to protect women against abuse by e.g. not granting them asylum on their own merits should, we feel, also be dealt with under this article, but we will also argue that the Swedish legislation concerning female asylum-seekers in fact is discriminatory and as such constitutes a violation of article 2 of CEDAW.

Violence According to official statistics, violence against women in Sweden is increasing. This is a fact that perhaps is one of the most evident proofs of the existing inequality and lack of power balance between men and women in Sweden. Men’s attitude towards women is perhaps never as obvious as in the case of violent acts directed towards women on the sole grounds of them being women.

7 When violence is as widespread as this, there is a basic and fundamental lack of equality that so far legislation and modern values have not managed to control. According to statistics from BRÅ, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, 19 801 cases of violent abuse towards women were reported in 2000. The same year, 8 254 complaints to the police on sex-related crimes were recorded, 1 931 of these were rapes. There is a slight decrease in the number of crimes reported in 2000 compared to 1999, but this is more of a coincidence than a result of effective, preventive measures. The fact is that during the last decade violent acts towards women have consistently increased.. Earlier investigations have suggested that the number of cases of gender-based crimes is in fact much higher than what is reported to the police and authorities and thus shown in official statistics (although Sweden has a tradition of showing the number of reported, not only tried, cases in the national statistics). On May 14th this year, a research report by the Crime Victims Compensation and Support Authority was presented to the Government, confirming these suspicions. According to the investigation seven out of ten women have experienced violence or sexual harassment of some kind. 46 percent of the women in the study had been subjected to violence by a man after they had turned 15. Approximately every fourth woman had been exposed to physical violence during the last twelve months and every third woman who had separated from or divorced her husband had been subjected to violence from her former partner. More than one fourth out of these women report systematic violence by the man they used to live with. Physical violence dominates within a relationship. Outside the home, sexual violence is the most common form of gender-based violence. Even though most of the findings in the report were more or less expected, e.g. the frequent use of violence towards women within a relationship, there were results that actually astonished the researchers. Up until now, it has not been commonly known that sexual violence outside a relationship is as frequent as the study shows. Every fourth woman had been exposed to sexual violence from a man unknown to her or to whom she was not connected. In one out of every ten cases the sexual abuse was considered to be grave. The study also shows the need to give further attention to the severity and consequences of threats – and the need for support to women who have been harassed and threatened. The study shows that women who have been subjected to threats often suffer even more than women who have been physically abused – and they have more difficulties in recovering. Suicidal tendencies are actually more frequent among threatened than battered women. Although the investigation received more sincere answers than any investigation before, there is reason to believe that there are still many women who chose not to tell. And according to the investigation most women do not press charges – only 15 percent of the women in the study had reported the latest abuse against them to the police. Statistics from the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention show that 52 percent of cases of physical abuse of women are closed which, in comparison to other crimes, is quite a high percentage. But when it comes to sexual assaults and rape, the percentage is lower, approximately only 38 percent (figures from 1998). These figures do not, however, show how many cases were closed because of lack of evidence and never brought to trial or how often there was not sufficient evidence to allow a verdict. One can, however, compare figures related to the number of sentences in cases of rape; in 1999, only 98 cases out of 2104 reports resulted in a sentence. The study from the Crime Victims Compensation and Support Authority includes recommendations for further measures to be taken in order to prevent sex-based crimes. It is important to recognize the fact that violence against women is not uncommon, it is not only committed by a few violent men, or, as some times has been suggested, by non-Swedish men. The investigation shows that violent acts towards women exist in every part of the Swedish society and that this is a problem that needs to be taken even more seriously than before. This is not to say that efforts in this direction not have been made – but that they need to be looked at from a different angle and to be dealt with as part of the struggle for equality between men and women, as well as violations of fundamental human rights. The need for further education on the subject, not only for officials such as the police, but also for school children, especially for young boys, is urgent. Other concrete measures must, we feel, also be taken. One is to deal with the problem of reluctance to report crimes. Women, who do find the strength and courage to file a complaint against their spouse or even a complete stranger for acts of violence, must be taken seriously. There is no contradiction between dealing with rare cases of false accusations and pressing charges against

8 assaults towards women. There have been improvements, but measures, such as educating police officers, must be reviewed and carried out continuously. The tenor of recent Swedish legislation is that women subjected to violence should be offered better treatment than before (see the Government Report p 20 and following). This must not become just lip service. Firstly, there is an urgent need to improve the support for women who have been subjected to violence from their spouse and no longer can live with him. The woman is now often the one who must leave the home to live in hiding, sometimes unprotected. On top of that, when a woman is given a new identity or when she is given a new but secret address, telephone number etc, far too often the husband receives the disclosed information from authorities who do not know how to deal with the matter. There is an evident lack of knowledge and a need for education among officials and sometimes also private entrepreneurs such as phone companies etc. Disclosing secret information concerning private matters is in many cases criminal and must be treated accordingly. Therefore, the government should look into the possibility of removing an abusive husband from the common home of the couple, while providing sufficient protection for the woman. Secondly, protection and support for battered and threatened women must be improved; this can never only be the duty of non-governmental organizations such as Women’s Shelters. Not only do these shelters produce necessary protection; they also give women the support needed to enable them to make their own decisions about the situation. Because of their importance these shelters cannot depend solely on the economic situation of the municipality in which they are situated. The duty to protect women from an abusive and violent husband and thus to protect her human rights lies with the government. Geographical differences cannot be accepted and as long as no other alternatives are given it is up to the government to guarantee economic resources to the shelters.

