http://time.com/3319652/feminism-comes-to-the-forefront-of-swedish-politics/9/12/14
Feminism Comes to the Forefront of Swedish PoliticsSweden is already known for its progressive policies, but on Sept. 14, this Scandinavian country could be among the first in the world to elect a feminist party to its parliament.
Feministiskt Initiativ—a left leaning and anti-racist political party that was founded in 2005—has gained popularity in recent months: polls show the party close to or passing the 4% bar needed to obtain seats in Stockholm’s parliament. If the left leaning parties—with the Social Democratic party in the lead—secure enough votes and the feminists get 4%, they will likely help form the next government.
With its slogan “Out with the racists, in with the feminists,” the party has broadened traditional feminist values to also fight discrimination on the basis of race, sexual identity and physical disabilities. The party has grown from about 1,500 members in January to more than 17,000 members in July, said Gudrun Schyman, party leader and one of the founders of Feministiskt Initiativ.
“We haven’t reached the goals when it comes to gender equality,” Schyman said. “There has been a myth that we are so advanced, that we have come so far in Sweden that we don’t have to talk about it, we don’t have to do anything.”
While Sweden ranks number four in the 2013 Global Gender Gap Index, which measures equality in the areas of economics, politics, education and health, 95% of Swedish top leaders in listed companies are men. Recent studies also show that Swedish women have 85% of men’s wages and 66% of their pensions.
Sweden is also known for its groundbreaking laws on maternity and paternity leave.
But the feminist say that more reforms are needed to make parental leave equal and they propose it should be individualized to fit all kinds of families, including transgender and same-sex ones. While parents are entitled to 480 days of paid leave and the days can be split between parents, a 2012 study shows that dads took only 24% of the total leave.
Schyman, 66, says that the feminist party’s success is due to a carefully crafted door-to-door campaign: during the last twelve months, Schyman visited every Swedish home where the host pledged to gather a crowd of at least 25 people.
During the two-hour long meetings, Schyman would talk about the growing racism in Swedish society, the need for better pensions and equal pay. The party also plans to set up an equality ministry as a permanent government organ. These talking points resonated strongly with a group of Swedish society—
where 16% of the population is foreign-born, a higher percentage than in the U.S.—that feels alienated by more established parties.
Feminist Initiativ also gained attention by riding a wave of anti-racist feelings that have emerged after increasingly anti-immigration parties, like Sverigedemokraterna, began to gain seats in the national parliament in the 2010 election.
Feministiskt Initiativ has also had success in European politics. In May, the feminists got 5.3% of the Swedes’ votes and a Roma woman, Soraya Post, was welcomed as the first member of a feminist party to sit in the European parliament.
Schyman believes her party can spur a movement throughout Scandinavia and Europe: she hopes that by 2019, the year of the next European Parliament election, there will be enough feminist voters in other European countries to form a European Feminist party group. Poland, Germany, France and Italy are among countries that already have organized feminist parties in their individual states.
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