Other Women-related Policies

Two other issues related to public policy and women also relate to sexual politics: rape and domestic violence.

Rape has not been publicly perceived as a major problem in Sweden, a nation in which crimes of violence seem rare. This attitude has been one explanation for the absence of a rape crisis movement in Sweden. Nonetheless, the incidence of rape annually is about 10,000 reported cases, the number having risen steeply with a greater willingness to file charges (Equality Ministry 1985:74). In 1976 the women's organizations of all the major parties as well as numerous other women's groups protested a proposed change in the rape law that would have permitted the courts to take into account the previous sexual behavior of the victim. The outcry and pressure of this all-party women's effort were sufficiently strong to lead to the creation of a new commission to rewrite the law. As of 1984, a new law was passed entitling women suffering assault to have someone with them during legal proceedings. The prior sexual behavior of the victim is not to be taken into account, nor is the victim's relationship to the offender. Legal aid for victims is now possible in some cases and is likely to be expanded in the future (ibid.).

The issue of domestic violence attracted belated (in

comparison with the issue in the United States and Britain) but intense interest in Sweden primarily in the 1980s. In 1978, the first Woman's House under the auspices of a feminist group in Göteborg (Gothenburg), combining a shelter with other activities, was opened. Elsewhere, as in Orebro, the community was responsible for funding a crisis center. It appears that more avowedly feminist groups have sometimes had difficulty obtaining funding from their local councils; nonetheless, about a hundred shelters exist today in Sweden (interview, Hedlund, 1986). Because Sweden lacks both a philanthropic and a voluntary action tradition and citizens expect the state to assume responsibility for all social services and needs, the likelihood of an independent shelter movement enduring is limited. Funding is sometimes forthcoming at the municipal level, and the National Organization for Women's Shelters (RUKS) has been established. This new organization is entitled to special funding of about 100,000 SEK annually from a special government fund created for women's groups (interview, Ohnfelt, 1986). Wife beating has been open to public prosecution only since 1982. At that time the law was amended so that the victimized woman herself did not have to prefer charges against the man or plead in court. Domestic assault had formerly been indictable only by information, meaning that no charges could be filed unless the woman herself reported them. The change means that a neighbor or police officer can prefer charges, the upshot being an increase in the number of complaints filed (Equality Ministry 1985:73).

Although the shelter movement initially was feminist in impetus, and marks a rare case of public acceptance, as in the United States today its influences are mixed (interview, Boye, 1986). Shelter employees are paid and view their work as a job just like any other. National action

on battered women has been followed by a report undertaken by the Social Services Department of the government. However, statistics on the actual incidence of domestic violence are exceedingly difficult to obtain. The treatment of offending males seems to have taken a somewhat different turn in Sweden than in the United Kingdom and, especially, the United States. In the main, punishment, other than short jail sentences, is often eschewed in favor of providing therapeutic treatment for men. A men's shelter has even been formed in Göteborg to provide support for troubled men. Hence, the Swedish approach stresses rehabilitation rather than punitive treatment, with offenders also seen as "victims" (Equality Ministry 1985:75). As of March 1985, the Swedish government decided to award grants to encourage shelters to develop their activities further.