Dalla scandinavia arrivano riflessioni interessanti sulle implicazioni che il comportamento degli uomini e delle donne ha sui cambiamenti climatici in atto e quanto sia importante tenerne conto nell'elaborare strategie vincenti di contrasto al femomeno del riscaldamento globale.

Riporto alcune considerazioni che trovo particolarmente interessanti, troverete materiale più approfondito nei link:

Gender equality is an essential part of the climate solution. If the differences between women and men are not taken into consideration in climate negotiations it will be difficult to find solutions that work for everyone.

Another reason is that climate changes affect men and women differently. For example, many more women than men drown in climate-related natural disasters such as flooding because they cannot swim or climb trees. According to Rebecca Pearl, a study from the London School of Economics concludes that gender differences in mortality rates in the event of climate-related natural disasters
are directly linked to women’s economic and social rights.

Ulf Rikter-Svendsen from the Norwegian Reform - Resource Centre for Men, was one of the experts on the panel. He stressed that men must not be made scapegoats in the climate debate.

"It is important to include the perspective of men and boys in the climate debate. However, the stereotype of the man as the bad party is not very helpful. Making men into scapegoats with regard to the climate will only put the brakes on the work."

The effects on men and women are different in both the West and in developing countries. For example, 70-80% of victims of the 2004 tsunami were women.

The Nordic Council of Ministers is also hosting an expert seminar on gender equality and climate change on Thursday, March 5. The aim is to stress the importance of paying attention to gender equality in the climate debate, and the seminar is part of the Council of Ministers' drive to promote gender mainstreaming in the UN climate negotiations

http://www.norden.org/webb/news/news.asp?id=8432〈=6

 http://www.norden.org/webb/news/news.asp?id=8395〈=6

http://www.norden.org/gender/doks/sk/Gender_and_climate_changes_Rapport.pdf

Come si dice in questi casi: da cosa nasce cosa. Ecco scovato un bravo ragazzo. Stefen Wallin Ministro per l'ugualglianza di genere in Finlandia.

http://www.norden.org/webb/news/news.asp?id=8433〈=6

 

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La legge, approvata dal governo di centro-destra, entrerà in vigore il primo maggio e consentirà anche alle coppie dello stesso sesso di sposarsi civilmente.

Questo significa che anche le lesbiche (e gli uomini gay) avranno la possibilità di accedere al matrimonio acquisendo di conseguenza tutti i diritti ed i doveri ad esso connessi, incluso il riconoscimento sociale. Per le coppie eterosessuali tutto proseguirà come prima, senza alcun cambiamento.

La Chiesa di Svezia si pronuncerà in autunno sull'eventualità o meno di celebrare i matrimoni religiosi anche in chiesa.

Sweden's parliament passed new legislation by a wide majority on Wednesday that will allow homosexuals to marry in church and civil weddings

The law will come into force on May 1st.

"Parliament on Wednesday adopted the bill on a gender-neutral marriage law," parliament said in a statement.
 

http://www.thelocal.se/18608/20090402/

Le nazioni che, al momento riconoscono il matrimonio tra persone dello stesso sesso sono oltre la Svezia: Olanda, Belgio, Canada, Spagna, Sudafrica, Norvegia e, negli Stati Uniti il Massachussets, il Connecticut, il Vermont e l'Iowa.

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Purtroppo non c'è quasi nulla nelle pagine anglofone su internet ma la notizia è ufficiale. La Reverenda Tuulikki Koivunen Bylund è stata eletta il 4 aprile vescovo della diocesi di Härnösands. Tramite il traduttore di google potrete leggere, seppur in modo imperfetto, i due comunicati stampa della Chiesa di Svezia. Interessante è il fatto che la neovescova era arrivata dalla Finlandia, sua terra natale, quando i luterani finlandesi ancora non consentivano alle donne di diventare prete. You've come a long way, babe! Si potrebbe commentare. Ancora una volta i luterani scandinavi, ed in particolare quelli svedesi si confermano all'avanguardia per la parità tra uomini e donne. Attualmente in Svezia ci sono tre donne su un totale di 12 vescovi.

 http://www.svenskakyrkan.se/default.aspx?di=230970

http://www.svenskakyrkan.se/default.aspx?di=231747

Per un approfondimento sulla situazione e sulle implicazioni all'interno delle chiese nordiche delle donne vescovo suggerisco questo interessante articolo del Church Times:

Northern rites: the impact of women bishops

 

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Separate money pools allocated for researchers and research communities that are considered to be “the very best” have become a common way to finance science. That these grants for a large part are awarded to men is also a well-known fact. Female scientists hold few of the leading academic positions and even fewer receive funding for their “excellence”.

The Research Council was met with criticism when they in 2003 announced that only four out of the 26 candidates who received funding from the Outstanding Young Investigators scheme (OYI) were women, and that most of the applicants who were accepted worked within the natural sciences and in the field of technology.

Female representation has increased between the two announcements. The question is if the increase has been so small that we can not be satisfied or if we should consider this a good start. One thing is clear; the figures have gone up the least in the area where we need it the most, in leading positions.

http://kvinneriforskning.no/english/magazine/excellent.html

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Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir è la nuova prima ministra islandese. A seguito delle recenti elezioni, svoltesi lo scorso 25 aprile, la Sigurðardóttir è stata eletta a capo di una coalizione di sinistra. La sua elezione è doppiamente storica. In primo luogo si tratta della prima volta che l'Islanda elegge una donna come suo leader; inoltre per la prima volta in tutto il mondo viene eletto un capo di stato dichiaratamente gay. La neoeletta leader non ha mai concesso interviste a proposito della sua sesssualità, ciononostante nella sua biografia si dice apertamente che la sua partner è la sceneggiatrice e giornalista Jónína Leósdóttir. 

La prima ministra gode di grande popolarità avendo già ricoperto questa carica ad internim. Ciò che è importante notare è che gli elettori non le hanno certo tolto la fiducia per il fatto di essere una donna nè lei ha dovuto nascondere il fatto di essere gay.

"Johanna is a very private person," said an Icelandic government source. "A lot of people didn't even know she was gay. When they learn about it people tend to shrug and say, 'Oh'. That's not to say they are not interested; they are interested in who she's living with – but no more so than if she was a man living with a woman."

