Response to interpellation 2025/26:80 on the government's strategy for gender equality
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M argues that the new strategy strengthens the work against sexual and gender-related violence and increases economic empowerment 1. M emphasizes that Sweden is a leading donor to UN Women and UNFPA 1. M asserts that life-saving interventions and SRHR are prioritized, which benefits women 2 3. M argues that the strategy focuses on results at the country level to increase transparency 1. M argues that support for Ukraine's infrastructure benefits women by securing basic functions 3. MP argues that the government has significantly reduced the aid budget, which hits women's rights 4. MP asserts that the cuts are a strategic mistake 4 5.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Bistånds- och utrikeshandelsministern Benjamin Dousa (M)
Madam Speaker! Janine Alm Ericson has asked me questions regarding how the government's strategy for equality stands in comparison to the previous equality strategy. She asks how I justify the change regarding the global dimension of the equality work in the strategy, what considerations I have made regarding women's rights organizations' role as agents of change in the new strategy, in what way I and the government ensure that Sweden continues to contribute to implementing and defending international frameworks such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Commission on the Status of Women, and the agenda for women, peace, and security, as well as how I and the government intend to follow up and learn from the results of the new equality work given that analysis, research, and learning have been removed from the strategy.
Equality is a matter of freedom. It is about women's and girls' right to decide for themselves over their own lives. It is a freedom that is threatened in many places in the world. A more restless world with wars and conflicts is a world that is more dangerous, not least for women and girls. The government's new strategy for equality, women's and girls' freedom and empowerment strengthens the work against sexual and gender-related violence and increases economic empowerment. In a time when the opposition to equality work is increasing in the world, Sweden stands up for women's and girls' rights.
This strategy also focuses on results at the national level. The support shall reach out into the field. The Government wants to avoid intermediaries that counteract transparency and facilitate that the support makes an impact where it is needed.
This means that support for organizations that work for the human rights of women and girls on the ground is increasing. In 2024, approximately 770 million SEK of Swedish bilateral aid went through Sida to women's rights organizations, and approximately 1.7 billion SEK went to human rights defenders in activities at the country level.
Sweden is a leader in global equality work. We are one of UN Women's largest bilateral donors. This year, we are contributing 112.5 million kronor in core funding and also hold the chair of UN Women's board, where we have supported the work of developing the organization's strategic plan for the years 2026–2029. In addition, extensive support is provided by Sida, which for 2024 amounted to 370 million Swedish kronor.
In 2024, Sweden's total support to the UN Population Fund UNFPA amounted to just over 1.2 billion kronor, making us the organization's fifth largest bilateral donor. During 2025, we have provided specific core funding of 75 million kronor so that UNFPA can maintain the work with safe abortion. We have also provided 247.5 million kronor to UNFPA's humanitarian operations in Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine.
Sweden is a strong voice for equality in bilateral dialogues, in multilateral negotiations, in the UN, in the World Bank, in regional development banks, in the EU, in Nato and in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. For example, Sweden participated in the EU's negotiation team during the UN Commission on the Status of Women this year. We further cooperate actively with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and, in accordance with our commitments, have submitted written information on the measures Sweden has taken to comply with the convention.
We are an important donor in countering gender-based and sexual violence in conflict. Specifically earmarked support has gone to UN Women's activities in Ukraine and to UNFPA's activities in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine and Moldova. Under the equality strategy, the work against human trafficking will also be strengthened.
In the implementation of the national action plan for women, peace and security, twelve Swedish agencies and several civil society organizations are involved. The work contributes to strengthening analysis and research. The same applies to the international work in the EU and Nato.
Effective gender equality work requires increased access to gender- and age-disaggregated statistics based on analysis, research, and empirical learning. The gender equality strategy funds UN Women's collection and use of gender equality statistics at local, regional, and global levels. This enables us to monitor how the gender equality goals are implemented within the Sustainable Development Goals worldwide.
Janine Alm Ericson (MP)
Madam Speaker! I want to start by thanking you for the answer and for what sounds like the Minister's genuine commitment. Benjamin Dousa lists several initiatives to strengthen women's rights. This is not least about UN Women's important role and about support for women's rights organizations. It simply sounds good.
