5. Gender equality

In particular, the goal emphasises the importance of providing women and girls with stronger protection and better access to their human rights. Such development is an effective way of combating poverty and creating better conditions for peaceful societies. Sweden has a long history of national efforts to improve gender equality. Despite this, gender differences remain, such as men as a group having more power and influence than women and higher wages, women taking greater responsibility for unpaid domestic and care work, and differences in health. Women are also more exposed to violence in close relationships, while men are more exposed to violence in the public space (Glokala Sverige n.d.).

The goal in a local context

Working with gender equality has long been a municipal task. For the City of Malmö, this means that activities must be planned based on the needs of both women and men, girls and boys, and that resources are distributed equally between the genders. Staff in the municipality's core activities, such as schools, health and social care, must be treated in a non-discriminatory manner that is not based on stereotypical notions of gender. The municipality also has a responsibility to prevent all forms of violence or threats of violence against women and girls or against men and boys who are not considered to be acting within the framework of gender norms. Gender equality is also a responsibility of the municipality as an employer. Here, the work is primarily about promoting equal working conditions.

What it looks like in Malmö

Equal distribution of power and influence

An equal distribution of power and influence between women and men means, among other things, that decision-making positions in society are characterised by an equal gender distribution, but also that women and men have the same opportunities to influence decision-making.

In terms of equal representation in decision-making positions in the City of Malmö, the proportion of women in the City Council is higher than in the previous three terms of office (48 per cent in 2022). The City of Malmö also has a higher proportion of women in chairmanships of committees and commissions than the other two major cities and the country as a whole. This proportion has gradually increased over the past 10 years. Gender balance in decision-making positions is an important condition, but not sufficient. It is also important to shed light on the conditions for women to get to and be in decision-making positions.

The Swedish Gender Equality Agency's follow-up of the national gender equality policy objectives shows that the conditions for women's and men's participation in politics differ. Women generally must perform better than men to achieve a political career, and there are also reports that women have less real power and influence than men in these positions. Furthermore, exposure to insults, hatred and threats against politicians in general is a growing problem in Sweden, but this exposure takes different forms for men and women. Young women, women high up in the hierarchy with high visibility and women with an ethnic minority background are particularly affected. Offences against women often take on a different character than those against men. Female politicians face more personalised insults that focus on their gender, sexuality and appearance and question their intellectual capacity and competence. Men are more often attacked for their politics (Jämställdhetsmyndigheten n.d.).

In terms of women in managerial positions in the City of Malmö, around 72 per cent of managers were women, while the proportion of employees who were women was around 74 per cent (City of Malmö 2023). However, studies at national level have shown that managers in female-dominated sectors generally have fewer opportunities to influence resource allocation, have more unnecessary tasks, less support from peripheral functions and, not least, responsibility for more employees (Corin and Babapour 2022; Jämställdhetsmyndigheten 2023). In the City of Malmö, the group of female managers also generally has a slightly higher number of employees than the group of male managers (City of Malmö 2023).

In business and academia, women are still underrepresented in management positions. In Malmö, there has been a slight increase in the number of female managers in the private sector over the past 10 years, but the proportion remains low (33 per cent in 2021).

Income differences between men and women

Women's disposable income in Sweden is generally lower than men's. In 2022, women's median net income was 87 per cent of men's median net income in Malmö. The gap between men's and women's median net income in Malmö has been gradually narrowing since 2011, but the decline has stalled in recent years.

The gender-segregated labour market is one of several explanations for the income gap. Gender segregation in the labour market in Sweden has decreased over time, mainly due to women moving into male-dominated occupations (Jämställdhetsmyndigheten 2023). In the welfare sector, such as the municipality, men are underrepresented. In 2023, around 26 per cent of employees in the City of Malmö were men, an increase of just over 3 percentage points since 2014 (City of Malmö 2023).

The income gap between men and women is also affected by the fact that a higher proportion of women than men work part-time. The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SKR) considers that full-time employment as the norm is one of the most important gender equality initiatives that can be taken in the welfare sector. For several years, the City of Malmö has worked on the basis that permanent full-time employment should be the norm and that special fixed-term contracts should be used restrictively. This work has yielded results and the proportion of full-time workers (i.e. employees with 100 per cent actual employment rate) has gradually increased since 2015 in the City of Malmö. However, a higher proportion of men (87 per cent in 2023) still work full-time than women (81 per cent in 2023), but the gap has narrowed over a ten-year period. The City of Malmö has come a long way, although there is still more to do. More women than men are paid by the hour and this form of employment is also more common in organisations with a high proportion of women (City of Malmö 2023).

In the City of Malmö, as an organisation, the gender pay gap has decreased between 2013 and 2019. The decrease stopped in 2020 and then decreased again slightly in 2022 (City of Malmö 2023).

Unequal pay gaps and working conditions are also reflected in lower pensions for women. In 2022, the median income of women aged 65 and over in Malmö was 78 per cent of the median income of men in the same age category.

