Ministry of Health and Social Affairs

In mid-April 2018, the Government presented the Bill entitled ‘Good and equitable public health – an advanced public health policy’ to the Riksdag. The overarching objective of public health policy will be reworded, with a clearer focus on equitable health throughout the population, and the goal of reducing avoidable health inequalities within a generation.

Stockholm 15 May 2018. Check against delivery.

Media representatives are invited to the International Conference on Men and Equal Opportunities (ICMEO) in Stockholm, Sweden, on 15–16 May.

The action plan to combat prostitution and trafficking in human beings can be seen as part of broader efforts to prevent and combat men’s violence against women.

On 12–24 March, the 62nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women took place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. This year’s theme was ‘Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls’. The Swedish Government was represented by Pernilla Baralt, former Sweden’s State Secretary for Gender Equality and Deputy Chair of the Nordic Council of Ministers for Gender Equality. With three Nordic gender equality ministers, Ms Baralt co-hosted a Nordic ministerial panel on the bodily integrity of women and women’s sexual and reproductive rights. Sweden and France also hosted a side event on women’s representation in politics.

The General Assembly of the United Nations, New York, 14 mars 2018 Check against delivery.

Lena Hallengren was today appointed as new Minister for Children, the Elderly and Gender Equality.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres today appointed Åsa Regnér as Deputy Executive Director of UN Women with responsibility for intergovernmental relations and strategic partnerships, as well as Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations.

As one of the currently 15 pathfinding countries, Sweden, was the first to host the 2030 Agenda for Children: End Violence Against Children Solutions Summit in cooperation with the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and the WePROTECT Global Alliance on 14-15 February. During the Summit, both Japan and The United Arab Emirates made a commitment to become pathfinding countries, with Brazil expressing interest too. In addition, Japan announced that the country donated 6 million US Dollars to the Fund to End Violence Against Children.

The Swedish Government is hosting the high-level conference Agenda 2030 for Children, End Violence Solutions Summit in Stockholm on 14–15 February 2018. The participants include Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, HM Queen Silvia and UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohamed. The co-organisers of the conference are the Global Partnership to End Violence against Children and WePROTECT Global Alliance.

Sweden has a fundamentally sound pension system, whose unique design attracted much international attention when it was adopted in the 1990s. Several countries, inspired by the Swedish pension system, have now reformed their own. The fact that the pension system is outside the government budget and pays out exactly as much in pensions as money is available for makes the pension system financially sustainable, which means that there is no risk of rolling over debt to future generations. This, combined with political stability — a large majority of Riksdag members backed the system — paves the way for secure pensions.

On 12 January, the new Swedish Gender Equality Agency was inaugurated in Gothenburg, with speeches by Minister for Gender Equality Åsa Regnér, Director-General Lena Ag, County Governor Anders Danielsson and chair of the municipal executive board, Ann-Sofie Hermansson. The Agency will contribute to strategic, coherent and sustainable governance and effective implementation of gender equality policy.

Therese Svanström is responsible for Sickness insurance, Parental insurance and allowances to parents and Pensions.

One of the Swedish Government’s gender equality policy sub-goals is that men’s violence against women must stop. With reference to #metoo, the following lists some examples of implemented and forthcoming measures to counteract sexual violence, harassment and assault.

The #metoo movement in Sweden strongly demonstrates that more needs to be done to combat sexual harassment and sexual violence in workplaces and society at large. The Swedish Government requires all employers to take responsibility for a secure work environment. In the area of work environment and discrimination there are already many tools and relevant legislation, but the power and size of the petitions show that there are deficiencies in compliance with the regulations. For this reason, Minister for Employment Ylva Johansson and Minister for Gender Equality Åsa Regnér have met with the labour market and union partners, and several ministers have in recent weeks convened meetings with heads of government agencies and business leaders in order to focus on the responsibility of employers to counteract sexual violence and harassment.

After being hosted by Germany, Austria and Luxemburg, Sweden is now to run with the ball. The 4th ICMEO conference in Stockholm focuses on change of social norms and stereotypes as ways to strengthen focus on men and boys and their role in gender equality politics and efforts.

“The world’s first feminist government is now implementing a policy to increase gender equality”, the Prime Minister established in the Statement of Government Policy.

This pilot study provides a practical overview and compilation of known information and knowledge concerning the premium pension.

The Prime Minister, together with the EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has invited to a social summit focusing on the promotion of Fair Jobs and growth, in Gothenburg on Friday 17 November. Heads of State and heads of Governments together with other EU-member ministers will be in place.

Sweden’s Minister for Gender Equality Åsa Regnér hosted a conference on how gender equality can contribute to fair jobs and growth on 8 November in Gothenburg. Gender equality ministers from the upcoming EU presidencies took part and discussed gender equality in relation to the labour market and overall progress in the area of gender equality in the EU based on the Gender Equality Index of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE).