against Women

Sixty-third session

15 February-4 March 2016

Item 4 of the provisional agenda*

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under

article 18 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms

of Discrimination against Women

List of issues and questions in relation to the combined eighth and ninth periodic reports of Sweden

Constitutional, legislative and institutional framework

1.Please inform the Committee as to whether the State party intends to conduct further reviews of its Constitution (para. 25 of its report (CEDAW/C/SWE/8-9)) to ensure that it is in full accordance with the provisions of the Convention, as previously recommended by the Committee (see CEDAW/C/SWE/CO/7, para. 15), in particular as regards the definition of non-discrimination against women. Please provide further information on the measures taken to adequately address all intersecting forms of discrimination against women belonging to disadvantaged groups.

Access to justice

2.The Committee notes that the State party has recently made significant investment in the justice system (para. 88). Please provide information on the specific measures taken in the framework of the judicial reforms to ensure that women have equal access to justice and indicate whether a study on obstacles to women’s access to justice has ever been undertaken and, if it has, what the results were. Please provide detailed information on the legal aid currently available to support women who are victims of discrimination and violence, including migrant women, in gaining access to justice.

National machinery for the advancement of women

3.Please provide updated information on the national machinery for the advancement of women. In particular, please explain how, in practice, the Minister for Gender Equality coordinates and supervises all ministries to ensure that they adequately address the rights of women within their areas of responsibility (para. 8). Please indicate whether a study on the impact of the merging of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman with the Equality Ombudsman (HRI/CORE/SWE/2011, para. 83) on the effective protection and promotion of women’s rights, including the development of relevant laws, policies and programmes, has ever been conducted.

4.Please provide information on the mechanisms of evaluation, on the results obtained to date with the implementation of the strategy for work on gender mainstreaming in the Government Offices 2012-2015 (paras. 7-12) and on whether the State party intends to continue with such a strategy. Please provide updated information on the draft third strategy for human rights (para. 57) and explain how women’s rights and gender equality are included therein. Please provide, if possible, a copy in English of the strategy for work on gender mainstreaming in the Government Offices 2012-2015.

5.Please provide information on the mechanisms and measures adopted to ensure the equal participation of women in the entire drafting and adoption process for the post-2015 development agenda.

Temporary special measures

6.Please provide specific information on temporary special measures that are in place or are envisaged, in line with article 4 (1) of the Convention and the Committee’s general recommendation No. 25 on the subject, to accelerate de facto equality between men and women in all areas covered by the Convention in which women are underrepresented or disadvantaged, in both the public and private sectors, in particular for women suffering from multiple forms of discrimination.

Stereotypes and harmful practices

7.Please provide detailed information on the results achieved to date through the implementation of the bill on education and accessibility-public service broadcasting 2014-2019 (para. 125) concerning the promotion of gender equality and the elimination of gender stereotypes. Please provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to address the widespread use of sexist images and gender stereotypes in advertising. Information provided to the Committee indicates that, notwithstanding some measures taken by the State party to modify the social and cultural patterns of the behaviour of men and women (paras. 129-133), although men avail themselves of their paternity leave, women continue to take the majority of parental leave and perform more unpaid domestic work. In view of this, please provide information on further measures envisaged to ensure that women and men share equal parental responsibilities and perform an equal share of unpaid work.

8.Please provide updated information on the specific results achieved through the commissions of the Östergötland County Administrative Board and the National Board of Health and Welfare to prevent female genital mutilation and child and forced marriages (paras. 102-106). Please clarify why the administrative boards of other counties are not involved in such preventive activities and provide further information and disaggregated data on the prevalence of those practices in all counties.

Violence against women

9.Please provide updated information on the final report of the national coordinator against violence in close relationships (para. 63) and on the continuity of that appointment, and clarify which entity is currently in charge of coordinating the work relating to violence against women, including violence outside close relationships. Please provide updated information on the status of the inquiry appointed to draw up a national strategy to eliminate men’s violence against women (para. 64). Please provide detailed information on the current legislation relating to sex crimes (para. 66), including the definition of sexual consent, and on the interpretation by the judiciary of sexual consent.

10.Please provide updated information on the various bodies tasked with evaluating the support services for victims of violence or those who are at risk of violence, including Roma women, girls and young women, and women with disabilities (paras. 80-81, 84 and 108-109), and on the recent measures taken to ensure that victims of violence, including migrant women, have access to high‑quality protection and support services, including shelters and rehabilitation programmes.

11.Please indicate whether an assessment of the causes of violence against women has been carried out. The Committee notes the information on crime statistics (para. 116). Please provide additional disaggregated data on:

(a)The forms and prevalence of violence against women and girls (specifying the types of honour-related crime);

(b)The number of cases of violence against women investigated and prosecuted, including information on the punishment imposed on the perpetrator;

(c)The number of women who are victims of violence who have been assisted and rehabilitated;

(d)The number of women who are victims of violence who have been compensated;

(e)The number of non-contact orders (restraining orders) issued as a percentage of the total number of orders requested.