But unfortunately, the government's own figures show a different picture than the one the minister wants to give. The government has significantly reduced the aid budget. Slightly different arguments have been put forward each time, but it has often been about the aid now being streamlined. It is assumed that it should signal that it has not been so efficient previously, that it can now be scaled back and that just as much can still be done. That is not true. The cuts in the funding of development cooperation and emergency aid are hitting relentlessly right now, both against food rations for starving people and against development cooperation that is intended to make the world better for more; that includes women's rights.
The government wants to make it sound as if they are instead making investments in and for Sweden. But the most important focus right now is, after all, to lower taxes most for those who already have very much money.
This reduction also applies to the aid for equality. In actual kronor, it has decreased by 5 billion kronor from 2021 to 2024. This is what the government is doing at a time when the opposition to women's and girls' free and rights is growing globally, just as the minister said. Sweden has previously been a leading voice for equality and SRHR issues. But instead of investing, the core support to just UN Women has now been reduced, and the proportion of aid with an equality component is decreasing.
Aid is not only a solidary act but is an investment in a safer and more stable world. Our time's great security threats – climate crisis, war, hunger, pandemics and authoritarian regimes – affect us all, no matter where in the world we live and where it occurs. When a society collapses, it has consequences far beyond the country's borders.
Sweden wins when the world comes together to tackle common challenges. Therefore, the work for democracy, human rights and equality is not only a moral obligation and a humanitarian act but also a necessary security policy investment.
The list of global challenges is long, and it is often the women who are in the line of fire. They are hit hardest by violence, oppression, and discrimination. At the same time, they fight daily against authoritarian forces, destructive gender roles, and unequal power relations. Now, the American administration also wants to make women completely invisible in all kinds of documents.
In war, crisis and catastrophe, women organize the aid, hold communities together and drive change. Therefore, investments in equality are not just a matter of justice but also an effective strategy to achieve sustainable results.
To strengthen the rights of women and girls, it is central that aid is provided to a greater extent to women's rights organizations because research shows that it is strong local feminist women's rights movements that are the decisive factor in making equality move forward.
At the same time as Benjamin Dousa says he defends the rights of women and girls, we see de facto how the government's new strategy precisely overlooks women's rights organizations as key actors and loses the global dimension of the equality work.
Women's rights organizations work under difficult conditions, and they now risk being in a weaker position. I therefore want to repeat my questions to Benjamin Dousa. How does one justify the reduction in ambition for the global dimension, and why do women's rights organizations no longer have their own goal in the strategy?
Bistånds- och utrikeshandelsministern Benjamin Dousa (M)
Madam Speaker! It is not a reduction in ambition. We live in a very restless world with a record number of conflicts in modern times where we know that women and, above all, girls and children are hit the hardest.
We have had exactly this discussion with several women's rights organizations pointing out that our gender equality aid has decreased. But then one must be clear about where the increase has occurred.
We can, for example, look at this year's budget. We have seen the dramatic cuts that USAID has made. It has had enormous consequences for all aid. It accounted for 30 percent of all development aid and 40 percent of all life-saving humanitarian interventions around the world.
We have increased and made specific efforts in three areas: Ukraine, humanitarian and life-saving efforts, and SRHR with the special abortion package. We know that unsafe abortions are one of the most common causes of death among especially young women and girls.
If we take many of the efforts that we make in Ukraine, they do not enter into our matrix as gender equality aid. But if we ask the Ukrainian population and women in Ukraine if they think that the railway and road initiatives we have made, the energy packages we have given to Ukraine, the direct budget support we have given, and the very extensive health interventions we have made have benefited them themselves, I believe that the vast majority think so.
I believe that the vast majority of women in Ukraine think it is good that Ukraine can defend itself. It would have been much worse for women's role in Ukraine if Russia had occupied more of the country. In our matrix, it does not appear as gender equality aid, but that is what it is de facto. It benefits both men and women, boys and girls, in Ukraine.
It also concerns many of the humanitarian and life-saving efforts. I was in Uganda earlier this year and visited a refugee camp in the northwestern part of the country, Rhino Camp. There were 10,000 refugees from Congo, Sudan, and South Sudan. This was a long time ago, but even then, they had started to reduce the food rations. It was no luxury three-course meal, I can tell you. It was about beans and rice. There, Sweden has now made extra efforts of over 1 billion kronor just for life-saving efforts.