"In opinion polls Johanna has repeatedly been chosen as the most popular politician in Iceland," said the government source. "She is a good choice, because one of the problems the government is facing is lack of trust. Getting Johanna to become Prime Minister was a way of saying trust is an issue. 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/world-gets-its-first-gay-head-of-state-1519068.html

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1875032,00.html

Di seguito riporto la foto della prima ministra

Sotto la foto della di lei moglie Jónína Leósdóttir

Ho inserito le foto giusto per sconvolgervi un pò. Magari vi aspettavate due bruttone dall'aria truce coi capelli rasati. E invece, mi spiace tanto, abbiamo due belle ed eleganti signore.

con l'occasione riporto una interessante analisi scritta per la rivista islandese di lingua inglese The Reykiavik Grapevive:

http://www.grapevine.is/Features/ReadArticle/what-is-the-significance-of-johanna-sigurdardottir-being-the-worlds-first-openly-gay-head-of-government

Sempre in campo islandese, anche se non attualissimo, segnalo questo articolo che riferisce della prima unione benedetta in chiesa per una coppia di lesbiche.

http://www.grapevine.is/Features/ReadArticle/Happily-Ever-After

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Finland's Parliament on Friday passed into law a bill on the right of same-sex couples to adopt within the family.

The government said on handing the bill to Parliament that the aim was to improve the legal standing of children in same-sex families.

http://newsroom.finland.fi/stt/showarticle.asp?intNWSAID=21707&group=Politics

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Eva Brunne è stata eletta vescova della diocesi di Stoccolma. La Brunne che sostituirà l'attuale vescova Karoline Krook, è la prima vescova dichiratamente lesbica al mondo. Attualmente svolge la funzione di decano e la sua partner è anche lei prete nella Chiesa di Svezia, di confessione luterana.

A female Lutheran pastor who is in a registered partnership with another woman was elected May 26 to be the next bishop of the Diocese of Stockholm in the Church of Sweden.

According to the diocese, Eva Brunne, 55, was elected by a vote of 413-365 over Hans Ulfvebrand in the second round of voting. A first round of voting by clergy of the diocese and an equal number of elected lay people was held in April. There are 13 dioceses in the Church of Sweden.

 http://www.pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=18182

http://episcopalchurch.org/81808_108348_ENG_HTM.htm

http://www.svenskakyrkan.se/default.aspx?di=248784

http://eurout.org/2009/05/28/god-bless-sweden-eva-brunne-worlds-first-lesbian-bishop

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"All pupils, including immigrant girls, have the right to swimming lessons and to take part in physical and sexual education classes," Björklund and Sabuni argue in an opinion article in Dagens Nyheter on Sunday.

Liberal party leader and education minister, Jan Björklund, and integration minister, Nyamko Sabuni, write that the right to exemptions from these classes will be removed in a new legislative proposal to be circulated for consideration during the summer.

This situation can result in girls being denied the right to participate in physical and sexual education classes, something the ministers hope the new law will put a stop to.

Björklund and Sabuni argue that the figures indicate that the problem with "honour culture oppression" could be greater than previously apparent.

"Taken to its extreme the oppression is a direct threat to the child's life, but even if it does not go to such drastic lengths it almost always violates the child's fundamental rights."

http://www.thelocal.se/19778/20090531/

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Discrimination based on sexual orientation is at a high in the capital compared with the rest of the country, a new study due out today finds. The report from the Centre for Alternative Social Analysis (CASA) also showed that younger people are most subjected to sexual discrimination.

Eighteen percent of people in Copenhagen have felt discriminated against because of their sexuality in the last year, compared to eight percent in northern Jutland.

The latest data from the National Police shows that approximately 3,400 people were subjected to homophobic attacks in 2008. According to the City Council’s office for integration, at least 64 percent of hate crimes take place in public areas, and of these, the majority of complaints list sexual orientation as the basis for attacks.

However, attacks are not just limited to individuals and a number of businesses within the gay community have been targeted as well.

http://www.cphpost.dk/news/local/87-local/45908-gays-face-worrying-level-of-discrimination.html

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From August 2009, the Center for Gender and Equality at the University of Agder will have a new leader: Ulla-Britt Lilleaas. She is a professor in health science and has done research on men’s health, from a gender perspective. Now she is looking forward to establishing a high-quality research environment at the centre, with a particular focus on gender issues and gender equality in the region.

In the annually released statistics on gender equality in different parts of Norway, made by Statistics Norway, the Agder region repeatedly attains very low scores. The low educational level and employment rate among women is one aspect of this gender inequality.

http://eng.kilden.forskningsradet.no/c52778/nyhet/vis.html?tid=62346

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Ennesima dimostrazione che, quando c'è la volontà politica, i problemi si risolvono.

The so-called 24-year rule was introduced in 2002 to prevent unwanted arranged marriages and affected those coming to Denmark under family reunification schemes by requiring both parties in the marriage to be at least 24 years of age.

The new study shows that the number of women from an immigrant background married by the age of 23 in Denmark dropped from 46 percent in 2000 to 19 percent in 2008. The study classed those from non-Western countries, who moved to Denmark before the age of 15 and had lived here for at least two years as having an immigrant background.

In comparison the marriage rate among 23-year-old Danish women remained unchanged at five percent.

"With young immigrants now waiting to get married, they can manage to get an education or a job and get a foothold in the labour market before they get married and have children,’

 http://www.cphpost.dk/news/national/88-national/45829-24-year-rule-affects-marriage-rates.html

 

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Women in Malmö have been given the right to bathe topless in the swimming pools of Sweden's third largest city.

The city considered a vote to be necessary after several visits by the feminist Bara Bröst (Just Breasts/Bare Breasts) network to Malmö's pools met with widely varying reactions.

The Bara Bröst network swept to prominence in late 2007 after two bare-breasted young women were called ashore by a lifeguard at a swimming pool in Uppsala. When they refused to cover up, they were asked to leave the premises.

Speaking to The Local at the time, Ragnhild Karlsson, 22, explained the womens' motives for swimming without bikini tops.

"It's a question of equality. I think it's a problem that women are sexualized in this way. If women are forced to wear a top, shouldn't men also have to?"

