During the darkest months of the year, the Embassy of Sweden in Ankara, together with the City of Ankara and UN Women, shone a light on the problem of gender-based violence. The ‘Light the Dark’ project was launched within the framework of the global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign and consisted of three initiatives to make Ankara safer for women.

At a time characterised by complex challenges – devastating civil wars, large migration flows and climate change – the need for humanitarian operations is acute. Since 2017, Margareta Wahlström has been President of the Swedish Red Cross. She has many years of commitment to international humanitarian work behind her, within both the UN and the Red Cross.

The diplomatic missions of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden call on all stakeholders in Myanmar – men and women alike – to participate in ending violence against women and girls.

Read the opinion piece in Myanmar Times.

Sweden’s Ambassador for Arctic Affairs, Björn Lyrvall, on how Sweden’s feminist foreign policy has evolved domestically to advance gender equality in the Arctic and beyond.

16 days, 16 men, 16 ways to express masculinity. By involving men in its gender equality work, the Swedish Embassy in Harare created visibility for and engaged an obvious, but often overlooked, target group for Sweden’s feminist foreign policy.

During 2019–2020, several international commitments on gender equality celebrate their anniversaries. The United Nations and its Member States are celebrating these commitments in various ways in what is a ‘super year for gender equality’. 

The members of the G7’s Gender Equality Advisory Council are urging countries to ditch archaic and discriminatory laws and promote empowerment.

“Sweden’s Feminist Foreign Policy is not a replacement or an addition to foreign policy; it is about applying a gender equality perspective across all foreign policy matters.”

The Consul General of Sweden in Istanbul, Therese Hydén, explains what Sweden’s feminist foreign policy means in practice.

Last year, the first major WikiGap initiative was carried out at some 50 missions abroad around the world. WikiGap has now spread beyond the Swedish Foreign Service and generated more than 32 000 new and expanded Wikipedia articles on prominent women in various fields. Meet one of the most productive editors: Andriy Hrytsenko from Ukraine.

Sweden has the lowest female-to-male ratio of average time spent on unpaid domestic, care, and volunteer work. Good, of course, but there is more to be done. The new report State of the World's Fathers has a big ambition: helping to achieve equality in unpaid care work – and, by extension, equality between women and men, girls and boys – at home, at work, and in broader society. Check it out! 

Sudan is one of the most difficult countries in the world for children to grow up in. UNICEF is working to prevent the genital mutilation of girls and to create safe environments for children who grow up in conflict zones or as refugees.

Sweden is a major donor to the programme, which reached 580,000 children in 2017.