Unpaid home and care work

Women continue to take a large share of responsibility for unpaid home and care work. Statistics Sweden (SCB) has conducted national surveys on how Swedes spend their time, which show that women generally spend more time cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and caring for their children. These are activities that take place daily and require a lot of time. Men, on the other hand, spend more time on paid work, maintenance and repairs to the home and vehicles, which does not correspond to the time women spend on housework. In Region Skåne's Public Health Survey from 2022, around 15 per cent of women who responded to the survey in Malmö stated that they spend at least 21 hours per week working at home. The corresponding proportion of men who spend at least 21 hours per week on work at home was around 9 per cent. The gap between men and women in Malmö has narrowed slightly over time.

Parental leave insurance has been a key measure nationally to reduce the gender gap in responsibilities for home and care work. In Sweden, the number of days taken by men for parental leave has increased steadily since 2010, but men still take fewer days than women, both in terms of parental allowance and care of sick children (VAB). The trend is similar in Malmö, but in Malmö men have a slightly lower take-up of both parental benefit and care of sick children (VAB) than men in the country as a whole. When it comes to temporary parental benefit (VAB), almost twice as many days are taken by women compared to men in Malmö, and the trend has remained virtually unchanged over a ten-year period. Women in Malmö also take more days than women in Gothenburg, Stockholm and the country as a whole.

Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls

Men and boys are responsible for the majority of violence in society. Regardless of whether a woman or a man is a victim of violence, the perpetrator is usually a man. Since 2015, there has been a decrease in the number of women who have reported to the police that they have been victims of domestic violence offences where the woman was acquainted with the perpetrator. However, when it comes to men's violence against women, there is a large number of unreported cases. Many victims choose not to report the offence to the police, and official statistics often do not capture all forms of violence, such as psychological violence, digital violence, material violence or economic violence.

Another form of violence is honour-based violence. Honour-based violence and oppression is based on strongly patriarchal and heteronormative beliefs. At the heart of honour-based violence and oppression is its collective expression. The rights and interests of the individual are considered subordinate to those of the family. Similarly, the actions of the individual are considered to affect the reputation of the whole family and the collective. When it comes to honour-related violence, there is a lack of mapping, both nationally and in Malmö, of the extent and development of honour violence over time. A 2019 survey conducted in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö estimated that 7-9 per cent of the young people in the study live with honour norms linked to violence and between 10-20 per cent live with honour norms around virginity (í Baianstovu, et.al. 2019).

Indicators

5.1 Reports of serious violations of a woman’s peace, number per 100,000 inhabitants

5.2 Reports of assault, number per 100,000 inhabitants

5.3 Reports of assault by an acquaintance against a woman indoors, number per 100,000 inhabitants

5.4 Managers in the public sector, percentage (%)

5.5 Managers in the private sector, percentage (%)

5.6 Parental leave days taken by men, percentage of total days (%)

5.7 Full-time municipal employees on monthly salaries, percentage (%)

5.8 Women in municipal councils, percentage (%)

5.9 Women holding chairperson positions in the municipality, percentage (%)

5.10 Women’s median net income, percentage (%)

5.11 Women’s median net income, age 65+, percentage (%)

5.12 Average weekly working hours for employed persons, number of hours per week

5.13 At least 21 hours per week of work in the home (not paid work), percentage (%)

5.14 Temporary parental leave days (VAB), percentage (%)

References

Corin, L. och Babapour Chafi, M. (2022). Betydelsen av antalet medarbetare per chef. En kunskapssammanställning Del I och II. Institutet för stressmedicin, Västra götalandsregionen. Tillgänglig: Betydelsen av antal medarbetare per chef Kunskapssammanställning DEL I och II 220516.pdf (vgregion.se)

Glokala Sverige (u.å.). Arbetsbok – Agenda 2030. Tillgänglig: https://fn.se/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Arbetsbok_Glokala_Sverige_2021.pdf

í Baianstovu, R., Strid, S., Cinthio, H., Särnstedt Gramnaes, E. och Enelo, J. (2019). Heder och samhälle. Det hedersrelaterade våldets och förtryckets uttryck och samhällets utmaningar. Rapport 17: Örebro Universitet.

Jämställdhetsmyndigheten (u.å.). Jämställdhetsmyndighetens uppföljning av de nationella jämställdhetspolitiska målen. Tillgänglig: Jämställdhet i Sverige | Jämställdhetsmyndigheten (jamstalldhetsmyndigheten.se).

Jämställdhetsmyndigheten (2023). Analys av den könssegregerade arbetsmarknaden. Förutsättningar för en bredare rekryteringsbas till välfärden. Underlagsrapport 2023:8. Tillgänglig: https://jamstalldhetsmyndigheten.se/media/zo0j4rhc/underlagsrapport-2023-08-analys-av-den-konssegregerade-arbetsmarknaden-23-04-27.pdf

Malmö stad (2023). Personalredovisning 2023.