Trafficking and exploitation of prostitution

12.Please provide detailed information on the specific results achieved through the implementation of the action plan against prostitution and human trafficking for sexual purposes (para. 135) and indicate whether the State party intends to review the action plan or to continue with its implementation. Please indicate the measures envisaged to overcome the existing obstacles to assessing the prevalence of trafficking and to obtaining disaggregated data concerning trafficking and the exploitation of prostitution (paras. 145 and 148).

13.Please provide updated information on the results of the commissions of the National Board of Health and Welfare (para. 149) and the Stockholm County Administrative Board (para. 150) regarding the scale of the exploitation of prostitution, including the exploitation of young women through the Internet, and the support services available to victims. Please update the information on the results of the commission of the Swedish Prison and Probation Service (para. 138) established to identify and support women who are victims of trafficking or in prostitution.

Participation in political and public life

14.Please indicate the measures envisaged to increase the representation of women on the executive committees of municipalities and county councils and to prevent sex segregation in the assignment of responsibility for policy areas on committees at the municipal level (para. 165). Please provide updated information on the results of the 2014 general elections in terms of the gender composition of municipal and county council assemblies (para. 155). Please indicate whether the State party intends to use quotas and other temporary special measures to increase the number of women:

(a)In managing director posts and management teams in State-owned companies (para. 171);

(b)On boards, in managing director posts and in management teams within publicly owned companies;

(c)Chairing public boards;

(d)In high-level positions in foreign affairs, including in United Nations and European Union institutions.

Education

15.Please provide updated information on the total number of education providers whose equal treatment plans have been audited, giving the percentage of the total number of education providers and the specific results of the audits and indicating whether any of the institutions concerned has ever been subjected to financial penalties or other sanctions (paras. 189 and 191). Please update the information provided according to which 11.8 per cent of all pupils do not meet the requirements to enrol in a national programme (HRI/CORE/SWE/2011, para. 16) and indicate what percentage among them are girls, in particular immigrant girls, and what measures are envisaged to reduce that percentage. Please provide disaggregated data on the number of asylum-seeker girls who are not enrolled in school (ibid., para. 15). Please provide disaggregated data on the prevalence of sex segregation in vocational education and higher education (paras. 204 and 208), together with updated information on the measures taken to eliminate it.

Employment

16.It is indicated that, in 2013, 30 per cent of women worked part time, compared with 11 per cent of men (para. 250). Please provide information on the measures taken to ensure that women have equal access to full-time employment. Please provide updated information on the extent of vertical and horizontal occupational segregation and on whether the State party intends to use quotas and other temporary special measures to eliminate it. Please provide updated data on the employment rate of migrant women (para. 245) and women with disabilities (para. 249) and indicate whether an evaluation of the measures taken to date to increase their access to employment, including the provision of social benefits, has ever been conducted and, if it has, what the results were.

17.In view of the persistent gender pay gap, please provide updated information on how many pay surveys and action plans for equal pay have been audited by the Equality Ombudsman since 2012 and 2013 respectively, what the specific results of those evaluations were, whether any employer has ever been sanctioned for not drawing up an action plan, not carrying out pay surveys or not taking effective active measures (paras. 266 and 273) and what further measures are envisaged to eliminate the gender pay gap.

Health

18.According to the report of the State party, more women than men report discrimination based on the grounds of sex in their access to health care (para. 299). Please provide information on the outcome of the complaints, including information on the sanctions imposed on those responsible for the violations and the compensation received by the victims, if any. Please provide information on the measures taken to ensure that women receive the same quality of health care as men, including an update on the results achieved to date through the implementation of the strategy for quality and more equality in health care 2012-2016, and include specific information on the situation of women and girls with disabilities. Please provide updated information on the prevalence of mental health problems among girls and young women (para. 305), including an analysis of why girls are overrepresented in the group of patients subjected to compulsory measures, and on the measures taken to prevent and treat mental health problems among girls and young women. Please provide information on the results achieved by the two commissions established to analyse access to health care for Roma women and girls and to provide them with access to sexual and reproductive health information (paras. 309-310).

Rural women

19.Please indicate whether the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 (para. 354) includes specific measures to ensure that rural women and girls have access to health care, education, land ownership and management, agricultural support and economic opportunities, including income-generating projects and credit facilities, on an equal basis with men and with their urban counterparts. Please provide information on the monitoring mechanisms to ensure the adequate implementation of the Programme in all rural areas of the State party. Please provide data on the current situation of rural women and girls with regard to all areas covered by the Convention.

Disadvantaged groups of women

20.Please provide:

(a)Updated information on the implementation of the Strategy for Roma inclusion 2012-2032 (para. 34), giving the results achieved through the commission established by the Stockholm County Administrative Board to analyse gender equality issues among Roma (para. 38);

(b)Disaggregated data on access to education at all levels, employment, health and political and public life, and on incidents of violence, forced prostitution and trafficking of Roma women and girls; women and girls with disabilities; Sami women and girls; and migrant women.

Marriage and family relations

21.The State party mentions that, on 1 July 2014, the crime of “coercion to marry” was introduced and that it is no longer possible for children under 18 years of age to marry (para. 364). Please provide information on the number of cases of forced marriage and child marriage that have been prosecuted since 2014 and on the support services and compensation received by the victims. Please indicate whether the legislation provides for any exceptions to the law on child marriage and, if it does, provide detailed information on the exceptions and on how they have been interpreted by the judiciary.