Women in Leadership Blog 4
As my time here in Sweden slowly unwinds, I have now been exposed to a deeper appreciation and understanding of the ways in which this culture views women in leadership positions of power. While here, we were told that the city of Stockholm is ranked among the top ten countries to have gender equality. On the surface things appear to be quite equal however they too have much more room to grow. We took a closer look at some of the issues that we currently face in the United States and we see that Sweden does do a better job at being inclusive of women. They also have realized that gender inequality is a term that should no longer exist. As stated in my previous posts that Sweden has implemented programs and rewrote policies that now include more women's issues. However when researching about how many women are in the field of education, we see similarities to that of the United States. I have found that women teachers make up 82% of the primary level education professors while at the university level I have found that there is about 19% of women professors. Back in the United States we see those numbers to be quite similar, there is a higher percentage of women teaching at the elementary level compared to how many teach at the university level. The truth has now been revealed! There is much more work to be done to create that gender equality and stop the vertical segregation. What will it take to get the entire globe on board with the feminist movement?
One thing I do appreciate about the Swedish culture is that they openly acknowledge the fact that there are certain areas that need improvement when it comes to gender equality and they are well aware of the impact women have in society. In the United States it is looked down upon to talk about women's issues and if they are talked about, either nothing gets accomplished or the wrong decisions are being made by men and there are no women present in the decision making process. I think the major issue with our society moving forward is that there seems to be a misconception and misunderstanding of the term "Feminism" and what it means to be a "Feminist." So in case people were wonder what the term really means, it refers to advocating for right's for women and working towards making things equal for both sexes. It is the belief that men and women show have equal opportunities and equal rights. I think when people start to realize that this is not a "Bra-Burning," stereotyping of feminist, but rather a social and political act that will help the greater good of the society. By getting rid of stereotypes and expanding our horizons we will work towards that goal. Actively speaking out and being more aware of our own personal biases and how the society treats women will move us into the right direction.