Outraged by what they regarded as discrimination, a group of women in southern Sweden made a show of solidarity by establishing the network, whose name translates as both "bare breasts" and "just breasts".

http://www.thelocal.se/20250/20090624/ 

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"In Norway, the Research Council of Norway, the Norwegian Association of Higher Education Institutions, the University of Bergen and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have all agreed to the principles in these documents. NTNU and the Research Council of Norway have also signed on as pioneer institutions, and along with about 20 other European institutions they will take the lead on implementing the documents

"The Charter emphasizes, among other things, that the institutions should establish more flexible employment terms so that the careers of both women and men do not suffer because they have to combine work with family life. In addition, greater importance will be attached to the breadth of a researcher’s qualifications, which will be positive for many women researchers."

The Minister of Research and Higher Education must ensure that gender equality is incorporated into the mandate that lays the foundation for the national plans. Here Norway needs to lead by example

http://eng.kvinneriforskning.no/nyhet/vis.html?tid=63192

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New legislation has made it easier for lesbians to adopt their partner’s artificially inseminated child and avail of associated parental leave rights

Lesbians will gain more parental rights under a legislation change that came into effect this week.

The lesbian partners of women who give birth after 1 July following artificial insemination will now have the right to adopt the child from birth and no longer have to wait the three months before beginning adoption proceedings.

Children’s rights organisation Børns Vilkår also welcomed the move saying it is a positive step for the children of lesbian parents.

The change in legislation also means that the lesbian partner of the mother will be entitled to 14 days parental leave immediately following the birth, in line with similar rights for fathers. Previously, the female partner was only entitled to leave if her employer agreed to it in advance.

 http://www.cphpost.dk/news/national/88-national/46171-increased-rights-for-lesbian-parents.html

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Gender equality work requires us to act here and now but also entails systematic and long-term work on attitudes. This Action Plan deals with the most important measures the Ministry wishes to implement to promote gender equality in kindergartens and primary and secondary education and training.

The overall objective for the Action Plan is that kindergartens and basic education shall contribute to an equal society where everybody has the opportunity to use their abilities and interests irrespective of gender, and that equality and equity between the sexes must form the foundation for all learning and pedagogical activities in kindergartens and basic education. To achieve this, three main objectives have been given priority:  

1. The learning environment in kindergarten and basic education shall promote equality between boys and girls. 
2. A better gender balance when it comes to choice of education and career – with special focus on vocational education and training and the recruitment of girls to sciences.  
3. A better gender balance among members of staff in kindergartens and basic education.

http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/kd/Documents/Reports-and-actionplans/Actionplans/2008/action-plan-for-gender-equality.html?id=508110

http://www.regjeringen.no/upload/KD/Vedlegg/Barnehager/likestilling/Gender_Equality.pdf

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Ovviamente le donne musulmane possono e devono far parte dell'esercito danese. Indossando la stessa identica divisa delle loro colleghe. Un pò di sano buon senso dalla Danimarca.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to show the same flexibility in this area for people employed by the armed forces or in military service as is the case for their civilian colleagues,’ Gade stated in his written response.

http://www.cphpost.dk/news/national/88-national/46425-minister-no-headscarves-in-military.html

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Lo so, lo so. La notizia è davvero sconvolgente. Già è difficile immaginare che una lesbica possa partecipare ad un concorso di bellezza ma addirittura arrivare a vincerlo ha dell'incredibile. Già, perchè la leggenda vuole che tutte le lesbiche siano assolutamente brutte come la fame. Questo dice la leggenda, poi c'è la realtà che è tutta un'altra cosa.

Mi scuso, lo so che la notizia non è recentissima, ma davvero non potevo non pubblicarla.

 http://www.afterellen.com/TV/2009/6/nanna-wins-finlands-top-model

 

 

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“One of the measures is that we will appoint more women to professor II positions, especially at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. Among other things, we will bring in professors from abroad,” says Grønmo.

“Another measure relates to our work to strengthen opportunities for women to qualify for academic positions. We have therefore started what we call a ‘women’s faculty lunch club’, in which women in academic positions form a network across disciplines. Through this network they can share experiences about opportunities to gain additional qualifications and other topics.”

Leadership training is a third measure made possible by the prize money. Grønmo explains that the percentage of women in leadership positions at the departmental level is low and that this measure focuses in particular on the areas of medicine, dentistry and psychology.

“We will also conduct a survey of the working environment with a focus on gender issues at the Faculty of Social Sciences, and some of the prize money will go to writing grants for women researchers so they can be exempted from teaching duties,” he explains.

“We focus primarily on two things in our gender equality efforts: recruiting more women researchers and qualifying female employees for professor-level positions,” says Haaland.

Haaland also focuses on talent and quality when he explains the reasoning behind the institution’s gender equality efforts.

“We want to draw on all available talent, and gender balance in recruitment can enhance the quality of our work. Also, more women on our academic staff will be important as role models for the candidates in our study programmes,” he believes.

http://eng.kvinneriforskning.no/nyhet/vis.html?tid=63954

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Un'interessante presa di posizione contro il burqa che, al contempo, condanna anche la politica multiculturalista.

The discussion is relevant, since the fundamental purpose of the burka is to oppress women. The burka is intended as a means to hide women and protect them from contact with strangers, particularly men. That kind of thinking goes completely against the way we in Denmark have organised our society.

This is why it is important to underscore that Muslim girls who live in Denmark are Danish girls, and they should have the same right to make their own decisions as anyone else their age.

In my opinion, we have for years avoided ‘meddling’ with the upbringing of young Muslims.

Young Muslims should have access to the same counsellors as other young people, and precisely the same norms as them, because they need to be able to make their own decisions about how to live their lives.

http://www.cphpost.dk/news/commentary/142-commentary/46685-the-burka--an-isolation-cell.html

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Maria Pejter, head of talent development at Maersk, said 4 percent of the company’s vice presidents were women. The aim was to increase that to 10 percent in the next five years.

Maersk was also aiming to increase the proportion of other high-level managerial positions from 9 to 15 percent. By 2014, every fifth middle manager would be a woman, Pejter said.

She told DR News the targets meant Maersk had to become better at attracting and retaining female employees. The target was no different from any other company target and there would be consequences if it was not met, Pejter added.

Gender Equality Minister Inger Støjberg welcomed the news labelling it a ‘milestone’ in Danish gender equality politics and predicted that other companies would follow suit.

http://www.cphpost.dk/business/119-business/46870-maersk-promotes-female-managers.html

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Acts of violence against women accounted for more indictments against off duty police officers than any other crime in the last decade.

