The Social Democrats
Annelie Karlsson, group leader in parliament
What is the most important political equality issue in Sweden right now?
- I think there are equal wages and pensions.
What are your most important suggestions for reducing the pay gap between men and women?
- The result of an unequal labor market is that women have significantly lower incomes than men. Therefore, we are pushing for full time to be the norm in the labor market and to stop the planing of general wisdom. It is essential for both salaries and pensions to be equal.
- Parental leave is also an important part of achieving equal pay. An uneven withdrawal of parental insurance adversely affects equality. Therefore, we are pushing for an individualized parental insurance in three parts.
The Swedish government calls itself "the world's first feminist government". What do you think about that?
- The fact that the S-led government is feminist means that gender equality is crucial to the government's priorities, both in decision making and allocation of resources. It is about women and men having the same power to shape society and their own lives. Of course, I am very proud of this, since these are basic social democratic values.
Should parents, to a greater or lesser extent than today, share regulation on parental leave?
- Children need a close relationship with their parents. Therefore, it is important to have an equal coverage of the parental insurance. To increase the children's right to their parents and gender equality, we want parental insurance to be individualized and divided into three parts. One third for each parent and one third that both custodians have the opportunity to take out. We also want to modernize parental insurance to fit all family constellations and introduce an extra week's leave per year for all parents, a family week.
Green Party
Annika Hirvonen Falk, gender equality policy spokesperson
What is the most important political equality issue in Sweden right now?
- Most importantly, the metoo movement points out that men should not exercise power over women and take sexual liberties regardless of where, when and how it happens. The environmental party has been pushing for a long time to get a kind of consent, it is a great and important success that it now exists.
- Men's violence against women, honor-related violence and oppression are widespread societal problems that create great suffering for those exposed. Violence and oppression are a threat to equality, which also costs society great resources.
What are your most important suggestions for reducing the pay gap between men and women?
- A more equal parenting through more reserved months in the parental insurance and more parent-friendly workplaces. Measures to reduce the pay gap between women and men through, for example, the requirements for annual salary surveys and better penalties for employers who do not take responsibility. Public employers should be role models when it comes to equal pay.
- And breaking the gender-segregated labor market, by strengthening study and vocational guidance and preventing and counteracting macho norms and the like in male-dominated sectors.
The Swedish government calls itself "the world's first feminist government". What do you think about that?
- It is very important that the government is clear about its position on gender equality. Calling yourself a feminist is about the gender perspective being decisive in decisions and priorities. With the goal that women and men should have the same power to shape society and their own lives.
- This attitude should apply both in Sweden and in international work. If the term makes people in our country or outside ask the question what it means, the better. It gives each time an opportunity to raise questions about the importance of gender equality, women's rights, and where every man can be himself regardless of gender.
Should parents, to a greater or lesser extent than today, share regulation on parental leave?
- We want parental leave to be divided into three parts (when there are two parents) where one third is reserved for each parent and one third can be transferred to another person. This proposal is also in line with what a study on parental insurance has come up with and we hope there will be parliamentary support for this. The Environmental Party also wants to investigate the issue of making it possible to have more guardians. It would better reflect the situation in which many children in Sweden today live.
The Left
Nooshi Dadgostar, feminist spokesperson
What is the most important political equality issue in Sweden right now?
- Welfare is in crisis and women are allowed to pay. We therefore want to raise the issue of women's work situation, the attrition and the sick leave that it leads to, with low pensions as a result. To remedy this, we want to employ more people in the public sector, give employees more power and influence over their work situation, strengthen health insurance and shorten working hours with the aim of a six-hour working day. It is also about the double work that women do today, where they take the main responsibility for the homework.
What are your most important suggestions for reducing the pay gap between men and women?
- Salary differences between men and women need to be stopped. It is primarily a matter for the social partners, and there we support specific investments in equal pay from the unions. But through regions and municipalities, politicians can directly influence wage setting. Therefore, the Left Party has proposed so-called gender equality billions, which should specifically go to equalize the wage differences between men and women in the public sector. Another important structural reform to equalize wage differences would be shared parental insurance.
The Swedish government calls itself "the world's first feminist government". What do you think about that?
- Of course, we support the idea that a feminist perspective should permeate the government's policies. But it is not enough to talk, but the government must also act on it. Today's government lowers taxes for rich men and cuts down on welfare, so feminism is nothing more than words.
Should parents, to a greater or lesser extent than today, share regulation on parental leave?
- A shared and individual parental insurance is one of the most important reforms to equalize the pay gap between women and men, as well as the responsibility for homework and the relationship with the children. Therefore, we want to have equal parental insurance.
The Center Party
Annika Qarlsson, spokesperson for gender equality and women's entrepreneurship
What is the most important political equality issue in Sweden right now?
- Economic inequality. This is the root cause of women's subordinate position. If economic freedom is increased, we can also counteract men's oppression and violence against women.
What are your most important suggestions for reducing the pay gap between men and women?
- We want to see a commission where the social partners must agree. Among other things, the part-time norm needs to be broken and a plan for equal pay and a sustainable working life is developed.
The Swedish government calls itself "the world's first feminist government". What do you think about that?
- They have and have had a Foreign Minister who is pushing for gender equality issues, and who speaks both pornography and human trafficking. But as far as financial freedom is concerned, no sharp proposals have been made yet. There must be a change if they are to live up to the self-proclaimed title.