Rape For a long time, the Swedish criminal code has relied on a definition of rape, which is not only out- dated but does not correspond to the general conception of justice. It is, we feel, only for reasons of semantics that the crime of rape has been difficult to change in line with general opinion (and for that matter, to coincide with more progressive international definitions of rape, such as the one used to describe e.g. the elements of crime in the Rome Statute for an international criminal tribunal). The Swedish word ”rape” can be translated as “taken by violence”. As a legal term, a case of sexual abuse can only be regarded as rape if there is some kind of “violence”, e.g. coercion, involved. The degree of violence or coercion necessary is equivalent with that of robbery. If violence or serious threats have not been used, sexual abuse can only be considered to be rape if the perpetrator has deliberately put his victim in what could be translated as a “defenceless position” – i.e. made his victim unable to defend herself or himself. If the woman is intoxicated (by her own free will) or even disabled, the perpetrator can use her sexually without her consent, without being convicted of rape, if no force was needed to commit the crime. Instead he may be convicted of sexual exploitation. Recent studies show that the common opinion among young men in Sweden is that the core of the crime of rape is not force, threats, coercion or violence, but lack of consent. There is no reason to doubt that this is not the common opinion among Swedes in general. The government recently ordered a study on whether it was possible to focus on consent rather than force as a prerequisite for rape. The report was presented early 2001 by the Parliamentary Law Committee on Sexual offences. In its report the committee draws the conclusion that this change is not possible. One of the reasons given is that if consent is the primary prerequisite for rape, the proceedings will only focus on irrelevant issues such as former behaviour, how the woman was dressed etc. It is, in our opinion not a very convincing conclusion, since law already prohibits this kind of evidence. Coercion as a provision for rape implicitly means non-consent. Still courts do take matters such as clothing, historic behaviour into consideration, which of course is totally unacceptable. The responsibility to only accept facts that are relevant for the case lies with the court and its chairperson. There is an obvious need to move attention from the behaviour of the victim towards the perpetrator. A parallel can be drawn to cases of physical assault (almost always only involving men) where provocative behaviour of the victim only in exceptional cases can be taken into account as a mitigating circumstance for the offender. The same thing must of course be the case when it comes to gender-

9 based violence. Behaviour of a victim assumingly leading to a sexual assault, can, in our opinion, never be a question of provocation. Thus how a woman is dressed and/or earlier sexual behaviour cannot be accepted as proof of consent. Since non-consent in the public eye is the essence of the crime, and the law requires coercion or force we believe that the difference between common right’s opinion and the law can be traumatizing and cause serious mental harm and/or social consequences to the victim. Even if sexual exploitation in some cases can give as harsh penalties as rape, it is a question of acknowledging and respecting the sexual integrity and self-determination of the victim. We do not think that the study presents enough convincing arguments in order to suggest not focusing on consent to a higher degree. However, the Committee does have some progressive suggestions; such as lowering the degree of coercion needed, and also acknowledging that a person who is intoxicated by her or his own free will, in some circumstances can be subjected to rape. But this should, in our opinion of course also be true when it comes to women (or men) who are unable to defend themselves because of e.g. disability. The committee also suggests improvement when it comes to sexual assaults and rape committed against children.

Trafficking There is no specific provision in the criminal code concerning trafficking. This does not mean that the different ingredients of the crime are not punishable – e.g. kidnapping, forced prostitution, slavery etc. Trafficking and fighting organised crime have had high priority both before and during the Swedish presidency of the European Union. In 1999, the Parliamentary Law Committee on Sexual Offences was given the task of defining the crime – but only in regard with trafficking that ends up in forced prostitution. According to United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, trafficking is defined as: “the recruitment of people by the threat or use of force or deception for exploitation in prostitution, or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery”. According to the 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, forced marriage and debt bondage are included in “practices similar to slavery”. Even if forced prostitution must be dealt with urgently, the choice of leaving out other forms of forced labour presents a risk of undermining the definition of the term trafficking. We feel the assignment should not have been narrowed down to only prostitution, and should perhaps have been given to another committee with a broader mandate. It is important to remember that forced marriages do occur in Sweden and are, in some circumstances, legalised (!) (Ref. to article 5 and comments to article 10f in this report) – even though they constitute a violation not only of the Supplementary Slave Convention, but of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights as well as CEDAW, and CERD, since legislation prohibits forced and teenage marriages between Swedes. Being a victim of trafficking is being stripped of your human rights. Women who are trafficked should not be treated as “illegal” immigrants, but, if they so choose, be treated as asylum-seekers. It is important to ensure that women who are victims of trafficking do not refrain from reporting abuse and sexual assaults or from seeking help to get out of their situation. The proposed Swedish legislation criminalises the trafficker - not the trafficked. However one of the prerequisites of the crime is that the victim was unlawfully coerced, deceived or otherwise improperly recruited for transport from one country to another. If a woman voluntarily agrees to being transported into another country and even to work as a prostitute, she would probably be considered an illegal immigrant and the incitement to report abuse, assault, or exploitation might not be there at all. Women who have been subjected to exploitation, assault, abuse, rape etc but who do not fall into the category of being trafficked – must be able to obtain protection against their abuser and not be punished (explicitly or implicitly) for illegal immigration.

Women asylum seekers (article 6 and article 2) In 1997, a new assessment criterion, "in need of protection", was introduced into Swedish refugee legislation, simultaneously with the removal of the concept of de facto refugees. The change did not, however, entail any widening of the concept of "refugee".

10 The revised version of the Swedish Aliens Act now contains a specific sub-category providing protection for persons who fear persecution on account of their sex. Benefits afforded under this category, however, fall short of those under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or article 3 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Cases involving sex-related types of persecution could be regularly brought under the 1951 Convention or prominent human rights instruments. The provision has according to both external and internal studies within the Swedish Migration Board, rarely been applied. Most women, who apply for asylum in Sweden on account of sexual persecution or as victims of sexual violence, are granted protection on humanitarian grounds. One of the reasons, perhaps, is that the conditions of the provision are just as tough to comply with as those applying to refugee status according to the Geneva Convention. The fear of persecution must, in both cases, be "well founded". Recently the Migration Board has presented guidelines to improve the use of the sub-paragraph and to better ensure that the asylum-process is gender-sensitive. But the implementation of these guidelines involves availability of information and provision of training for both investigating officers and decision makers on the Board. The government must secure that adequate resources are being allocated for the implementation of these guidelines. However, we feel, an additional provision of this kind serves no constructive purpose. It can even be argued that a provision would impair equality in regard with asylum and protection, since the provision offers inferior protection compared to other, more favourable categories. We believe that the government in its directives resulting in the above mentioned guidelines should have made it clear that the purpose was to ensure the enhancement of the 1951 Convention and thus to ensure that women asylum-seekers are granted asylum on their own merits. As it turned out now, the asylum-gender- guidelines instead focus on the extended use of the sub-paragraph.

Areas of special concern The Swedish Government Report does not consider, under Article 6, the specific needs that women and girls with disabilities may encounter on account of the double discrimination related to their special circumstances. Therefore, we stress some important issues under the heading “areas of special concern” (according to General Recommendation No. 18). These issues should be taken into account when implementing the national action plan aimed at improving the conditions of disabled men and women (the Governmental Report p. 61).