In all, 48 cases dealt with either assault or the related crime of gross violation of a woman's integrity (gvov kvinnofridskränkning). The majority of cases in recent years have led to convictions.

"We are the first to admit that this is a difficult situation. We must not hide the issue," said Liljemor Melin-Sving, deputy chairperson of the Swedish Police Union, to the newspaper.  

http://www.thelocal.se/22506/20091007/

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“I have taken gender equality into account ever since I started in my position six years ago,” says Jan Petter Hansen, head of the Department of Physics and Technology at the University of Bergen. At that time only one woman was employed as a professor in the department. Today four more women have been hired in academic positions, and new, promising female doctoral and post-doctoral research fellows are in the system.

“It’s clear to me that if we want to recruit the researchers of the future, the best researchers, we have a much better chance of getting a hold of them if we can choose from among the entire population. And then the students who come here need to see that we have female lecturers who teach the subject and that physics is not a discipline for only half the population,” he continues.

However, Hansen feels that he has gotten good support from the top administration, noting it is crucial that the leadership backs up the efforts of the department heads who are “involved in the struggle on a daily basis”.

“What is enacted at the highest level, what the Rector says, is all-important. A clear signal must be sent about the leadership’s vision on practical policy, and the University of Bergen has done this. I perceive gender equality to be an integral part of all the university’s activities, from the top administration to the faculties to the academic departments.”

Based on six years of experience as head of a highly male-dominated department, Hansen has some advice for politicians who want to ensure that gender equality efforts continue within the research groups:

“Rather than short-term, piecemeal measures, there needs to be a long-term plan with a ten-year perspective that awards new, permanent resources to successful groups. This could be viewed in connection with academic plans drawn up by departments which currently have an unacceptable gender balance,” he concludes.

http://eng.kvinneriforskning.no/nyhet/vis.html?tid=65758

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2009 seems to be a record-breaking year concerning to gender balance in the technology department. 35 per cent of the doctor’s degrees taken were conferred to women.

This is a very gratifying development in the fight for equal rights, says Linda Rustad, senior consultant for the Committee for Mainstreaming – Women in Science (WIS). The newest numbers from the Doctor’s Degree Register show that the number of women with a PhD in technology subjects now is 35 per cent, making it higher than ever within this specific field.

It’s good news that girls are finally guided and stimulated to take doctor’s degrees in subjects usually dominated by men. More financial resources have to be used to make people see that women should get the top positions, and people need to work on their attitudes, cultural changes and work environment, she says.

http://universitas.no/news/53884/more-women-in-technology/

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The Synod of the Lutheran Church of Sweden has come down in favour of church weddings for homosexuals in a vote held on Thursday morning.

The decision, which is based on a proposal from the church’s governing board, means that the Church of Sweden will conduct wedding ceremonies for both heterosexual and homosexual couples.

The proposal was approved by 176 of 249 voting members.
Individual pastors would also still be able to refuse to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples.

Since 2007, the Church of Sweden, which counts around 74 percent of Swedes as members, has offered gays a religious blessing of their union.

The ruling by the Synod, which has 251 delegates - two of which were absent from Thursday's vote, puts Sweden among the first countries in the world to allow gays to marry in a major church.

http://www.thelocal.se/22810/20091022/ 

 

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One of the big news stories in Denmark in recent weeks has centered on a small Copenhagen neighborhood called Tingbjerg. Over the years it has been turning gradually into a Muslim enclave in which non-Muslims have been increasingly subjected to harassment and criminality. Among these victims has been the openly gay pastor of Tingbjerg Church, who earlier this month, after several years of being persecuted by local Muslim youths, quit his post and fled the neighborhood, thereby making headlines around the country and sparking widespread discussion and debate about a very widespread phenomenon - namely, the ongoing Islamization of urban areas across Western Europe.

http://www.rights.no/publisher/publisher.asp?id=59&tekstid=2891

The country’s leading politicians, including Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, attended a Sunday service to show their support for an ousted vicar at the weekend.

Police and Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) agents discreetly kept watch on Tingbjerg Church on Sunday as the prime minister, Danish People’s Party leader Pia Kjærsgaard, former Social Minister Karen Jespersen and a host of other ministers and local politicians showed solidarity with the vicar, Ulrich Vogel.

There was suggestion that Vogel’s homosexuality was the reason he was being targeted by vandals, but the vicar told Kristeligt Dagblad newspaper that the root of the problem is much more widespread.

‘As a vicar I represent an institution and normality that isn’t welcomed by these young people. Furthermore, lots of others who aren’t homosexual have been harassed,’ Vogel said from his undisclosed location.

About 70 percent of the 5000 residents in the area are from a non-Danish ethnic background and Integration Minister Birthe Rønn Hornbech suggests that a lack of integration is to blame for the troubles in the area.

http://www.cphpost.dk/news/local/87-local/47299-prime-minister-supports-hunted-vicar.html

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More girls study theology
Two-thirds of the new theology students at the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus are women, and since a degree in theology is a requirement for a pastorate in the Danish Lutheran Church, the figures will have a knock-on effect on future pastoral recruitment. In 1976 the figure was 20%. Henning Kjaer Thomsen, Principal of Aarhus Pastoral Seminary, predicts that the pastoral role will become more of a caring, mother figure than an authority on the Bible and church tradition.

http://www.interchurch.dk/cn/cn.php?key=2160

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Davvero incredibile. Roba da non credere. Ma gli uomini gay non erano tutti smidollati, urletti e mosettine assolutamente non in grado di avere la minima energia e di praticare sport? Ah, l'ironia!

in a nuthsell the 33-year-old Häggström, a longjumper who won six National Championship Medals and competed in the Sydney Olympics, says coming out was harder than qualifying for the Olympics, he wants to be a role model, and has found a guy who makes him happy.

http://www.qx.se/12375/komma-ut-svarare-an-oskval

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Brava Grethe! Ho sempre apprezzato la generosità di animo, specie se diretta a cause giuste come l'educazione femminile. Con il suo gesto l'anziana signora sta portando speranza a tante ragazze afghane.

A Danish woman has donated 5 million kroner to found schools in Afghanistan with the aim of helping women play a more central role in the country's democratic development, according to Ekstra Bladet newspaper.