Should parents, to a greater or lesser extent than today, share regulation on parental leave?
- The Center Party protects the freedom of the existing parental insurance and does not want to earmark more months. On the other hand, it is important that society provides parents with detailed information about the effect of the withdrawal on life income, health and contact with the children. We also want to look at the possibilities of opening up child and parent insurance so that days can be utilized / transferred to a maximum of two additional people.
Liberals
Maria Arnholm, gender equality policy spokesperson
What is the most important political equality issue in Sweden right now?
- To defend every girl and woman's unconditional right to decide on her life and her body. That is why more work is needed and more severe penalties for sexual abuse and harassment and all kinds of honor-related violence and oppression. Other important issues are financial inequality and that such a large proportion of boys are unable to attend school.
What are your most important suggestions for reducing the pay gap between men and women?
- Reform the parental insurance and counteract unequal patterns in part-time work. Let wages rise in women-dominated academic professions as teachers and nurses.
The Swedish government calls itself "the world's first feminist government". What do you think about that?
- We are liberal feminists and are proud of it. We do not mind that the government calls itself feminist, but it also commits. For example, the government's actions towards Iran cannot be called feminist with the best will in the world.
Should parents, to a greater or lesser extent than today, share regulation on parental leave?
- Today's three earmarked months for each parent are adequate. Instead, we want to stimulate equal parenting by introducing a brand new parental insurance with better compensation for a shorter period, so that neither women nor men lose contact with the labor market.
Moderates
Elisabeth Svantesson, economics-political spokesperson
What is the most important political equality issue in Sweden right now?
- The most urgent issue of gender equality is the fight against oppression of honor and violence. The fact that upwards of 240,000 young people in Sweden in 2019 live under reverence, and thus cannot live their lives in freedom, is a major failure. To stop oppression, active work is required on many fronts for the women and girls involved.
What are your most important suggestions for reducing the pay gap between men and women?
- Gender discrimination based on sex is criminal and must continue to be fought. But we also see that women often earn less money than men because they work to a greater extent part-time and in professions with lower pay levels. An important way to increase women's empowerment is thus to make sure that you keep more of their salary and that it pays to work. That is why we lower taxes for everyone and not just for those with the highest incomes. The government chooses to lower the tax only for those with the highest incomes, who are mainly men.
The Swedish government calls itself "the world's first feminist government". What do you think about that?
- The government does not live up to that label. An example is the tax cut for pensioners. With the government's policy, those with the lowest pension, a majority of the female pensioners, receive no tax reduction at all. We moderates lower the tax for all pensioners and, as a percentage, most for the women who have worked in the LO collective.
Should parents, to a greater or lesser extent than today, share regulation on parental leave?
- We do not want to change parental leave further. Parents should be able to plan for themselves in a way that best suits their situation, with the awareness that the choices you make affect your entire life income.
The Christian Democrats
Désirée Pethrus, spokesperson for gender equality policy.
What is the most important political equality issue in Sweden right now?
- To safeguard the security of women and fight against oppression of honor. 40 percent of young women avoid going out in the evening in their own residential area because of insecurity, according to the National Security Survey and about every sixth ninth-grade class in Sweden lives under honorary pressure.
What are your most important suggestions for reducing the pay gap between men and women?
- One of the most important measures is that there are different employers to choose from within the traditionally women-dominated care and care professions. This allows women to influence their working conditions to a greater extent. It is also important that both men and women broaden their professional choices, as this is the main cause of the wage differences. We also want to strengthen the pension for women who are to a greater extent parental leave and grief.
The Swedish government calls itself "the world's first feminist government". What do you think about that?
- Sweden needs a new government and a new kind of feminism that, instead of discussing gender stereotype lego figures and human art, focuses on women's real everyday life and the real problems of gender equality. We need to secure women's security, fight honor issues, improve childbirth care, address women's high sick leave and strengthen women's pensions.
Should parents, to a greater or lesser extent than today, share regulation on parental leave?
- Fathers and mothers should be entitled to half of the parents' days, just like today, but then the parents themselves must choose how they want to use them. KD wants parental insurance where parents can freely transfer days to each other or to other relatives. We are totally against quoted parental insurance because parents know better than politicians.
Sweden Democrats
Ebba Hermansson, gender equality policy spokesperson
What is the most important political equality issue in Sweden right now?
- The insecurity of women. According to the latest National Security Survey, 45 percent of women in the age group 20-24 said they often chose to take a different route because of insecurity. It is unacceptable that women feel the need to change their own behavioral patterns in this way.
What are your most important suggestions for reducing the pay gap between men and women?
- Among other things, the Swedish Democrats propose more full-time employment, increased guarantee pensions and increased maintenance support. These measures would significantly improve the women's economy, in particular, and help reduce the income gap between men and women.
The Swedish government calls itself "the world's first feminist government". What do you think about that?
- What a government chooses to call itself is less important than what a government actually does. If one is to be credibly titled as a feminist, one should address the major gender equality issues that exist, such as the widespread repressions of honor that primarily affect young girls.
Should parents, to a greater or lesser extent than today, share regulation on parental leave?
- How Sweden's parents choose to divide their parental leave is nothing Sweden Democrats think politicians should interfere with. We are convinced that parents can make that decision on their own. The party wants to completely quota the parental insurance.