Violence, Women and Disability Women and girls with disabilities are more likely to be victims of violence because of their vulnerability. The right of disabled girls and women to live in freedom and safety should be fully recognized. Control of their own body should be guaranteed for disabled women, to protect them against physical, psychological and sexual violence. This is very important particularly for disabled women who have to stay in hospitals, rehabilitation and other institutions, and those who are unable to represent themselves. Plans and policies should be adopted to protect women and girls with disabilities from all forms of discrimination and physical, psychological and sexual violence. In order to be able to provide social and psychological support, sheltered housing such as women´s refuge centres and all other mainstream organisations and facilities (brochures, telephone numbers, therapists, etc.) in the field of violence and sexual abuse against women should be made accessible to women with all kinds of disabilities.

Article 10

Introduction Education is indisputably one of the most effective ways of shaping the values, behaviour and skills that citizens need in order to function effectively in an integrated society. The role of education in promoting social development, especially social integration, should therefore be addressed in a substantive manner not only in general declarations but most particularly in programmes for action. In our increasingly interdependent world, all educational programmes must have certain aspects in common. Certain universal ethical values need to be identified and promoted. One such ethical value should be a set of concepts pertaining to equality between women and men. The issue of gender

11 equality needs thus be discussed against the background of a new global social reality and its applications in various cultural settings need to be understood. Key concepts in this connection are partnership between the male and the female, equal rights, equal opportunities and equal responsibilities. Gender equality work in schools is a pedagogical issue that requires knowledgeable, competent and gender aware teachers. Likewise, reasons for unequal gender relations still prevalent in practically all cultures need to be analysed from a socio-historical perspective.

Equality at school - the societal background In the world surrounding the school, the prevailing myths and stereotypes tend to overvalue, to exaggerate and to glorify those characteristics that are associated with masculinity and to disparage and belittle those we conceptualise as being feminine. This naturally penetrates the school world. Boys are allowed more scope in the lessons than girls are. Differing expectations follow pupils throughout their school years. A good number of studies have shown that girls and boys are treated differently, that the working methods, the textbooks and the instructional arrangements used at schools privilege boys and that girls' experiences are undervalued. In order to understand how this process comes about, one has to also take into account such aspects as class, ethnicity and age. But gender issues are too seldom discussed among teachers at schools.

Proposals - make resource persons available to schools; grown-ups with personal and/or professional experiences of functional male-female relationships; older persons who could acquaint the students with their life- work (cf the Class Grand Dad project mentioned in the governmental report, p. 45) - support new developments like ”Kamratstödjare” and ”Peer mediation” - create a Youth Volunteer Service for social development, which also could be incorporated into curricula, and above all function as role models - arrange conferences with invited speakers for action in equality in schools - establish an award for achievement in the field of equality in schools - continue seeking the most effective measures to attract more male teachers to schools – working conditions, status, salaries are some of the factors that have to be looked into.

Prevalent Macho ethos in many schools: Sexual harassment allowed? The language that can be used in the playground and even the classroom starkly reveals that girls from an early age are regarded as sex objects. Through dialogue, discussion and public debate in media, we have been made aware that girls are sexually harassed in mixed schools and in their free time. This is confirmed inter alia in a video on sexual harassment produced jointly by the Equality Ombudsman, the National Youth Board, the Physical Education and Sports Council and the After School Forum. The video is designed for teaching purposes and aimed at teenage pupils. In Article 3 it is assumed that legislation can be used to safeguard women´s human rights. However, in Sweden this legislation is only applicable in working life circumstances, mainly in relation to employees. Hence teachers have legal protection against sexual harassment whereas schoolgirls do not. In a seminar that took place August 1998 entitled “Sanctuary for Women and Young People´s Attitude towards Violence against Young Women” a law prohibiting sexual harassment in schools was discussed. It was shown that our laws are such that a schoolgirl wishing to file a complaint of sexual harassment can refer to regulations on degrading discrimination issued by the Worker’s Protection Board. However, these regulations do not have a legally binding character and status. Furthermore, a schoolgirl cannot file an individual complaint in a court. The regulations focus on preventive work and rely on working teams for their implementation. They make the employer responsible for taking certain precautions in order to keep the working place free from sexual harassment.

Instead drastic measures have been suggested. Johanne Hildebrandt, for instance, writes February 2001 in "Metro" under the heading ”We have never cursed so porny”: ” And listen now girls, because this is important. It is still illegal to call someone a whore. Whenever someone screams whore at you, that person is defaming you according to third paragraph, third chapter of the penal code. If anyone spreads a rumour that you are charging money for sexual

12 services it is dealt with in the first or second paragraph of the fifth chapter of the penal code. So next time someone howls these things at you, report them to the police. It may not lead to prosecution, but it creates unease and is a clear statement. Furthermore, you will be following in the footsteps of our foremothers and will keep our history alive. You have to fight for your honour just as it was done in the 18th and 19th centuries."

Proposals We do not feel that girls should have to resort to such drastic and demanding measures. We feel that it is the duty of the authorities to remove the necessity of such actions, through adequate legislation, among other things. The adults working in schools must be given opportunities to actively confront abusive students behaviour, through knowledge, development of personal skills, enough time for counselling or different awareness creating activities, and as a last resort, through sanctions. All our suggestions under the headings below aim at creating an atmosphere that is alien to sex-related bullying and harassment.

Areas of special concern

General Recommendation No. 19 All countries reporting to CEDAW should include in their reports information regarding the situation of women and girls with disabilities. We find that the governmental report now being scrutinised contains scarce information on disabled women in Sweden. No adequate policies have been designed to target disabled women's and girls' need for education at all levels. Disabled women need specific measures to overcome the barriers impeding their access to the educational system. They may need special instruction, specific educational materials or extra physical space. This ranges from adequate facilities to special educational set-ups, including adequate rehabilitation and vocational training. It is especially noteworthy, considering the usually very positive Swedish attitude to IT, that not enough attention is paid to establishing policy programmes that ensure women with disabilities access to and use of new information technologies.

Proposals - Effective follow-up should ensure relevant action in respect to the governmental study on kind reception in official situations that showed strongly negative attitudes towards women and girls with disabilities. - There should be a plan for developing an educational programme for people responsible for portraying disabled women and girls or their issues, such as journalists, media officials, film producers etc, in order to obtain positive images instead of charitable or medical conceptualisations of pity. Promotion of positive non-stereotyped images of women and girls with disabilities should be encouraged.