Grethe Stief, 93, has put the money towards the Danish People's Aid program for school construction in the Asian country.

On Wednesday, 1 million kroner of that money was used to inaugurate a women's college at Albironi University in the Kapisa province. The new college, located about three hours north of Kabul, will house 50 female students planning to move into its dormitories.

‘For me this is a day of great joy. I hope that the college will be a wonderful place to be and that you will be diligent so you can get an education that will have meaning for your lives,’ Stief said in a statement prepared for the students’ inauguration.

Besides the women's college at Kapisa, the donation will fund girls' schools in the provinces of Samangan and Nangahar.

http://www.cphpost.dk/news/international/89-international/47591-elderly-woman-gives-millions-to-afghanistan.html

 

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The two female winners of this year's Nobel Prize in medicine on Sunday urged scientific institutions to change their career structures to help more women reach top positions.

Americans Elizabeth H. Blackburn and Carol W. Greider said as many women as men start out in science but are often unable to advance after having children because of a lack of flexibility.

t is the first time two women have shared a single Nobel science prize. Over the years only 10 women have won the medicine prize.

Blackburn said a more flexible approach to part-time research and career breaks would help women continue to advance their careers during their childbearing years.

"I'm not talking about doing second-rate quality science, far from it," she said. "You can do really good research when you are doing it part-time."

Greider added that she especially wants to see measures to get more women onto committees and decision-making positions.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091206/ap_on_re_eu/eu_sweden_nobel_women_2

 

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Pay difference between male and female managers and executives rose by 20 percent last year

The pay gap between male and female business leaders has risen sharply over the past year, according to figures from manager association Ledernes Hovedorganisation.

After five years where the difference remained constant, during 2008 the wage gap increased from 6.5 percent to 7.8 percent, which corresponds to a 20 percent leap.

The statistics even take into account management jobs in predominantly male industries, for example the IT branch, where salaries in general are much higher than in traditional female-oriented jobs.

Women are in a clear minority at companies and gender issues such as maternity leave weigh heavier for company management in uncertain times. During a crisis, it’s generally men with similar background and age that determine who should be let go and who should be promoted or get a pay rise,’ Borchorst said.

http://www.cphpost.dk/business/119-business/47660-women-execs-losing-pay-battle.html

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Ancora una volta ribadisco il concetto: lottare contro l'inquinamento ambientale in tutte le sue forme ed operarsi per un futuro verde ed eco-sostenibile è un'iniziativa lodevole e necessaria che appoggio completamente, dimenticare però le dinamiche di genere connesse e non tenere conto del coinvolgimento delle donne sia come vittime dei cambiamenti climatici sia come agenti per un cambiamento positivo è miope. Cosi' come è miope che la stampa non parli a sufficenza di queste tematiche.

L'intervista che vi segnalo è molto chiara a riguardo.

Women have been playing a major role in the management of natural resources for centuries, dealing with the agricultural sector. In countries of Africa, in Congo for example, they produce 73 percent of the food and in Africa as a whole 50 percent of the food that is being consumed on the continent. Unfortunately, when you look at the other data you see that women only own one percent of the land worldwide; or when you look at the money from the new financing mechanism – or the previous financing mechanism – associated with climate change, you don’t find women as major beneficiaries.

The reason is that the whole climate change convention is gender blind.

Women are using the forests in a different way than men. In some countries, India for example, the role of women in protecting the forests to avoid deforestation has been major; and the same is true for Brazil or Guatemala. When it comes to forests and mitigation – one of the major areas being discussed – it is fundamental that in those countries that have forests, where women are users of the forests, they are involved in defining how the forests are going to be used,

http://www.awid.org/eng/Issues-and-Analysis/Issues-and-Analysis/Q-A-Gender-Missing-in-Climate-Agreements

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It is pointless to start a search for female applicants one week before the application deadline. If you want to increase the number of women in a male-dominated field, you have to make long-term plans. This is according to Tor Grande, who recently stepped down as head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU

“I think I have been successful in giving our female researchers confidence.”

“We have many talented students, especially women, yet they choose other career paths. It seems to me that female research fellows and researchers in our field perhaps need a little more acknowledgement that they are doing a good job. The men seem to have a greater degree of innate self-confidence.”

He believes the challenge is often to increase women’s interest in having the jobs that are advertised.

“This involves an awareness of how you approach women. There are some things that are important for women which may still not be so important for men, such as showing that the job can be adapted to family life.”

Three of the women hired in the department in 2008 were encouraged to apply. Grande believes it was important that they received a clear signal that they were well qualified and had a good chance of being appointed to the positions.

“In my experience, this is an issue you have to work with over time. Applying for academic positions is a matter of maturation. It is crucial to understand that some women who are potential job applicants need some persuasion.”

“What advice would you give other leaders in male-dominated fields who want to recruit more women?”

“I would encourage them to be aware of talented women starting at the student level. Notice those who are most able, find them good mentors and encourage them to apply for research fellowships so that several of them gain researcher expertise. I believe we will reap the benefits five to eight years later.”

http://eng.kvinneriforskning.no/nyhet/vis.html?tid=68371

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Honour violence is relatively rare in Finland, but support centres have been set up to help women from immigrant families who become victims of their relatives' wrath. For the first time, they're now seeing Finnish women fleeing the threat of honour violence.

"I'm afraid of my ex-husband, his brother and all his relatives," one woman told YLE's current events programme Ajankohtainen Kakkonen. She married a foreign man who believes that the family has the right to control its women's behaviour, and take punitive action to correct perceived digressions.

The Multicultural Women's Association Monika, which runs a safehouse for immigrant women and their children, says that more and more Finnish women are turning to them when Finnish authorities fail to understand the threat of honour violence. 

One problem is that Finnish authorities in social services and on the police force treat honour violence just like any other case of domestic violence. They don't take into account the fact that instead of a dispute between two individuals, honour violence pits a single woman against the wrath of a large group of people. 

http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/2010/01/finnish_women_victims_of_honour_violence_1376762.html

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“Threats against Jews have increased steadily in Malmö in recent years and many young Jewish families are choosing to leave the city,” Fredrik Sieradzki of the Jewish Community of Malmö (Judiska Församlingen i Malmö) told The Local.