In all the matrices, it does not appear as gender equality aid. But I can promise that the girls and women who get to partake of that food are very grateful to have food on the table and a roof over their heads.
It is about Ukraine, humanitarian and life-saving efforts and the SRHR area. There, we do everything we can to fill the gaps that arise from the USA withdrawing.
It is a genuinely important issue given that we know it is always women and girls who are often hit the hardest in dictatorships and in conflicts.
Janine Alm Ericson (MP)
Madam Speaker! Thank you to the Minister!
With less than five years left until 2030, the world is still far from achieving the global equality goals. If development continues at the current pace, the UN estimates that it could take 286 years – that is until the year 2311 – before we reach full equality in the world.
That Sweden's cuts in aid are expected to decrease by a third by 2028 may seem marginal from a global perspective. But in practice, it means deprioritized abortion clinics, lost protection for women's rights activists, and missed campaigns against discriminatory legislation. It means that politicians are no longer held accountable for corruption and that hbtqi people exposed to violence do not receive the help they need.
One thing is certain: Reducing aid – especially that which goes to equality – in a time of armed conflicts, crises, increasing authoritarian rule, and more famine is short-sighted. It is a strategic mistake that makes the world more dangerous for all of us.
It is a recognized reality in conflict zones that violence against women increases and that work for equality takes a backseat in crises and wars. Benjamin Dousa willingly speaks about the support for Ukraine. That Sweden shall support Ukraine's struggle for freedom in all ways we can, all parliamentary parties stand behind.
Since 2007, the proportion of Swedish interventions that have had equality as a partial or main goal has been over 80 percent. Since 2020, the trend has reversed, and in recent years the curve has tilted sharply downwards. According to Sida's latest annual report, only 65 percent of Sida's aid now contributes to equality. The proportion of interventions where equality was the main goal has simultaneously decreased from 18 to 10 percent.
The aid to Ukraine is a clear example here. There, not only is a brutal war ongoing against an imperialist aggressor, but also a systematic attack against women's bodies, rights, and lives.
In 2022–2023, approximately 60 percent of the aid contributed to promoting equality in various ways in Ukraine. In 2024, the level had plummeted to 6 percent. Only 6 percent of Sweden's extensive support contributes to increasing equality in the country, despite it being a completely crucial issue for Ukraine to be able to approach EU membership. Thus, the conditions for building a sustainable and stable Ukrainian society and a secure Europe are diminished.
It is a betrayal of Ukraine and the Ukrainian women. One can, of course, reason as the Minister for Development Cooperation just did, that all aid to Ukraine also benefits women. But it is a completely different matter than that one should also have a systematic equality work. Both things are needed. One cannot say: Now you received a road, therefore you do not get any more rights. I hope that is not what the Minister means. But that is how it sounded.
The figures I have just enumerated speak for themselves. Despite Benjamin Dousa repeating promises that Sweden shall be a strong force for equality, the government is failing the world's women.
Bistånds- och utrikeshandelsministern Benjamin Dousa (M)
Madam Speaker! We definitely do not do that. Sweden is one of the countries in the entire world that is absolutely largest on SRHR. We are not just large monetary donors. It is one thing to just send a check and hope for the best. We are politically engaged bilaterally towards individual countries and in the organizations we are members of. We even hold the presidency in UN Women.
It is not just about money, where we are one of the largest in the entire world. We also have a very extensive political commitment from the government's side. It spans several ministerial portfolios. I know that many of my colleagues think these are incredibly important issues.
I only explained it in purely technical terms. We significantly increased the aid to Ukraine first up to 10 percent of the total aid budget. It pleases me that the Green Party also stands behind it. Next year we are approaching almost 20 percent. I hope that the Green Party can also stand behind us allocating 10 billion to Ukraine.
Ukraine's state budget is exhausted after February, March. It does not add up. There is no money. Everything they themselves collect for the state budget goes towards the defense of their own country, which benefits both men and women and boys and girls. Other donors must provide support for the state budget to balance.
When the USA has withdrawn and we have not yet gained access to the frozen Russian assets, the budget does not add up. That is why we are now providing direct budget support to Ukraine to a greater extent. Why do I say all this, and what does it have to do with equality at all? Well, because it does not appear in the matrix and in the strategy as an equality goal that can be checked off. But it helps women in Ukraine to a great extent.
