Progress towards gender equality has stalled
There is a lack of political measures to achieve the Swedish gender equality goals. In some areas, development has even stopped, concludes our new report assessing the period 2017-2022.
"We present an overview of the entire policy area. By compiling and analysing the development, we believe that the report will provide the Swedish Parliament and Government with a basis for developing their governance to achieve the overarching gender equality goal", says Julia Hugoson, analyst at the Swedish Gender Equality Agency and lead author of the report.
As yet, none of the gender equality policy subgoals have been achieved. While there have been improvements in certain areas, in many regards progress towards gender equality has ground to a halt.
"Positive developments can be seen in the areas that have been the focus of gender equality policy: preventing and combating men’s violence against women, and investments in women’s health", says Hugoson.
The gender equality policy subgoals must be made tangible
While the six gender equality policy subgoals are ambitious and central to the organisation of gender equality policy, there is clearly a need to specify how they are to be achieved.
The only strategy thus far prepared for the subgoals is a ten-year national strategy for preventing and combating men’s violence against women.
"There is a need to develop strategies, milestones or action plans that correspondingly concretise the work with the remaining five subgoals. There is a particular need for the policy to describe how the problems should be dealt with and what should be prioritised", says Hugoson.
Publication date: 5 December 2023
Last updated: 11 June 2024