Gender equality

Gender equality means that boys and girls are equal and should have the same opportunities in life. It also means that adult men and women should have the same rights and obligations. Members of each gender should have equal power to influence society and their own lives.

100 years ago, this was not the case in Sweden. Back then, women didn’t have much power to make decisions about their own lives. It was mostly men who got an education and worked while women stayed at home, taking care of the children, cleaning and doing laundry. A lot has changed since then.

In most families in Sweden today, both parents go to work or study and the children go to preschool, kindergarten, school and after-school care during the day. In the home, both parents often help each other to clean, do laundry, shop and cook, and they take care of the children together.

In order for society to be as fair as possible and give women and men equal power to influence society and their own lives, the Swedish Parliament has decided on various gender equality goals.

The goals state that

• Men and women should have the same opportunity to be financially independent, so that no one is forced to be financially dependent on anyone else
  
• boys and girls should have equal access to education and the right to choose what educational path they wish to pursue
  
• men and women should have equal rights to make decisions about their bodies, and men’s violence against women must be eradicated
  
• household chores should be evenly distributed between men and women. This also means that sisters and brothers in the same family should have equal responsibility for helping with household chores.