The U.S. News and World Report just released its annual “Best Countries” index where Sweden is voted as the best country for women. But for people in Lund it was still worth to demonstrate at the International Women’s Day.
Yesterday, the International Women’s Day was a possibility to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. On the other hand, many strikes for gender equality were taking place across the whole world.
In Lund, around 150 people were also demonstrating in a harmless way for equal opportunities regardless of any political affiliation.
Most of the participants were young pupils but also women, men and students attended the demonstration.
In the beginning, some speeches were held about how much the world has to change and that it’s always worth to fight for equal rights. It was organized by feminist associations like Kvinnojouren Lund, Tjejjpuren i Lund, Tillsammans för Lund and many others.
The following march started at Stortorget and took around 30 minutes through the centre of Lund.
Along the way, the protesters were singing, laughing and spreading their opinions about inequalities.
“Both, on national and international scale, there is still a lot of prejudice. Just among everyday people we don’t know we just assume things about different genders. And while it’s not as common in Sweden we have to stand up for others,” 13-year-old Dido L. says.
Dea Kaldea, a 23-year-old student says: “With the demonstration we are not only talking about Sweden, we talk about the whole world where it is still too much inequality represented. Those problems need to get solved.”
However, compared to other countries Swedish habitants don’t have much to complain about nowadays. According to a survey of the U.S. News and World Record, Sweden was voted as the best country for women to live in.
Nearly two-thirds of all university degrees are awarded to women and half of the country’s ministers are female.
Sweden has one of the most generous paid parental leave policies where the parents get 480 days of paid leave, split between the two partners. That’s why Sweden also was ranked the best place to raise kids.
The pay difference is the most common issue about gender inequality in Sweden. Women’s average monthly salaries are only 87 per cent of men’s.
Bersabel Araya, a 15-year-old pupil mentions the same problem: “The most common difference between men and women in Sweden is the higher wages that men receive. But if you think about other countries, they need to move forward even more because they have to deal with completely other issues.”
