Making it hard for sex buyers

The Swedes have always been up front in the struggle for equality between men and women. The Swedish Parliament, for instance, approved two years ago the Government Bill Violence Against Women, a program of measures aimed at combating violence against women. The main features of this Act are improved legislation, further preventive measures and better methods of dealing with women victims of violence. It also introduced into the Penal Code the new offense of "gross violation of a woman’s integrity and gross violation of integrity."

What’s more, the Act makes the purchase of sexual services a punishable offense, and the provisions concerning "Equality between Men and Women" regarding sexual harassment in the workplace have been strengthened.

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Recently, Ms. Gun-Britt Andersson, state secretary for development cooperation, migration and asylum policy, along with Anna Brandt, deputy for Asian and Oceania affairs, the Swedish Ambassador to the Philippines Ulf Hakansson and members of the Manila Swedish embassy staff, met with representatives of women NGOs and the National commission on the Role of Filipino Women and media, and gave glimpses into further improvements in gender legislation in Sweden.

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A matter of great curiosity is the law which punishes sexual favors for a fee. This law is precisely what some of our legislators want – the punishment of buyers of sex, and not the women offering sex for a fee. Attempts to punish the users have fallen on barren ground thus far.

The Swedish penalty is a fine or imprisonment for up to six months, and attempted purchase is also punishable. A progress report brought by Ms. Andersson says that monitors of the legislation, which is so new (having taken effect on Jan. 1, 1999), have had "difficulty of overseeing compliance with the prohibition with respect to hidden prostitution, and the need for clarification on the situations and relations that fall within the scope of the act. There are also difficulties concerning proof when the perpetrator denies having committed the act." It was also pointed out that "the legislation is so new that police detection methods can be expected to be developed and refined, and that the definition of the crime will be made clearer as increasing numbers of cases reach the courts." It also says that prosecutors have displayed "initial caution, and have chiefly pursued known cases in the courts in order to obtain clarification on the sanctions issues, and the Prosecutor-General has drawn attention to the difficulties in interpreting the new legislation concerning the meaning of "sexual relation" and "casual".

The law has had an effect on the activities of prostitution houses, but men who buy sex have had to go to the nearest countries to obtain it, said Ms. Andersson.

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Other provisions of the Act are the broadening of the definition of the crime of rape (some acts previously regarded as sexual coercion are now defined as rape); the use of gender-neutral language (the words he, his and him used to describe people of both sexes) have now been replaced with his or her or gender-neutral words); the addition of a supplementary provision to the Social Services Act which highlights state responsibility towards women victims of violence; harsher penalties for genital mutilation (committed by ethnic groups which migrate to Sweden) and violators of sexual harassment.

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Ms. Andersson may not have experienced being discriminated against for her gender. She said she belongs to a generation which started to enjoy the benefits of a gender-free society, enjoying as she did equal opportunities and equal rights with the men. She and a sister grew up with seven boys, and there was no question about her choice of economics as her college major. Her understanding of women’s issues came naturally, even though she was never a member of any women’s organization.

Her profile of Swedish society should be a source of envy for advocates of gender equality. She said Swedish women enjoy equal labor opportunities with men, and what makes it easy for women to enjoy economic productivity is the presence of day-care centers at their places of work – even at the houses of legislature. Women who may have to stay home towards their child-delivery and post-delivery are aided by state benefits, including paternity and parental leaves for their husbands for several months, during which time they receive 80 percent of their office salaries. Fathers take care of their children as a matter of course. "It is no longer a shame for men to attend to their children," said Ms. Andersson.

Ambassador Ulf Hakansson had words of praise for Ms. Andersson, whom he described as having worked hard to make more women join Parliament (43.7 percent of parliamentary positions are held by women). But Ms. Andersson modestly ascribed gender gains to Ms. Birgitta Dahl, the first female Speaker of Parliament, who has formed a network of female speakers around the world; in 1999 there were 18 such speakers. It was also Ms. Dahl who introduced day care centers in Swede legislative houses, something that even the non-biased male legislators initially found curious.