“Almost scary to raise questions about feminism”

Equality is not as important to young Swedes anymore.

– When you’re younger, it’s almost scary to raise issues related to feminism and equality, says Emma Liljegren, who is part of a shrinking group of young people who call themselves feminists.

When the analysis company Ungdomsbarometern last autumn asked 15,000 people between the ages of 15 and 24 about what they think is important, it turned out that feminism is on the decline.

23-year-old Emma Liljegren is the secretary of the association Feminist student teachers at Uppsala University, where she thinks there is a commitment to the issues among the fellow students.

Her interest in feminism began in her teens, although she does not describe herself as someone who has stood on the barricades. She says that it could be difficult to raise questions about feminism and equality, that things she saw as self-evident were questioned.

– To be met by this opposition is extremely frustrating, she says.

Incredibly boring

Liljegren sees several possible reasons for the decline in young people’s commitment to the issue, such as increased individualization and resignation at not being able to influence society.

– That is perhaps one reason why people think that equality issues or feminism matter less. It is very serious and incredibly boring, she says.

Tobias Hübinette, researcher and teacher at Karlstad University, who, among other things, teaches gender studies, believes that the reduced interest has a connection with the fact that right-wing populism has grown stronger in the West.

– It has really gone fast. I think we’re all taken to bed by this radical right-wing populist wave, that it got so damn strong. And that it has now gained a foothold among young people, he says.

Maybe issues like the “hen” debate and drag queens who read children’s books could also have caused setbacks, Hübinette believes.

Can stop off

Tobias Hübinette believes that there is a risk that gender equality work will stop.

– In the worst case, there is a risk that it will simply go backwards, he says.

– Partly because there are not enough people who want to defend what has been achieved, and partly there are also people, perhaps above all the younger ones, who don’t want it that way anymore.

But with such a high percentage of Swedish women working, the fight for equal pay, for representation and against discrimination in recruitment probably continues, according to Hübinette.

– All that is somehow so normalized in Sweden compared to other parts of the world. I find it hard to see that there would be a change for the worse, at least in the short term.

FACT Decreased interest

Read more