Gender equal parenting backs family, careers

Female ambassadors from nine countries pose before the start of The Korea Times Roundtable on women empowerment at the newspaper’s conference room, Thursday. From left are Nozuko Gloria Bam of South Africa, Manisha Gunasekera of Sri Lanka, Aingeal O’Donoghue of Ireland, Clare Fearnley of New Zealand, the Times’ chief editorial writer and host Oh Young-jin, Grecia Fiordalicia Pichardo of the Dominican Republic, Anne Hoglund of Sweden, Dato’ Rohana binti Ramli of Malaysia, Emma-Francoise Isumbingabo of Rwanda, and Adalgisa Maria Soares Ximenes of Timor Leste.

By Anne Hoglund

From Sweden’s perspective I would like to highlight two priorities in particular.

The first concerns

“gender equal parenting,”

which from Sweden’s experience has been very important for the empowerment of women since it makes it possible for both men and women to have a family and at the same time pursue other aspirations in life such as having a career. It has contributed to a more prosperous society both economically and socially. We also have the third highest birthrate in Europe with 1.9 children per woman. Sweden was the first country in the world in 1974 to replace maternity leave with parental leave. Parents can share their paid parental leave of 480 days with 90 days reserved for each parent. Swedish fathers now take more parental leave than any other fathers in the world. The overall objective of Sweden’s gender equality policy is to ensure that women and men have the same power to shape society and their own lives. Sweden has, as have other Nordic countries, a high participation of women in the labor market and in political decision making. All policy decisions should take gender equality into account. The Equality Ombudsman (DO) is a government agency that works against discrimination and for equal rights.

Sweden’s feminist government aims to ensure that women and men have the same power to shape society and their own lives. This is a goal in itself. But it is also essential for the achievement of the government’s other overall objectives, which in foreign policy are peace, security and sustainable development. Around the world, gender equality has improved. The proportion of women in parliaments is increasing. More girls go to school. But there are also clear examples of setbacks that undermine the commitments from the World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. The result is that violence, oppression and systematic subordination still mar the daily lives of countless women and girls. Sweden wants this discrimination to end by being a leading advocate for gender equality, human rights and by making itself the first country in the world to pursue a feminist foreign policy. This foreign policy was initiated in 2015 and its main purpose is to ensure women’s rights and participation in central decision-making processes, including in peace-building efforts and peace negotiations. The policy has six clearly stated goals, which are to strengthen the human rights of women and girls who are refugees or migrants, combating violence against women and girls in close relationships, to promote the role of women and girls in preventing conflict, to promote women's and girls' participation as a strategy against the shrinking democratic space and the double vulnerability of women and girls, to strengthen women's and girls' economic empowerment and influence, to work towards non-discriminatory legislation and to intensify work for the sexual and reproductive rights of all people. To fulfill these targets a systematic gender perspective is applied throughout Sweden’s foreign policy.

According to Sweden’s foreign minister, Margot Wallström, we have already seen positive results from the policy. The policy has contributed to a change for young girls, women and for entire societies. Around 20 countries have created and proposed new laws for more equality and 90 local societies have abolished female genital mutilation.

Anne Hoglund is the ambassador of Sweden in Korea.