Åsa Regnér

Minister for Children, the Elderly and Gender Equality Åsa Regnér will be visiting New York and Washington on 17–20 January for meetings at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank. The focus will be on gender equality – in particular men’s violence against women – and children’s rights.

Prime Minister Stefan Löfven today met Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani. In connection with the meeting, it was announced that negotiations will begin on an agreement concerning migration issues and readmission of those Afghans whose asylum applications in Sweden have been rejected. More than 30 000 Afghans have come to Sweden this year, of whom more than 20 000 are unaccompanied minors.

Today, 7 December, Minister for Children, the Elderly and Gender Equality Åsa Regnér will take part in the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (EPSCO) Council meeting in Brussels. Ms Regnér will speak about the need for a new gender equality strategy in the EU.

Opinion article, Aftonbladet, 4 november

Opinion article, The Local, 17 november Politicians need to consider gender equality early on in their decision making and involve both women and men in the process, argues Åsa Regnér, Sweden’s Minister for Gender Equality.

Below are a selection of the reforms and proposals that will contribute to increased gender equality presented in the Budget Bill for 2016 and the Spring Fiscal Policy Bill for 2015.

Here you can read about the Government’s gender equality policy – excerpt from the Budget Statement.

Gender equality and children were in focus when Minister for Children, the Elderly and Gender Equality Åsa Regnér visited Japan on 13–16 October. During her visit, Ms Regnér had talks with Japanese government representatives and members of parliament and also took part in a roundtable discussion on gender equality.

Seminar on childrens literature at International Children´s Library in Tokyo.

Minister for Children, the Elderly and Gender Equality Åsa Regnér will visit Japan on 13–16 October to discuss issues concerning gender equality and children’s rights. Ms Regnér will meet Japanese government representatives and members of parliament, visit the Tokyo office of UN Women and be the main speaker at Sweden Kids Week in Japan.

In early October 2015 the Government presented a number of measures in response to the refugee situation.

DN Debatt 11 September “Values-based organisations, representatives of the business sector and municipalities, and politicians from Sweden, Romania and Bulgaria are meeting today to discuss the situation of vulnerable EU citizens. Our message is that the greatest difference is made when people give money to professional NGOs on the ground in the home countries. Giving to them is one way to break the cycle of vulnerability,” says Minister for Children, the Elderly and Gender Equality Åsa Regnér and Martin Valfridsson, the Government’s National Coordinator for vulnerable EU citizens.

Today’s conference at Nalen on vulnerable EU citizens brought together Swedish values-based organisations, representatives of the business sector and the municipalities, and politicians from Sweden, Romania and Bulgaria. Minister for Children, the Elderly and Gender Equality Åsa Regnér was host.

On 9 September Åsa Regnér, Minister for Children, the Elderly and Gender Equality met with Bulgarian Minister Ivailo Kalfin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour and Social Policy to discuss the possibilities to strengthen the bilateral cooperation on social issues related to vulnerable citizens.

On June 24, the Government presented a package of measures for vulnerable EU citizens staying temporarily in Sweden. The initiative aims to combat vulnerability and begging. The long-term goal is that no one should have to beg in Sweden.

Avoidable health inequalities will be eliminated in a generation. The long-term goal is to eliminate the disparities between women’s and men’s sick leave, while reducing sick leave rates in general to a low and stable level. Men’s violence against women must stop.

The EU’s voice on women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights must be strengthened. “Ahead of today’s meeting in Brussels, we have worked hard for the EU to be on the front line of the fight for gender equality”, write ministers Margot Wallström, Isabella Lövin and Åsa Regnér in Swedish daily newspaper SvD.

First published in Svenska Dagbladet 26 May 2015

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