A gas turbine does not fulfill any equality goal on paper, but we must look beyond the paper. It helps in the highest degree all those women who can go to work because there is electricity. It helps in the highest degree all those women who are at the front and defending their own country if they have systems they can communicate with because there is electricity. The roads and railways being built help in the highest degree those women who are going to the front and those women who are to be evacuated from the front.
Look beyond the strategies! Equality is a very high-priority area, but the reason it looks on paper as if we are reducing the proportion that is directly marked as equality-related is that our support for Ukraine primarily concerns the state's most fundamental functions: infrastructure and direct budget support. It does not appear as equality-marked in our documents, but it is to a great extent for the benefit of women.
If you were to ask women in Ukraine what they prioritize, everyone would answer: that the state's basic functions are ensured and that we have the capacity to defend ourselves against Russia. That is the absolute most important thing, and that is precisely what Sweden is helping with.
With that said: This does not mean that we do not help with other things. We help with healthcare and medical care. We help with women's rights organizations on the ground in Ukraine. We help with collecting evidence on the kidnapped children that Russia has taken out of Ukraine. We help in Ukraine on a broad front.
The reason why it looks on paper as if we are reducing the gender equality-marked support is that we have significantly increased the support for the basic functions of the state, which is exactly what Ukraine itself is requesting.
Janine Alm Ericson (MP)
Madam Speaker! This is still an interesting view on gender equality work. It is something other than general politics that benefits women. It is naturally an important part, but this did not have to be set in opposition to each other.
Benjamin Dousa says that money is given to women's rights organizations. Yes, but it is an incredibly much smaller part. That would not have needed to be prioritized down. I am genuinely disappointed that the Tidöregeringen and Benjamin Dousa are letting Sweden's international voice for equality become ever quieter. That is how it is in Ukraine, and that is how it is in other places in the world.
With the Green Party in government, a feminist foreign and development policy was pursued where Sweden was a strong voice and actor for the rights of women and hbtqi persons, while we had generous SRHR assistance. Sweden has financed areas that few other donors have dared to support: safe abortions, sex education and contraceptives for young people, as well as hbtqi persons' rights. We worked actively to strengthen women's role in peace processes and the opportunity for political participation.
The government's reform agenda unfortunately goes in a different direction. The feminist foreign policy is abolished, the proportion of aid with an equality component is decreasing, and Swedish interests, migration, and export promotion stand higher on the agenda.
I hear that the government wants to make it seem as if one has not set aside increased equality and better conditions for women and girls, but I return to the fact that the figures speak for themselves.
The government promises a lot but delivers little when it comes to support for women and girls. It is incredibly sad, and it is something that will not only affect the individual women but the entire social development. We cannot afford that in these times, and I regret that the government is shooting itself in the foot here.
Bistånds- och utrikeshandelsministern Benjamin Dousa (M)
Madam Speaker! Miljöpartiet is always disappointed in me. They demand my resignation and report me to the Committee on the Constitution. There was no new information in this chamber.
Let us look at the support for Ukraine, which is the most important explanation for why it looks on paper as if we are reducing our very extensive engagement. What the women in Ukraine need most, and what they themselves say they need, is weapons and money to be able to defend themselves against Russia. It is precisely that Sweden also gives the women in Ukraine. We give them weapons and money while we also have very extensive support for women's rights organizations and many others, such as MR-activists and democracy organizations that work very constructively in Ukraine.
We also support Ukraine's EU accession process. The best thing for Ukraine's women is, of course, partly to live in an independent country, but it is also about being a member of our fine European family and having access to everything we take for granted. No, it will not appear as equality work on paper, but it is very important for both women and men in Ukraine.
If one looks at the government's development strategies, one sees that in 32 of the 46 strategies there are goals that contribute to equality and the empowerment of women and girls. After the very messy spring and summer we have had behind us as a result of the USA's drastic cuts to the country's aid policy, we have said that we cannot plug all the holes but that we particularly prioritize Ukraine, humanitarian efforts and SRHR. We know, and we knew it already earlier, that the Mexico City policy or global gag rule will be introduced if a Republican wins the election. We now also see the result of that.
Sweden stands up for equality both in direct money and in the political processes where we are active.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.