Equality begins at home: Can Home Economics revolutionise the practice of equality? UN reports based on various indicators repeatedly show that Sweden is the most successful country with regard to equality of men and women. But statistics show that women work more, have less influence in decision making and receive fewer economic rewards than men. Is it maybe so that these three forms of discrimination persist because they are related to one and the same issue: that it has become increasingly difficult to combine children, home and work? We believe that many, many women feel that responsibility for children and the home decisively affect equality in their own lives. Housework has traditionally been labelled as ”feminine” and in fact often it is the women who are better skilled to do this work although the situation is gradually changing. We believe that a radical change in this regard might be an equality revolution. Home economics may be belittled by being classed as vocational education for women, but it may in fact be the most effective form of citizenship and equality education practised today. And new research supports our hypothesis! It shows how knowledge in Home economics in a self-evident and comprehensive way can change both girls' and boys' attitudes.

13 Proposal From a school system that takes democracy and equality seriously, one must demand that its teaching also encompasses the personal sphere. Hence, home economics as a subject must be pulled out of its obscurity in the present school system. It must expand from its present 118 class hours over 12 school years, which furthermore currently take place only during the compulsory school years. An important reason for change is that certain issues, e.g. some relationship and economic questions, are not relevant for the students until they reach a more mature age in upper secondary school. The subject is currently obligatory in the compulsory nine-year school and it is of course necessary that it is studied by both boys and girls in order for its purpose to be fulfilled.

Article 10 c

Patriarchy is always re-created at the day nursery Naturally the parents and the home environment have a significant influence on children's conceptions of gender roles. But these influences are watered down - both in a positive and a negative sense - by what is encountered in pre-school and school. Research has shown that the pre-school working methods can unintentionally create or reinforce inequality through special treatment on the part of the adults. Stereotypical gender role behaviour can then reoccur all the way through primary school, secondary school, even up to university. But this is not due to lack of effort on the part of all those responsible to achieve equality between girls and boys. Since the late 60s, equality has been included as a basic value and a pedagogical issue in governmental steering documents regulating the educational system, i.e. the school law, the curricula and a number of syllabi. What are missing are powerful measures for the realisation of the good intentions. We must thus go deeper in our analysis of the reasons leading to the discrepancy between theory and practice. And we must perhaps be ready for unconventional solutions, such as at times relinquishing the hitherto self-evident co-educational system as also recommended in Article 10c. In many cases the staff-pupil ratio has to be improved in order to make acceptable solutions to the problems possible. Above all, we feel that awareness-raising pre-service and stimulating in-service training programmes on gender from a pedagogical perspective must be developed and made obligatory, especially for staff within pre-school education. Naturally, equality as an objective must influence all the stages of the educational process, but if one solely relies on mainstreaming there is a great risk that the subject will fall between chairs. The meaning of gender in school and society must also be established as a separate field of study in the selection of courses offered within training programmes for teachers and child care staff. An example: To be sure, the local syllabus for the early childhood and adolescence education programme at the teacher training college contains general references to gender-related problems, but no applications for compulsory education. Child care staff who often look after the youngest children within the child care system receive their training in the high school programme for child care and after-school activities. This programme does not either contain concrete educational items aimed at opening the students' eyes to the gender discrimination one can unintentionally become guilty of. In an area with many immigrants a head of school admitted in an interview that the child care staff had more than enough of integration problems. With the number of children increasing and that of staff decreasing, there was no time or energy left for equality issues. We brought the girls up to be little mothers concludes a project leader in a pre- school project that has attracted a lot of attention.

Proposal The Parliament has recently decided about a new teacher training programme that will start in the autumn 2001. One of the objectives of the new programme is that it should promote equality (Prop. 1999/2000:135). We do not as yet have a real general view of what items in the local syllabi will give the programme this fundamental direction. We suggest that the government and other authorities concerned seize the opportunity to initiate and stimulate comprehensive innovation and teaching out in the school world, at every educational

14 site, by providing adequate resources, both human and economic, and through relevant follow-up, in order to give teachers the opportunity to reach this important but all the same remote goal. (The 1.5 million Swedish kronor that the government intends to assign to the Swedish Board of Higher Education for this purpose appear inexplicably scanty considering that there are teacher training programmes in 23 locations in Sweden).

Article 10 e

Strategy for literacy work In Sweden there is no statistics on people that cannot read and write. Nor does the state have a strategy for literacy work. It is the responsibility of municipalities to provide Swedish classes for people from other countries. We have, therefore, tried to grasp the situation by interviewing experts at the Immigration Authority, the Swedish Board of Education and Uppsala City Council, on the one hand, and foreign women in Uppsala, on the other. One is entitled to attend a programme of basic education for adults ("grundvux") if one comes from another country and settles down here. According to the school law this form of education is free of charge. It happens that due to lack of resources one allows people who are not able to read and write to receive instruction in the same groups as literate people although this makes it much more difficult for the illiterate to benefit from the instructions and perhaps impedes the more advanced. In Uppsala the need for literacy teaching is assessed. It is felt that the illiterate should be taught in separate groups. Of the 97 497 residents in Uppsala municipality 4 901 are over 18 years old foreign citizens. In this municipality the two interviewers personally know 45 illiterate women in their neighbourhood. Most of them very strongly desire to learn to read and write. As the schooling of boys is given priority in their countries of origin we assume that the percentage of illiterate adults is greater among women and that inadequate literacy among adults in Sweden is predominantly a women's problem. We assume that the proportion of illiterates in Sweden as a whole is similar to that in Uppsala.

Proposal Illiteracy in Sweden is a hidden scandal. It must be exposed and worked on with all the pedagogical effectiveness that the Swedish school system can procure.

