Country seen as champion of equal rights faces reckoning after senior politician says she felt compelled to quit
Increasing hate, threats and harassment against female politicians are scaring women away from public life and forcing them to censor themselves, the Swedish government’s equality agency has said, warning that this poses a “big threat to democracy.”
Women’s safety in politics has come under heightened scrutiny in the Scandinavian country since October, when Anna-Karin Hatt resigned as leader of the Centre party after only five months in office, citing hate and threats.
“To constantly feel like you need to look over your shoulder and [to] not feel completely safe, not even at home … I am affected by it much more deeply than I thought I would [be],” she said at the time.
The graph represents the proportion of Swedish population not of Swedish descent. As you allow people with such a different culture and outlook on women and LGBTQ+ peoples into the country, you begin to see the same patterns of violence and hate from their home countries.
I would put it differently.
The graph represents immigration. That is another topic, if you read the title carefully (see: “public life”).
Recent / notable incidents of violence against women in politics, in Sweden, can be fairly blamed on far-right actors who are (perhaps by coincidence or perhaps not) also failing to discuss immigration normally, because discussing things rationally is not their slice of bread. Some parties’ ultra-fans have a culture of threatening and intimidation.
I know it first hand without being in Sweden. Here in Estonia, we also have a party of that sort, with all the bells and whistles (anti-vaxx, pro-Kremlin, anti-immigration¹ and of course pro-authoritarianism). And their supporters can’t argue with a person much more often than an ordinary party’s supporters. I sincerely hope that party goes below the election threshold soon. They already split because of internal culture (failure to tolerate disagreements).
¹ anti accepting Ukrainian refugees, since there is nearly no other immigration coming here, unlike Sweden which has been considered an attractive destination
P.S. I should note that Sweden has its share of integration problems (which they try to solve, and will likely pull the brakes if they cannot), but as a result of immigration, Sweden experiences less of the demographic problems which press Eastern Europe (read: our population pyramids in Eastern Europe are top-heavy, predicting serious issues with financing of public services in future, their population pyramid in Sweden is relatively square).
this was always the argument in the US when taking with people regarding all the cool things Sweden instituted - “but they are culturally contiguous, and that’s what makes it work.”
…in a melting pot, you have to account for the existence of all these extreme viewpoints, and have some kind of response. Those things that aren’t accounted for simply spill out into the populous, and become everyone’s problem.
The Swedish system is unfortunately collapsing under it’s own weight partially due to immigrants taking more than they put in. The rapid influx of people has put a strain on all factors of public services from healthcare to school.
Yeah… …I really love some of the core Swedish ideals, and it’s sad to see this happening. I really hope that Sweden is able to generate an effective response to the incoming ideologies without sacrificing their own ideals.
When people get too soft, times get hard (bullies win when people are too soft). A genuine balance needs to be struck, which requires a lot of personal processing by many people, as well as time for the resultant answers to spread through the culture. Sweden may need to limit immigration in the mean time to give time for that to occur.