The newly formed left-liberal Swedish government, led by the Social Democrats, has announced it will no longer be scrapping the country’s “Gender Equality Authority” despite an announcement made last month.
The agency was planned to be shut down this year after an announcement in December following the passage of a budget created by the conservative Christian Democrats with the Moderate Party, but it has now been rescued by the newly coalition government of Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, SVT reports.
Löfven announced the rescue of the agency, which has around 60 employees, on Monday, saying: “We are a feminist government! The equality authority remains. The rights of LGBTQ people are strengthened. The Anti-Discrimination Act is tightened.”
The Gender Equality Authority was formed on January 1st 2018 and, according to the agency’s website, the “overarching goal of Sweden’s national gender equality work is for women and men to have the same power to shape society and their own lives. This goal is separated into six sub-goals in the following areas: influence, economy, health, education, work and bodily integrity.”
“The gender equality work is ultimately a matter of redistributing power and resources in order to achieve the goals,” the agency adds.
The initial announcement to close the agency was met with criticism from prosecutor Thomas Ahlstrand, who argued that the agency provided support against human trafficking.
The agency came under criticism last November after it was revealed that 70 percent of the staff at the agency felt at risk of “burning out” and falling ill due to a variety of factors from sleep problems to stress and reports of bullying and harassment.
The authority is the product of Sweden’s long-term embrace of feminist ideology, which has seen a so-called “feminist security policy” advocated by Foreign Minister Margot Wallström who continues her role in the newly formed government.
Gender equality ideology has also crept into Sweden on a local level, with the capital of Stockholm being plunged into chaos in the winter of 2016 due to a policy of gender-equal snow ploughing.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.