The situation of migrant women in the “world’s most women-friendly society” (This paragraph is also relevant under Article 5 a) Remaining patriarchal structures are serious obstacles for many young girls (eg. ”Låt oss tala om flickor…” report series 2000:6, Ministry of Integration). On the homepage of the Ministry of Integration we find that only rights and possibilities in Sweden are discussed, whereas obligations are only mentioned in passing. To follow the law is, however, an obligation. This obligation pertains to everyone. Our democracy is based on the foundation of the equal value of all human beings; the equal value of boys and girls, the possibilities and obligations to prepare oneself for adult life in Sweden. Within the framework of society, each individual has the right to shape his or her life according to his or her own mind, even if he or she belongs to a family whose members are not born in Sweden. Beyond governmental laws and regulations, fundamental social and cultural changes are needed in order to create real progress in achieving equality. Though Sweden is often ranked as the country that has come furthest in terms of achieving equality between men and women, where women make up 50 percent of the government and 44 percent of the parliament, the great progress made has not benefited all women equally. In fact, the situation of migrant women in Sweden may be worse than that of their sisters in countries that rank far behind Sweden in terms of equality among women and men. The intolerable level of unemployment among immigrants is but one example. The percentage of unemployment among immigrant women is more than twice that of women born in Sweden. The marginalisation and discrimination facing immigrant women in Sweden disempower them both

15 economically and politically and result in a series of social and psychological maladjustments and poor health that need to be urgently addressed. The chapter on women and poverty in the Swedish governmental report to the Beijing +5 meeting in 2000 deals solely with international development aid. This indirectly suggests that poverty is not an issue in a rich and industrialised welfare state like Sweden. Such a scenario is greatly misleading for while poverty in Sweden is not as widespread, or comparable to poverty in developing countries, it still exists, and is in fact spreading. The downsizing of the state apparatus, the cuts in social and welfare services and employment opportunities in the public sector have primarily affected women as they make up the majority of employees and beneficiaries of this sector. Clearly this exacerbates the situation of immigrant women, an already vulnerable group. However, the ramifications of these reforms are by no means limited to migrant or refugee women but affect a large number of women who are getting increasingly poor. The increasing number of homeless people, especially homeless women, a previously practically unknown phenomenon in Sweden, has become visible in the capital and other large cities. Also, the situation of low-income, long-term unemployed, single mothers and elderly women has worsened steadily and needs to be urgently addressed. There is an urgent and pressing need for thoroughly analysing and studying the situation of these groups in order to effectively address the obstacles they are facing and to work for more long-term and sustainable solutions that will empower these women, make use of their potential and break the vicious circle of their dependency situation. The government has taken many genuinely positive steps in the area of equality and has worked successfully in a number of areas, as is evident from its report. Naturally migrant women, as well as other marginalised groups of women, benefit from the general achievements made, such as the new bill on violence against women and other policies. Yet such benefits remain largely limited as far as these groups are concerned and there is a pressing need for special measures and initiatives that directly target women facing multiple discrimination and that will address their specific situation. The new policies criminalizing female genital mutilation, and increasing the scale of punishments and sentences for such a crime, are one of the measures, if not the only one, reported by the government, that specifically target immigrant women and girls.

Proposals The progress made is of course warmly welcomed. It is, however, extremely important to systematically assess and report on the progress in the advancements made by different groups of women. This is clearly lacking, not only in the Swedish report now being scrutinised, but also in the everyday practice of the government and other public institutions. There is also a great need for intensive and creative efforts to reach out to under-represented and marginalized groups, to analyse the situation of women facing double or multiple forms of discrimination and to assess the progress made as well as the obstacles still facing them. In the future, an approach should be adopted that is more comprehensive and inclusive in its attempts to target the specific problems of the most vulnerable groups. In our text regarding Article 10 c we have proposed a development of teacher training in pedagogy in terms of a gender perspective. We also believe there may be a need for an increased awareness of the circumstances that delay or hinder actual equality for persons in other areas of public service, especially within the judicial system. A notable aspect is that with a broader knowledge among police and judiciary, jurors and judges, on gender issues and their social and cultural implications, trials involving violence against women may proceed differently. We believe that empathy and knowledge are the points of departure in being able to question and break cultural patterns.

The possibility for adult migrant women to enter working life Unemployment is a difficult problem for women who come to Sweden as adults. It is especially noteworthy that the Swedish system is unable to effectively use the competence and education many women have acquired in their native countries. We therefore do not fulfil the general demands in Article 11 para.1a. that establishes the right to work as a human right. The situation does neither fulfil the demands in Article 15, since it is women who, often due to a still persisting view on the specific role of women, never have access to further education or who cannot enter working life.

16 Proposal We have, through interviews with more than 20 women from various countries, been firmly convinced that many restrictions, which sometimes may resemble harassment, concerning the approval of foreign vocational training can be improved considerably. This can for instance be done through better counselling, more efficient supplementary education and a more positive attitude. A first step in the right direction would be for the government to immediately address the proposal from the Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of Integration (14 May 2001) on permanent emphasis on supplementary education of immigrant academics.

Article 10 f

Distribution according to sex in schools

In Swedish schools distribution according to sex is, from the point of view of the total number of male and female students, generally speaking even. However, the distribution within certain educational programmes is very uneven. Among graduates of the high school construction and energy programmes, there are almost no girls, whereas in programmes such as nursing, child care and after school activities, and the arts, there is a higher percentage of girls than boys. The social studies programme has almost 60 percent girls and 40 percent boys (statistics from 1998-99, ”På tal om kvinnor och män, lathund om jämställdhet, SCB 2000). University students and graduates basically follow the same pattern, even if the number of women in general is higher than the number of men. But we can, however, detect the same type of segregation. Among university undergraduates 58 percent are women and 42 percent are men but among those with a PhD or a MPhil 32 percent are women and 68 percent men (statistics from 1997- 98, ibid). Subject-related segregation is even more obvious. In undergraduate studies, women primarily choose care/nursing and teacher training. Men prefer technology-related programmes. The reasons behind this uneven sex distribution are of course many. In this particular context we deal only with the under-representation of women in certain areas since it in many cases may be related to a larger proportion of drop-outs among women and girls in fields traditionally viewed as typically male. We feel that the authorities have not done enough in order to improve the situation and have thus not fulfilled their obligation under Article 10 f. We have chosen IT programmes as an example, since they are presumed to lead to future jobs with above-average salaries. The state of the labour market in this area is dealt with under Article 11. Another example of women lagging behind is the fact that there are ever fewer women found in university positions, the higher up in the career-ladder you go. We also refer to another kind of drop-out: an example of how Swedish legislation can unfairly curb the education of girls if they belong to families where everyone is not born in Sweden. In such cases, they may quit their studies at a much earlier stage which, in turn, reduces their opportunities to lead an independent life.

