Ministry of Employment

The Government has decided to refer a proposal for new legislation to criminalise virginity testing, virginity certificates and hymenoplasty to the Council on Legislation. The proposal also includes criminalising the failure to report forced or child marriage. These proposals aim to strengthen the protection of women and girls living in communities where honour-based abuse is prevalent.

On December 12, 2024, the Swedish Government decided on an Action Plan against racism and hate crimes. With this Action Plan, the Swedish Government is taking important steps forward in its work to safeguard equal rights and opportunities for all by intensifying efforts to make Sweden a country free from racism and hate crime.

The Government announced yesterday that Nina Larsson will be the new Minister for Gender Equality and Working Life.

Paulina Brandberg is leaving her post as Minister for Gender Equality and Working Life.

Statement by Ms Paulina Brandberg, Minister for Gender Equality at the UN Commission on the Status of Women, New York, 12 March 2025. Check against delivery.

Although unemployment is high in Sweden, employers all over the country are looking for new employees with the right skills. For this reason, both the professional and geographical labour mobility of jobseekers need to increase. The Government has now tasked Arbetsförmedlingen (the Swedish Public Employment) Service to further develop the control of this.

Growing political opposition around the world to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), especially abortion, risks having extremely serious consequences for women and girls. The Government has therefore approved an additional SEK 75 million to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Minister for Gender Equality and Working Life Paulina Brandberg is taking part in the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69) on 10–14 March. This year also marks 30 years since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and the main focus of the this year’s session will be to review and evaluate its implementation.

The Government is announcing a new action plan for an inclusive and equal society. The action plan aims to further strengthen efforts to support rights and opportunities for LGBTIQ people by consolidating, supplementing and mobilising these efforts.

On Thursday 28 November, the Task Force for Jewish life in Sweden held its final meeting of the year. The main topic was education, which has been the task force’s main focus in 2024. Representatives from a number of organisations were invited to take part and talk about their work in this area.

This compilation contains a selection of the acts and ordinances – both new and amended – that enter into force in the second half of 2024 or in early 2025.

The Government is announcing a new action plan to combat racism and hate crime. Through this concerted action, the Government is taking important steps in the efforts to free Sweden from racism and hate crime. The efforts in this area will be accurate, measurable and long-term. Schools, judiciary, welfare and working life will be in focus.

The Government met with more than 50 heads of government agencies to follow up these agencies’ efforts to promote gender equality in the frame of the Swedish Government’s development programme on gender mainstreaming in government agencies, which have been underway for over a decade. The focus of the meeting was to both take stock of the results of these efforts and have a dialogue about the future direction.

Gender-based violence and honour-based violence and oppression were central themes as Nordic and Baltic gender equality ministers met in Stockholm on 27 November. The meeting took place in connection with a meeting in the Nordic Council of Ministers for Gender Equality and LGBTI earlier in the day.

The Government decided today to task Business Sweden with stepping up its efforts to promote investments in the Swedish battery value chain, i.e. in all parts of production. The aim is to enable capital and important expertise to be brought into and retained in the Swedish business sector. The assignment also includes helping relevant companies and national, regional and local actors with advice and contacts.

In its 2025 Budget Bill, the Government is presenting a range of initiatives to tackle men’s violence against women. The Government intends to propose strengthening support to victims of prostitution, and to allocate SEK 10 million for this purpose in 2025. The Government also intends to propose reinforcements to national telephone help lines for victims of violence, with the aim of preventing and combating men’s violence against women, intimate partner violence, honour-based violence and oppression, and prostitution and human trafficking. It is therefore proposed that the National Centre for Knowledge on Men’s Violence Against Women (NCK) at Uppsala University receive an additional SEK 7 million in 2025. The aim is to increase the national help lines’ response rate.

On 7 October 2023, Hamas committed the worst mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson was joined by other ministers in a ceremony at Stockholm’s Great Synagogue on the evening of 7 October 2024 to honour the memory of the victims of the attack.

In the Budget Bill for 2025, the Government proposes several measures to overhaul integration policy. The Government proposes broad initiatives, including measures aimed at improving language skills for children and staff in preschools, schools, after-school care and care for older people. To better follow the development, it is proposed that funding be set aside to develop and implement more appropriate follow-up of integration.

On 20 September, the task force for Jewish life in Sweden held its fifth meeting. The topic was rising antisemitism, with a special focus on social media and how it affects Jewish schoolchildren in Sweden.

In the Budget Bill for 2025, the Government proposes allocated funds to the Swedish Work Environment Authority for stricter and more effective supervision to prevent fatal accidents and other work environment risks. It also includes developing the selection of workplaces for inspection to ensure that the supervision is directed to a greater extent at the workplaces where the risk is greatest. To this end, the proposal is that the Swedish Work Environment Authority’s administrative appropriation be increased by SEK 50 million for 2025. The appropriation is then expected to increase by SEK 75 million in 2026 and permanently by SEK 100 million in 2027.