“Many feel that the community and local politicians have shown a lack of understanding for how the city’s Jewish residents have been marginalized.”

Last year there were 79 crimes against Jewish residents reported to the police in Malmö, roughly double the number reported in 2008, according to the Skånska Dagbladet newspaper.

In addition, Jewish cemeteries and synagogues have repeatedly been defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti, and a chapel at another Jewish burial site in Malmö was firebombed in January of last year.

There are currently an estimated 3,000 Jews living in the south of Sweden, with most residing in Malmö, Helsingborg, and Lund.

About 700 currently belong to the Jewish Community of Malmö, but the group's membership rolls have been dropping steadily in recent years.

“It’s sort of a downward spiral,” Sieradzki told The Local.

When asked to explain why Jewish religious services often require security guards and even police protection, Reepalu said much of the violence directed toward Malmö’s Jewish community come from members of extremist right-wing groups, a theory which baffles Sieradzki.

“I’m not saying we don’t have problems with neo-Nazis, but the threats aren’t as concrete,” he explained.

“More often it’s the far-left that commonly use Jews as a punching bag for their disdain toward the policies of Israel, even if Jews in Malmö have nothing to do with Israeli politics.

“It’s shameful and regrettable that such a powerful politician could be so ignorant about the threats we face.”

In addition to the far-left, Sieradzki said that a “very small segment” of the city’s growing population of Muslim immigrants from Arab countries in the Middle East are also responsible for growing anti-Semitism.

“This is a small group of extremists who have decided to go after Jews wherever they are in the world and regardless of their relationship to Israel,” he said.
  

http://www.thelocal.se/24632/20100127/

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Meglio di niente.

The government declares that burkas and niqabs do not belong in Danish society but maintains existing rules instead of proposing new legislation to ban the religious garments.

Under the current legislation, schools can require teachers and pupils to make their faces visible and public employers can require the same of home helpers, social workers and educators. Social service caseworkers can require that a client’s face is not covered when her case is being attended, and the same goes for any identification procedures, such as entry or exit on public transport.

Finance Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen and Interior and Social Affairs Minister Karen Ellemann are now scheduled to meet with Local Government Denmark and the Association of Danish Regions to ensure that the current rules are fully implemented.

http://www.cphpost.dk/news/politics/90-politics/48084-no-burka-ban-forthcoming.html

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Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said definitively on Thursday that he is against introducing legislation which would ban women from wearing burqas.

“We don’t support creating a law to regulate it, it should be a free choice. It would only turn a rarely occurring problem into something bigger than it is. However, it may be relevant to have rules in certain workplaces for purely professional reasons but it's not something that should be solved through legislation,” Qarlsson told TT.

Reinfeldt highlighted the need for a society-wide debate that is not just restricted to the issue of burqas.

http://www.thelocal.se/24654/20100128/

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Finland's Evangelical Lutheran bishops have decided that same-sex partnerships may not be formally blessed in the nation's Lutheran churches. However pastors may pray with or for them, as long as the ceremony does not resemble a traditional wedding.

According to the document approved on Wednesday, clerics may not bestow their blessing on such couples, but may pray for or with them. They said this may use standard church prayers, but must not take place in a way that resembles a standard wedding with rings and vows, said Archbishop Jukka Paarma 

He called the decision to all non-wedding-like church ceremonies for same-sex couples "a compromise". Paarma added that the local parish must approve use of its facilities, and that any cleric or church official may decline to carry out such a ceremony in line with his or her conscience. 

http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/2010/02/lutheran_bishops_say_no_to_same-sex_weddings_1435044.html

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In 2009, a chapel serving the city's 700-strong Jewish community was set ablaze. Jewish cemeteries were repeatedly desecrated, worshippers were abused on their way home from prayer, and "Hitler" was mockingly chanted in the streets by masked men.

"I never thought I would see this hatred again in my lifetime, not in Sweden anyway," Mrs Popinski told The Sunday Telegraph.

"This new hatred comes from Muslim immigrants. The Jewish people are afraid now."

The future looks so bleak that by one estimate, around 30 Jewish families have already left for Stockholm, England or Israel, and more are preparing to go.

With its young people planning new lives elsewhere, the remaining Jewish households, many of whom are made up of Holocaust survivors and their descendants, fear they will soon be gone altogether. Mrs Popinski, an 86-year-old widow, said she has even encountered hostility when invited to talk about the Holocaust in schools.

"Muslim schoolchildren often ignore me now when I talk about my experiences in the camps," she said. "It is because of what their parents tell them about Jews. The hatreds of the Middle East have come to Malmo. Schools in Muslim areas of the city simply won't invite Holocaust survivors to speak any more."

The city's synagogue has guards and rocket-proof glass in the windows, while the Jewish kindergarten can only be reached through thick steel security doors

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/sweden/7278532/Jews-leave-Swedish-city-after-sharp-rise-in-anti-Semitic-hate-crimes.html

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“The Norwegian School of Sport Sciences has good gender balance, including at the professor level, compared with the rest of the university and university college sector. This is related to the fact that NSSS has focused on research that incorporates gender and gender equality perspectives and has set aside funding for this. Research of this type produces valuable knowledge for the field of sport and increases the recruitment of women to academic positions,” wrote the Kif committee in its evaluation. The committee also praises the school not only for seeing the connections between the research profile and the recruitment of women, but for doing something about it as well.

During the award ceremony, Aasland stressed that universities and university colleges bear a great responsibility for strengthening gender equality in Norway.

http://eng.kvinneriforskning.no/nyhet/vis.html?tid=69475

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C'è del marcio in Norvegia. Vergogna, vergogna, vergogna!

It was in June of last year that Mahdi Hassan of Tynset was named the ”Role Model of the Year.”  The point of the prize is for the Ministry of Children, Equality, and Social Inclusion to salute energetic souls who perform a major and important service to their local communities.  The award is meant to go to people who are good role models, who promote anti-discrimination, and who establish dialogue across generational lines.  

As early as last summer, Hassan told the newspaper Arbeidets Rett that he wants a ban on homosexuality, based on the Koran: “Homosexuality is prohibited in the Koran, and I believe in my religion.”   Now Arbeidets Rett has asked Hassan if that is still his opinion, and it is.  The head of the Norwegian LGBT Association, Karen Pinholt, doesn’t thinks this man is a good role model: “It appears as if the Ministry of Inclusion has forgotten to include gay people here.”   