Women shun advanced IT programmes According to the survey presented by the governmental Council for Equal Opportunities within Transportation and IT (Jämit), Jämit now fears that the already low percentage of women in corporate management risks to dwindle even further. This can develop into a serious threat against equality not only in the IT sector itself but also against the IT-dependent society. The survey confirms that the percentage of women in the IT sector is small. In the companies quoted on the stock exchange, the proportion of women is approximately 20 percent and that of women in management positions only about 5 percent. Most alarmingly, however, the percentage of women in advanced IT programmes continues to diminish from an already low level. In ten years, the percentage of women in computer technology and system science programmes has dropped from 46 percent to 34 percent. The percentage of women with a Master's degree (civilingenjör) in computer technology has in three years dropped from an already low 10 percent to 8 percent. During the years 1990-1999, the

17 percentage of female university graduates in the fields of electronics and computer science dropped from 26 percent to 19 percent. As regards female research students, the percentage has remained on the same 17 percent -level since 1990. Even if measures have been and still are being taken to attract women to choose to study in the field of computer science, these measures have not proven sufficient. Much more needs to be done in order to break our cultural heritage and to change our view that technology and computers are exclusively a male domain. There are scientists who claim that the programmes in science and technology have been designed and seen as male-oriented, thus excluding women. Women feel estranged toward them and avoid them. Scientists also claim that we can emasculate technology if we really want to. Culturally and socially construed conceptions of stereotypes can be broken, so that we become freer to make our choices. It is alarming that so few women acquire higher university degrees in IT. Today it is not women and men who jointly influence the development and usage of information technology, but mainly men - and especially young men. (According to Jämit 31, SOU 2000:31).

Proposal The government’s report shows that Sweden applies a system of affirmative action, through special funding and regulations, in order to increase men’s interest in teacher training (p. 45 in the government’s report). But it is not clear if they have similar drastic measures in mind for programmes with female under-representation. We propose that these possibilities are examined and put into practice with strong determination. Lessons could be learned from for instance Norway, where a radical method to increase girls' interest in these fields of education has been tested. As far as we have been able to ascertain, it has produced good results. In Trondheim University of Science and Technology, a five year experiment has been conducted with the aim of getting girls and women into IT and computer science programmes through quota-based admission. During the first four years, the percentage of women in these programmes increased from 8 to 30 percent (from IQ Student no.6, 2000).

Are only male qualities professorial enough? During a number of years, the percentage of women in undergraduate as well as postgraduate studies has increased. In spite of this, fewer women than men have reached the top of the career ladder, that is to say, professorship positions. For that reason alone, there were 32 special positions, so-called Tham professorships, created in 1995 which would be secured for women candidates even if a somewhat more qualified male were to apply for the same position. This procedure was called “positiv särbehandling” (affirmative treatment) and was tried in other areas with support of university regulation 4th chapter, 16 para. This special affirmative treatment has now ceased due to an incident in Gothenburg (Göteborg) which the EC Court found inconsistent with EC law, especially in the light of the 1976 directives on the equal treatment of men and women. We are convinced that this has an unfavourable influence on the recruitment of women to higher education, especially postgraduate studies. Sweden no longer heeds CEDAW's exhortations in Article 4.1 and Special Recommendation 5 for the use of special measures to enforce the integration of women in education and the labour market with regard to the recruitment into higher university positions, especially professorship positions.

Proposal When considering the obvious need for increased recruitment of women to higher academic positions, new kinds of appointment procedures should be tried. The methods of selection usually employed are by no means strictly objective and therefore vulnerable to manipulation. They allow conscious and unconscious prejudices. (See for instance Wennerås, C. and Wold, A: Nepotism and sexism in peer-review. Nature vol 387. 22 May 1997, pp 341.343). A constructive inquiry into gender-neutral indicators when judging merits, which could promote equality without being gender-biased, is therefore very urgently required and should be immediately produced.

18 School child or child bride? Swedish law allows girls under 18 from other countries to marry in certain circumstances without the permission of the county administrative board required for Swedish citizens (The law on certain international legal procedures regarding marriage and guardianship from 1904, rev. 1973/1904:26 p.1). They can follow the laws of their native country as long as they are not Swedish citizens and are 15 years of age. This could lead to forming a family prematurely as well as experiencing difficulties with and dropping out of school, which in turn could diminish the possibilities of a desirable further education for the girl. The law is particularly discriminating as school attendance is compulsory up to the age of 16. We feel that laws should be the same for everyone residing in Sweden, regardless of birth place. This also affects Article 5 according to which Sweden has undertaken ”to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices as well as customary and all other practises which are based on the idea of inferiority of either sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women”.

Proposal The problem is naturally not confined to insufficient legislation regarding marital age. Girls can be married off according to their national traditions at the early age of 13-14 and quit school even if marriage according to Swedish law is forbidden and the girl is under obligation to attend school. The authorities are, as far as we can see, not taking any imperative actions in order to compel the girls to resume and finish their schooling. There is not only a need for a change in the legislation concerning the right to marry. We call for more accurate and clear information on the requirements of the law concerning schooling and follow- up of individual cases. Measures such as individually-adapted schooling, education and group counselling in sex, intimate relationships and parental influence have been suggested. The government should not sweep the problem under the carpet – it must be seriously investigated and dealt with.

Article 11

Economics – structures and power There are considerable differences between women’s and men’s access to and opportunities to exert power over economic structures even in a country like Sweden, where we according to international comparisons seem to be ahead of other countries just considering economics from a gender perspective. In order to give women the same possibilities as men in economic decision making as well as in tax and wage policy decisions, equal representation of both sexes should be unambiguous thus giving women real influence. A state budget with a clear gender perspective can be one way of highlighting the injustice and can possibly lead to a reallocation of resources to benefit the whole society. Discriminating practices in education and in vocational training, prejudice and unchanging working conditions lead to limits and obstacles for women in the labour market. The labour market is shared almost equally by women and men, but the length of the working hours makes a big difference, due to the fact that a large section of the female labour force is only offered part-time and other forms of temporary employment. Today many women with a migrant background live in Sweden and these women are often more exposed to both unemployment, temporary employment and other forms of discriminatory conditions and face even more difficulties in achieving equality and equal treatment in the labour market. The consequences of globalisation of the economy need to be analysed from a gender perspective and special studies should be carried out. Gender awareness seems to be lacking at many levels of society. The sex-segregated labour market is another factor which is unfavourable to women, both in terms of pay and promotion. The discriminatory attitudes prevent women from fully utilising their competence in working life – even though studies show that the reverse attitudes could benefit the development of the economy. Another factor which seems to have a substantial effect on women's opportunities for participation in the labour market is inadequate sharing of family responsibilities between women and men. “ The

19 distribution according to sex of paid and unpaid work in the family affects women’s and men’s position in the labour market and their rights in relation to the welfare state. The positions held in the labour market and in the welfare state also affect women’s and men’s situation in the family. The rules of the labour market and the systems of the welfare state create the economic incentives which either strengthen or obstruct women's economic equality and independence of men.” (Report of Committee on Women's Power SOU 1998:6).

