Swedish politics: A spoil-the-men’s party

A new women's party threatens the ruling Social Democrats

MOST people think of Sweden as a bastion of equality, where women glide to the top and men readily push the pram. Many Swedish women think otherwise - and their frustration may reshape politics. A new feminist party is to contest next year's elections; if the polls are right, it could win several seats. That worries the ruling Social Democrats (SDP), who lag behind the opposition.

How could Swedish women need their own party? Some 45% of MPs are female (only Rwanda's parliament beats this), and for over a decade half of government ministers have been women. Female participation in the workforce is among the highest in the world. Men can take up to ten months off work on generous benefits to look after small children. Almost all political parties tout their feminist credentials.

Yet women have not closed the gaps in wages, pensions and access to health care. Men can take time off with kids, but few do. Hence the Feminist Initiative, a group of politicians and intellectuals behind the new party. It will focus on issues such as the wage gap and reforms of the rape laws. Sweden will not be the first country with a women's party: a variant was represented in Iceland's parliament from 1983 to 1999.

The driving force behind the party is Gudrun Schyman, former leader of the Left Party, who once accused Swedish men of being no better than the Taliban. In the 1990s she transformed the former communists into Sweden's third-largest party. But Ms Schyman was ousted in 2003 after a battle with alcoholism and a tax scandal. Her new party will hurt the SDP's two small partners: the Left Party, which has struggled since she quit, and the Greens. But the SDP, which has ruled Sweden for all but nine of the past 73 years, could lose votes too.

A panicky Marita Ulvskog, the SDP chairman, says the women's party could pave the way for a non-socialist government. There is talk of a new “women's network” and of more money to local councils to improve women's pay. It may be too little, too late to save the SDP.

A new feminist political party may challenge the established parties in Sweden.