But if Mahdi Hassan agrees in principle with a ban on homosexuality, he does not oppose, in principle, the death penalty for gays: “That must be up to each individual country to decide,” he told the newspaper. 

http://www.rights.no/publisher/publisher.asp?id=59&tekstid=3343

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The challenge, then, is not to get more women in the universities since they already make up a high percentage, the challenge is to maintain them in research and to make the journey on the career ladder just as easy for women as it is for men.

To prepare girls for a scientific career we must work on those stereotypes from a very early age. The encouragement and support from parents and teachers in this respect is highly valuable in order for girls and young women to see a scientific career as a plausible career path. But, changing dominant stereotypes is not something that can be done overnight, but it is nevertheless an important issue that needs our utmost attention.

The first step is therefore to increase the awareness of the problem. In my report on women and science, adopted by the European Parliament in May 2008, I highlight the need for a critical look at the assessment groups and selection committees in universities.

On a concluding note I strongly believe we need more women in science

http://www.cphpost.dk/news/commentary/142-commentary/48543-opinion-we-need-more-women-in-science.html

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Dal 1960, anno in cui le prime donne sono diventate prete nella Chiesa di Svezia, sono passati 50 anni. Ora è il momento di celebrare. In questo caso occorre dirlo "You have come a long way, baby!". E non mi vengano a raccontare la solita storiella che tutte le religioni sono alla stessa maniera misogine perchè i fatti dimostrano che cosi' non è. I luterani svedesi sono avanti e meritano un bel plauso.

http://www.svenskakyrkan.se/default.aspx?id=100243&did=394579

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A higher number of women directors leads to greater emphasis on competence-building in the board. A high percentage of women also reduces the board’s conflict level. This has made Norwegian boards more effective, according to a new study from BI Norwegian School of Managemen

More countries are beginning to see Norway as a pioneer in the work to get more women elected into leadership positions in both the private and public sector.

Does it make a difference?
Morten Huse, Professor at the BI Norwegian School of Management, has been trying to find out whether more women directors have led to de facto changes in the work of corporate boards. And if so, what results can be attributed directly to the female factor?

They found that boards with high female representation spend more time working on strategic control than boards with fewer women.

This includes work relating to management strategy, to how the organisation performs its tasks and to health, environment and safety. These are areas that require high analytical and visionary skills.

The researchers found no differences in the boards when it came to solving more operational, routine board work (budgets, following up accounts). These are tasks the corporate boards solve equally well, whether they have few or many women in their midst.

 http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=71042&CultureCode=en

 

 

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Il problema persiste, lo avevo già segnalato in passato.

Now the 32-year-old law firm associate feels the welcome for Jews is running out, and he is moving to Israel with his wife and two children in May. He says he knows at least 15 other Jews who are leaving for a similar reason.

That reason, he says, is a rise in hate crimes against Jews in Malmo, and a sense that local authorities have little desire to deal with a problem that has exposed a crack in Sweden's image as a bastion of tolerance and a haven for distressed ethnic groups.

Anti-Semitic crimes in Europe have usually been associated with the far right, but Shneur Kesselman, an Orthodox rabbi, says the threat now comes from Muslims.

"In the past five years I've been here, I think you can count on your hand how many incidents there have been from the extreme right," he said. "In my personal experience, it's 99 percent Muslims."

  Malmo police say that of 115 hate crimes reported in 2009, 52 were anti-Semitic. Bejzat Becirov, the mosque head, estimated there are about 60,000 Muslims in Malmo. But the number of Jews is about 700 and shrinking - it was twice as big two decades ago, according to Fredrik Sieradzki, a spokesman for the Jewish community.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/29/hate-crimes-force-jews-out-of-malmo/

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Experts say trend of men taking more time off work following their children’s birth is beginning of a social revolution

More men are choosing the pram instead of the desk, according to new figures that reveal an increasing number are opting to take the full ten weeks possible off work following the birth of a child.

In Copenhagen, the proportion of public sector fathers taking extended paternity leave is rocketing, with those taking the full ten weeks having almost doubled in the last four years. Nine percent did so in 2005, whereas 21 percent did so in 2009, with the average number of days off jumping from 26 to 38 over the same period.

The figures also hold true for Århus Council, where HR director Per Jensen noted a similar trend.

‘We’ve seen a similar phenomenon, especially among academics, who take the full amount of leave offered,’ he told Politiken newspaper.

‘This is a very significant development in which we’re experiencing a whole new generation of men with different values. It’s happening mostly in the public sector, because that is dominated by women who generally promote the idea that family values should be a priority. But there’s no doubt the trend will spread to the private sector,’ he said.

http://www.cphpost.dk/news/national/88-national/48604-more-fathers-taking-extended-paternity-leave.html

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Norwegian politics since the fifties, have been to pave the way for making able women and girls visible in the labour market and to be eligible to high positions in the economy and decision-making processes.

Headwords are:
• Greatly extended and improved parental leave rules and benefits.
• Flexibility in work-life when having young children
• A rapid increase in kindergardens and day-care centers

Norway “invented” the father’s quota in 1993. Our parental leave scheme reserves today 10 weeks for the obligatory, nontransferable father’s quota. 90 per cent of the fathers make use of their right to the father’s quota, and the Cabinet intends to expand the father’s quota to 14 weeks.

These strategies have given very good results. Norway is today one of the front runners (no. 3 in the world) with regard to the level of equality between women and men. 80 per cent of all women aged 25 to 66 are in the labour force.

We believe that talents are equally distributed between men and women. A majority of university graduates are women, and increasingly also from business schools. 

By introducing the quota-legislation, Norway was the first country in the world to demand gender balance on company boards.

Recent statistics also prove more women in management positions and in boards not covered by the law. Being on a board is a stamp of approval, they are visible and they have contacts - and as a result of this; offers of management position follows.

By this law gender equity in the business sector was put on the agenda and up for public debate – bringing in new perspectives and new stakeholders. Today women are more visible in corporate Norway than ever.

Still, it is of course important to keep in mind that any affirmative action is likely to fall through without a more or less gender equal society where women and girls are educated and working on equal footing as men.

 http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/bld/aktuelt/taler_artikler/ministeren/taler-og-artikler-av-barne--likestilling/2010/Global-Roundtable-on-Board-Diversity.html?id=599588

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Anche se la notizia è riportata all'interno di un articolo che tratta di un argomento correlato nella stampa danese, ritengo giusto segnalarlo. Evidentemente in Islanda intendono seguire l'esempio vincente della Norvegia.