Which sex earns 25 percent more than women? Even if we in Sweden have a long tradition of democracy, inequality between men and women prevails on the labour market in regard to wages and other working conditions and benefits. Figures show that women and men are almost equally involved in the labour market, but the market is almost totally sex-segregated. Most women work in large and low-paid sectors. You find them in the care and sales sectors, where wages are low. The male work force is engaged in technology, mechanics, building and construction and parts of the sales market. All these occupations are better paid than positions in the sectors where women are in majority. Most of the managerial, expert and similar well-paid positions go to men. Large pay gaps between women and men at the same work place are due to a hierarchical system: men on top and women at the bottom.

Swedish companies still in the hands of men You find very few women in managerial positions and on the boards of companies. Even in the public sector the proportion of women in managerial and supervisory positions is small despite the fact that in the public sector female employees are in majority. Many studies show that male dominance in management greatly affects the wages of women. This is what it looks like in the 500 largest companies in Sweden:

The distribution of women and men in high positions Sex distribution, %

Women Men Total number Personnel manager 44 56 442 Head of 39 61 435 informationdepartment Head of legal 21 79 170 department Environment 19 81 246 manager Chief financial 18 82 683 officer Marketing manager 15 85 412

(Veckans affärer, statistics)

Due to insufficient attention to gender analysis women’s contributions and concerns remain ignored too often in economic structures. Employers should be made aware of the benefits of the advancement of women. Where progress has been made in integrating gender perspectives, programmes and policies, effectiveness has also been enhanced.

Wage discrimination – who cares? The wage gap between women and men today is as wide as it was 20 years ago. Women still earn 25 percent less than men. Today, with statistical gender analysis available, it is easier to compare differences between women and men.

20 Compared to most countries, Sweden has a high employment rate among both women and men. In 1999, 78 percent of all women and 84 percent of all men in the age range 20-64 were gainfully employed. The labour market is, however, still strongly sex segregated both in regard to occupations and hierarchies within occupations. A mere 13 percent of women and 11 percent of men are engaged in occupations with an even distribution between men and women (40-60 percent of each sex). The aim of our national equal opportunities policy is that educational and occupational choices according to sex should come to an end. According to the equal opportunities legislation, we should receive equal pay for equal work and for work of equal value. In spite of this, differences in pay persist. Female-dominated occupations have lower pay (value) than male-dominated ones. Men receive higher pay than women in most occupations. Pay-distribution is broader among men than women in most occupational fields.

Women and men as physicians - an illustrative example Currently there is quantitative occupational equality within the medical profession with 40 percent women and 60 percent men. The pay within the medical profession is also high compared with most other professions. The undergraduate studies in medicine are homogeneous and the occupational tasks for both sexes are very similar. We have chosen to elucidate the pay situation within the medical profession in considerable detail as customary explanations regarding sex-related pay differences cannot be reasonably employed in respect to this profession. During the 1990s, the Physicians’ Union has worked to map out the equal opportunities situation and has taken measures through a number of projects. One objective is that pay should be determined without consideration of sex. What is the state of equality today within the medical profession in terms of distribution and pay according to sex in various categories of posts and specialisation? Does the pattern there differ from the general structures within the labour market? Some 90 percent of physicians work within the public sector and 10 percent within the private sector. The sex distribution is 41 percent - 59 percent and 30 percent - 70 percent respectively within the two sectors. Approximately 95 percent of the physicians within the public sector are members of the Swedish Physicians’ Union (SLF). The presentation below refers to these members. The monthly salaries presented refer to regular monthly cash pay, including regular cash extras and payments for work during special hours. Pay for stand-by and emergency duty is not included. Part-time salaries are converted into full-time ones (40 hrs/week). The salary gap is measured in terms of women´s salaries as a percentage of men´s. The numerical sex balance is relatively even in the lower ranks (house and senior house officers, general practitioners, specialist doctors) while males dominate at senior levels (consultants, head senior and senior consultants). (“Lower ranks” = underläkare, distriktsläkare, specialistläkare; “senior rank”= överläkare, chefsläkare). The average salary varies a lot from one job category to another, both for women and men. But men have a higher average salary than women within every category. The gap is broader at higher ranks. Within every job category there are different specialist positions. Seventy one percent of all women and 68 percent of all men hold one of the ten most common specialist positions. The number of physicians, the sex distribution, the salaries and the salary gaps vary between the specialist positions within the different job categories. The salary gap is in most cases to men's advantage. Within the largest job category, consultants (överläkare), the average salaries of men are higher than those of women in the case of all the specialist positions presented. The greatest salary gap of 93 percent, as well as the biggest pay difference of 3 000 Swedish Crowns, exist in the field of orthopaedics. The average salary gap is between 94 and 98 percent. Orthopaedics aside, the biggest pay differences in terms of Swedish kronor are to be found within anaesthesia and intensive care (2 500 Swedish Crowns) and surgery (2 000 Swedish Crowns). Only within medical radiology and surgery does women's average salary exceed men's lowest average salary for any specialist position, i.e. men's average salary in psychiatry.

21 No gender business among bankers The joint statistics from The Banking Employers' Organisation and the Bank Employees' Union (1999) compare the average salaries of women with those for men.

The relative wage level, all women vs. all men: 1990 73,7 % 1999 72,5 %

The relative wage level, women - men, per category 1990 90,3 % 1990 86,3 %

The relative wage level , women - men, per category and level 1990 94,9 % 1999 88,0 %

Here again the statistics confirm that the wage differences not only remain but have increased during the 1990s in spite of the national equality policy and the Equality Act which state that equal pay for equal work or work of equal value should be applied.

Statistics, based on educational level , women – men, Swedish Crowns

Wages for staff with legal education: Women age 40 – 44 31 520 Men age 40 – 44 42 537

Wages for staff with social science education: Women age 40 – 44 30 000 Men age 40 – 44 38 755

Wages for staff with more than 2 years of business studies at university level: Women age 40 – 44 21 670 Men age 40 – 44 30 151

The Table shows that education for women does not pay in the same way as for men. It is quite obvious that - female-dominated sectors have lower wages (value) than male-dominated ones men have higher wages in most sectors - the wage distribution is broader among men than among women in all sectors - it pays better for a woman to change sex than to pursue an education

Women and men on the income ladder - a report from LO This shows labour market earnings of different groups of employees. The term labour market earnings refers to the total received gross salary during a year and the taxable incomes which apply instead of benefits such as health insurance, parental and unemployment benefits. LO ( Swedish Confederation of Trade Unions ) TCO ( Swedish Central Organisation of Salaried Employees ) SACO (Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations )

The average income for full time and full year employment in 1999, Swedish Crowns LO women 196 000 LO men 233 000

TCO women 227 000 TCO men 298 000

22 SACO women 285 000 SACO men 373 000

The table above shows that the earnings of women are so much lower that women in the TCO sectors earn less than men in the LO sectors, and women in the SACO sectors, in turn, earn less than TCO men. The full time income of working women in the LO sectors is 84 percent of that of the men. The income of TCO and SACO women is 76 percent compared to the men.

