UN Women Representative appointed Minister of Equality in Sweden
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UN Women’s Representative in Bolivia, Åsa Regnér, has been appointed as Sweden’s new Minister for Children, Elderly and Equality, newly elected Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven announced yesterday.
Ms. Regnér joins the Cabinet as one of 12 women Ministers out of a total of 24 – an unusual commitment to gender parity at the executive level. She has previously served as adviser to Sweden’s Minister for Development Cooperation and as Secretary General of the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education.
Mr. Löfven declared that the new Government will be “a feminist one,” which gives greater attention to gender equality and enshrines women’s rights in policy. He said his Government will review rape laws to make consent a grounding principle; reserve more time for paternity leave; and introduce quotas if women do not hold 40 per cent of board positions at companies by 2016.
The Prime Minister emphasized that gender equality will get more attention and be mainstreamed through all the ministries’ work.