Iceland also recently passed a law that demanded boards that are comprised of more than three people have each gender represented by at least 40 percent before the start of September 2013.

http://www.cphpost.dk/business/119-business/48730-businesswomen-against-gender-quotas.html

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The small island nation of Iceland (pop. 320,000) is preparing to legalize gay marriage.

The bill has the backing of Prime Minister Johanna Siguroardottir, the world’s first openly lesbian politician to be elected to helm a country. 

http://www.gayice.is/news/latest/336-best-gay-cities-article-gay-marriage-around-the-world

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Danish parliament passed a vote giving equal adoption rights to couples in registered partnerships yesterday, but without the support of the government.

The opposition, together with breakaway members of the government’s Liberal Party, voted in favour of the legislation which will allow all same sex couples in registered partnerships the same adoption rights as married couples from 1 July.

Denmark now follows the lead of other Nordic countries such as Iceland, Norway and Sweden in allowing equal adoption rights for all couples.

The new legislation was welcomed by the Danish National Association of Gays & Lesbians (LGBT Denmark), who called it a ‘big step’ for gay rights in Denmark.

‘The most important thing is that in the future it won’t be rigid legislation but a qualified adoption authority that will make the decision about who would make a suitable adopter,’ said LGBT Denmark’s Hans Christian Seidelin.

http://www.cphpost.dk/news/national/88-national/48896-gays-given-equal-adoption-rights.html

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A synod of priests of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland - the state church - rejected a proposal to allow homosexual couples the right to marry within the church.

After much contention, the proposal was narrowly defeated.

The issue of gay marriage is one of many points brought up in discussions of separation of church and state in Iceland. More recently, the money that would be saved if there were such a separation has also seen more prominence in the discussion.

http://www.grapevine.is/Home/ReadArticle/Icelandic-Priests-Say-No-to-Gay-Marriage

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La notizia ha un rilievo particolare in quanto si tratta della prima volta in assoluto in cui la Chiesa luterana in Finlandia elegge una donna vescovo.

Pastor, Master of Theology, Irja Askola (born 1952), was elected as Bishop of the Diocese of Helsinki on the second round of the election with 591 votes. She is the first woman to be elected as bishop in Finland.

Irja Askola graduated as Master of Theology in 1975, and was ordained as priest in 1988. Her home parish is Alppila. She works now as the Special Assistant in Theological Affairs for Bishop Mikko Heikka.

http://evl.fi/EVLUutiset.nsf/Documents/1FFFA301B08034B5C225773700519633?OpenDocument〈=EN

http://www.irjaaskola.fi/vaali/

 

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NO COMMENT! 

Denmark’s answer to Lady Gaga, decided to put on a free concert in the southern Copenhagen suburb of Ishøj, home to one of Denmark’s largest minority communities.

But Medina, whose real name is Andrea Fuentealba Valbak, didn’t get to sing more than a few notes before a hail of eggs began to rain down upon the stage. The perpetrators, reports tabloid B.T., were a gang of between 10 and 20 youngsters between the ages of 14 and 17 all ‘with an immigrant background’.

Their reason for attacking the songstress? Apart from taking exception to Medina’s hot pants and sexually suggestive song lyrics, it appears that the gang were provoked by the singer’s stage name which is also coincidentally the name of the second holiest city in Islam and the burial place of the Prophet Mohammed.

With the backing of most of the 3,000 strong audience, Medina ripped into the trouble-makers and told them that their behaviour was disrupting the concert for everyone else. But the strain took its toll, and the pop star ended up leaving the stage in tears.

Medina made no public comment after the aborted concert but her manager told B.T.  that Medina is a common in Chile, where the singer’s father originates.

Her official Facebook page received hundreds of messages of support in the wake of the egg attack, and Medina was also defended by Conservative MP Naser Khader.

http://www.cphpost.dk/news/local/87-local/49188-muslim-teens-enraged-by-pop-stars-name.html

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Iceland, the only country in the world to have an openly gay head of state, passed a law on Friday allowing same-sex partners to get married in a vote which met with no political resistance.

The Althingi parliament voted 49 to zero to change the wording of marriage legislation to include matrimony between "man and man, woman and woman," in addition to unions between men and women.

Iceland, a socially tolerant island nation of about 320,000 people, became the first country to elect an openly gay head of state in 2009 when Social Democrat Johanna Sigurdadottir became prime minister after being nominated by her party.

"The attitude in Iceland is fairly pragmatic," said Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson, a political scientist at the University of Iceland. "It (gay marriage) has not been a big issue in national politics -- it's not been controversial."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE65A3X620100611

Althingi members welcomed the move after the vote, saying today is a great day for everybody everywhere involved in the struggle for gay rights and human rights generally.

The bill will go to the President for ratification; but that is a formality as the Icelandic President has only twice sent a bill to public referendum in the history of the Republic of Icelandic. Also, public opinion polls suggest the marriage bill is extremely popular.

http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2010/06/11/iceland-parliament-votes-for-gay-marriage/

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Una buona notizia...

Støre, head of Labour’s integration panel that’s to present its report at next year’s Party Conference, argues there’s no place for a parallel system that makes judgements based on Islamic law. His Party has also given the principle the thumbs-down.

“We’re a constitutional state based on democracy, freedom of speech and religion, as well as equal opportunities and status,” says Støre.

Norwegian law forbids cultural traditions that discriminate against women, such as forced marriage and female circumcision.

“Practices not part of Norwegian culture shouldn’t be able to obtain legitimacy from alternative court systems,” he says.

http://theforeigner.no/pages/news/stre-bans-sharia-councils/

 

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“Teaching is communication, it is about being able to look each other in the eye and in the face and to be able to communicate with each other. In this context I argue that it is extremely inappropriate to allow clothing that covers the face,” Björklund, speaking in his capacity as party leader

Ann-Charlotte Eriksson, deputy chairwoman of the Swedish Teachers’ Union (Lärarförbundet), welcomed the Liberals’ approach, which she said would give teachers clear guidance

http://www.thelocal.se/28176/20100804/ 

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