Part time - women only Short working hours increase the income gap between women and men. One big unsolved issue is part time work. Of all the registered part time unemployed about 80 % are women. Many of the part time workers have made a free choice and they prefer to work shorter hours. A growing problem since the early 1990s has been that women who would like to work more hours are not offered these possibilities which leads to lower income than they otherwise would have. In 1999 almost 300 000 people worked less hours than they wanted to. Short working hours have a double effect; they widen the gap between men’s and women’s income - and they reinforce the low-income problems. If part time employed women are included in the comparison between men's and women's income, the average income for men is 33 percent higher. The short working hours not only affect present incomes but also future pensions. A recent study on part time employment in Local and County Councils shows that on average 43 percent of the employees in 21 provinces are part time workers. In the 18 County Councils the average is 27 percent.

Children unfavourable for women’s careers only A study carried out by SIFO (Swedish Institute of Research) on behalf of TCO shows that more than every second woman in the age group of 15-49 feels that her career and pay have been unfavourably influenced by childbirth. The majority of men in the study felt that their career and pay would not be influenced by the family expecting a child. This study shows that society in general and the labour market in particular, still in many ways reflect working life’s view of parenthood. Young men are normally never asked whether they are planning to have children when they apply for employment. That means that they are not expected to claim their rights to parental leave when it is due. The demand on men to neglect their children is as much discriminating as the assumption that young women only care for their children and not for their jobs. A recent study shows that pregnant women are unfavourably treated in their jobs. The Equality Ombudsman states that there are an increasing number of reported cases from women who have been facing threats such as deteriorating working conditions, absence of career opportunities etc.

Uneven - even after working life Lately there has been a debate in the media presenting alarming information about the discrimination in pension insurance systems. These systems or rather rules, apply to practically all private insurance companies. With reference to women’s longer average life expectancy, in spite of the same premium level, the pension schemes pay out a lower sums to women.

E.g. Pension insurance from FOLKSAM

Women, Sw.Cr. Men, Sw.Cr. Premium amount 1000/ monthly 1000 / monthly

Payment with guaranteed interest 1381 / monthly 1533/ monthly Payment with 6,5 % 3001 / monthly 3334/ monthly Payment with 11,5 % 7265/ monthly 8078/ monthly The annual differences in payments, Sw.Cr.

23 Guaranteed interest 1824 less for women 6,5 % interest 3996 less “ “ 11,5 % interest 9756 less “ “

Article 12

Article 12 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women guarantees the right of women not to be discriminated in the field of health care with particular emphasis on access to health care services, family planning (para.1) and appropriate services in connection with pregnancy and post-natal period (para. 2). There are serious indications that Sweden is currently unable to live up to the standards set by the Convention. The following examples can be mentioned:

With regard to Article 12, para. 1: In an official study conducted in 1994-1996 it was found that women are prescribed older and cheaper medicines and are treated to a less extent, in spite of the fact that they require medical assistance more often than men (Report entitled "Jämställd vård" (Equal health care), SOU 1996:133). More research was required by the study, but such research has not yet been initiated. It has been found that women are more often wrongly diagnosed and less treated with regard to heart diseases. Death as a consequence of heart disease has decreased with almost 30 percent for men, but only marginally for women (Report by the National Board of Health and Welfare, "Folkhälsorapport 2001"). In the same report it is asserted that differences in social status have become less important for men, but are increasing in relevance with regard to women: lone mothers and immigrant women are the main victims of the cuts in the public sector and health care system. Serious health problems, such as back pain and migraine, often leading to early retirement, have increased mostly among women working in the public sector, e.g. nurses, teachers, day-care personnel. Women have more often than men insecure jobs (short-term contracts) and this segregated employment market has resulted in increasing ill-health among women with insecure working positions (see e.g. Report by the National Board of Health and Welfare, "Social rapport 2001"). Teenage-abortions have been increasing during the past five years. The 25 percent increase in this five year period (1996-2000) is mostly notable among the youngest of teenagers (15 and 16 year old girls). The year 2000 presents the highest increase of 11 percent more teenage abortions compared to the previous year.

With regard to Article 12, para. 2: The lack of adequate child delivery facilities is notorious in big cities and especially in the greater Stockholm area. Frequently women have been refused at the nearest hospital because of lack of personnel or facilities and, in the moment of labour, have to turn to a hospital in a neighbouring municipality. In spite of a clear trend of increasing births, cuts in the public health sector have resulted in a lack of at least 5 000 delivery places/year. This has been going on for at least five years. The result is a stressful situation for women giving birth, never knowing at which hospital they will end up, long travels to far away hospitals and risky medical incidents at hospitals. In addition, medical personnel working in delivery and post-natal units, personnel, which is often female, is forced to work under unbearable conditions. Outside the big cities many delivery units have been put down (e.g. in Northern Sweden) and women have to travel for many hours in order to give birth to their children. To respect, protect and fulfil human rights is a responsibility for the state. But in Sweden health care is the responsibility of the county councils, which means that the possibility to enjoy your right to health to some extent depends on where you live. We recommend that the government investigates those geographical differences in enjoying the right to health.

24 Area of special concern

Health, Women and Disability Effective medical care, rehabilitation, technical aids and supportive services should be ensured to girls and women with disabilities. Practitioners should be trained to recognise the onset of disabilities arising from mental health problems and to take appropriate action. Enough respect is not payed to the integrity of disabled women in all health care situations, especially not in gynecology. Special attention should be paid to the requirements of respect for visually impaired women and women using interpreters. No excuses should be allowed to hinder disabled women and girls from obtaining information about the risks of HIV and AIDS, or from receiving contraceptive education and sexual education. Not enough efforts have been made to develop rehabilitation schemes that include training in female body language and self confidence, or to provide special models for rehabilitation of different groups of disabled women.

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