User:Sbarbe4/sandbox

Feminist Equality and Sweden

Many countries had their own ways of going about establishing feminist equality in the 60s and 70s. In America the feminist movement originally focused on inequality in the workplace. Only 38% of women held jobs, and they were limited to teachers, nurses, and secretaries. Many women of this era were college educated, and felt exasperated that they were confined to the house. A group of women decided to found an organization to fight this gender discrimination called the National Organization for Women (NOW.) American feminists have inserted themselves in state, local, and national levels of politics. In Britain, feminists played more of a secondary role. Britain has centralized, closed system and lacks policy networks. This makes feminist presence pretty insignificant. Both Americans and the British have developed opposition towards feminist groups and lessened their abilities to initiate political policies. On the other hand, Sweden has achieved the most equality. Although it was not the most effective, they still played a very significant role in establishing nondiscrimination policies. Women in Sweden began liberating themselves from their patriarchal society as early as the 1800s. They were permitted to attend school, conduct business in their own names, and gained equal inheritance rights. Although they had made some progress, Swedish women still had a long way to go. It wasn't until 1968 that Group 8 was created. Group 8, a militant, feminist movement in Sweden took up various issues, such as demands for expansions of kindergartens, a 6-hour work day, equal pay for equal work, and opposition to pornography. Initially the organization was based in Stockholm, but later local groups were founded throughout the country. Group 8 consisted of about 1,000 members held had no true leader. Together, the women of Group 8 created a sense of political activism through the media. They made sure female columnists and writers were hired by the two major newspapers in Sweden, allowing for a feminist voice to be heard by just about everyone. The group also sponsored housing set aside solely for women in order to help protect, strengthen, and empower the female population. Unfortunately, Group 8 never became a consistently strong organization because they were more focused on class than on gender. Group 8 has since died down a lot. Although it no longer holds a significant positions, it still publishes an issue of their magazine, "Kvinnobulletinen", every month. [[[:sv:Kvinnobulletinen|https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvinnobulletinen]]] "Kvinnobulletinen", also known as "Women's Bulletin" was started by Gunilla Thorgren, who was the chief editor from 1970-1975. The magazine was first released in 1970 and covered various feminist issues such as prostitution, unionism, women in the workplace, heterosexuality, and homosexuality.

Feminism and Politics: A Comparative Perspective

By Joyce Gelb 

(will properly site later)

Swedish Political Structure

As a liberal democracy, the Swedish system typically has little opposition to framework and rules for the resolution of conflict. The local government gives power to executive committees to govern at a community level. This distinguishes Swedish politics as well as their low level of political activism, with the exception of voting. The few women's groups that do exist in Sweden are more traditional rather than "liberationists," which leads them to be subject to suspicion. Because the society emphasizes consensus, minorities typically have difficulty developing and implementing movements for their cause.

Comments

I was reading through Feminism and Politics and I think the information you have is too similar to the structure of the book. Even if we cite it as a source, I still think we should paraphrase a bit more so it doesn't come off as plagiarism. (I know it's still underdeveloped - just thought I would note this)

Also, I'm not sure it's worth mentioning the EEOC. I understand your reasoning, but I think that it's taking away from the central theme of Group 8. I do think it's worth discussing how America started some of the movements but to mention specific organizations may not be as helpful.