Sweden is such an interesting paradox: womens’ rights to work in different fields and (mostly) on an equal footing are protected in law, and (in my experience) in practice. And yet in many ways I find it generally the most gender-divided country I’ve experienced, and I’ve even lived in countries that most people would consider very sexist, like the UK and Spain.
There are strong traditions of socializing mostly as a group of women or a group of men, inviting all your girlfriends or male friends for dinner (“tjej/herrmiddag”), meeting friends at certain cafés or restaurants that are almost 100% gendered (this can have a comical effect of being the only male in a café filled with 50 females).
Away from the larger towns there is still a strong macho culture, with cars and hunting being as popular as any redneck county in the States, and with all the usual horror-stories of growing-up gay or a misfit, before moving to Stockholm or Gothenburg.
It’s fascinating to me to read outsider’s perspectives of Sweden, as I shared that impression before coming here.
Otoh it always gladdens my heart to see a female roadworker, digging a hole alongside her male colleagues without it seeming odd or misplaced.
Have you considered the possibility that, when given true freedom and not being pressured into certain roles by society, that men and women strongly gravitate to different fields? It could be that the only reason we see more mixing in other societies is that those societies subtly (or not so subtly) pressure people into taking those roles.
>countries that most people would consider very sexist, like the UK and Spain.
For what it's worth -- I've visited both those countries, and neither struck me as particularly sexist. I just checked a couple gender inequality indices, and it seems like they both do OK globally speaking. E.g. the UN ranks them both as more gender-equal than the US: https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/thematic-composite-indices/... (And the US is ranked much more gender-equal than the world as a whole)
I have helped defend claims brought by coal miners against their employers, and, while I obviously am restrained from giving specifics, a number of the miners were not without skills that would permit them to work in mines, yet they persisted in working in mines.
I have lived in a handful of different countries. I'm criticizing the idea that it's so simple to say one country is more sexist or more equal than another because there are so many metrics you can use to measure equality.
Sweden beats a lot of countries when it comes to a strongly protected right to parental leave for both men and women. But Sweden is behind many other countries when it comes to stereotypes and assumptions about what jobs men or women should be doing.
So it's meaningless to make a blanket statement that one country is more equal than another.
"Every third woman who responded to the survey, sent out by Allbright to employees at the tech companies, reports that she has been discriminated against"
> "Every third woman who responded to the survey, sent out by Allbright to employees at the tech companies, reports that she has been discriminated against"
Which - putting my boring hat on - doesn't mean she was discriminated against.
Sweden is such an interesting paradox: womens’ rights to work in different fields and (mostly) on an equal footing are protected in law, and (in my experience) in practice. And yet in many ways I find it generally the most gender-divided country I’ve experienced, and I’ve even lived in countries that most people would consider very sexist, like the UK and Spain.
There are strong traditions of socializing mostly as a group of women or a group of men, inviting all your girlfriends or male friends for dinner (“tjej/herrmiddag”), meeting friends at certain cafés or restaurants that are almost 100% gendered (this can have a comical effect of being the only male in a café filled with 50 females).
Away from the larger towns there is still a strong macho culture, with cars and hunting being as popular as any redneck county in the States, and with all the usual horror-stories of growing-up gay or a misfit, before moving to Stockholm or Gothenburg.
It’s fascinating to me to read outsider’s perspectives of Sweden, as I shared that impression before coming here.
Otoh it always gladdens my heart to see a female roadworker, digging a hole alongside her male colleagues without it seeming odd or misplaced.