Prostitution: “clients are guilty, women are victims”

“We call it a normative law.  Which means it sets the norms for men in Sweden.  Today when you speak to Swedish men, they will tell you it is appalling to buy a woman.  We have changed the way people think”, states Wiveca Holst revealing the double agenda behind the Swedish 1999 law on prostitution.

In a world where prostitution and trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is on the up, a small group of European countries is forming against the general “liberal” Western tendency.  Last week, on Monday April 20 2009, Iceland joined Norway and Sweden in making the purchase of sex illegal.  It also joined their moral stance by passing a law which considers prostitution a form of violence against women where the prostituted woman is a systematic victim who cannot be prosecuted.

Wiveca Holst, 60, is a member of the board of the Swedish Women’s Lobby.  Having started out as an activist in the 1970s, she is today involved with several projects from creating a museum on women’s history to working in shelters on violence against women.  She talks to Vita Europe on the never ending struggle for gender equality, Sweden’s famous prostitution legislation, and Sweden’s role as leader for women’s rights.

 

How did you come to be board member of the Swedish Women’s Lobby?

I have been active in the women’s movement since the 1970s.  Initially, it was a move made for very practical reasons.  I had just had my first child and realised that the structures in place to allow me to go to university or work were close to nil.  That’s how the women’s movement really started of course, with the issue of child care.  Then one thing I have come to notice over the years is that the more you work with women’s rights, the more you learn about the discrimination against women.  So that’s also the time I came to learn more about violence against women, rape and so on.

After years of working in the field, I was elected to the lobby board.  I am very happy about this as it means that I have the opportunity to work with issues close to my heart like prostitution, human trafficking and violence against women.

 

From abroad, we have a perception of Sweden as the country where women’s rights are highly advanced.  Are you still fighting for anything?  If so, what are the main fights?

Of course there are still so many fights!

At the moment we have a less sympathetic government.  So we are expecting fights when it comes to abortions and our law regarding prostitution, which we are worried they will want to change.

Also in this time of financial crisis, the amount of women hit is much higher than the amount of men.  Municipalities tend to spend less on women, women have lower pensions, a majority of the elderly are women, etc.  We are seeing this especially through gender budgeting.

These are just a few examples, there are so many fights you see.

 

What do you mean by “gender budgeting”?

Gender budgeting is a great tool we use to look at gender inequality.  It basically entails analysing official budgets from the governments or the municipality for example.  When you do this you put your “glasses” on and look at how the money is spent, what kind of areas the money is going into, and whether it is being spent on men or women.

What we can see is that the money from the government is going to be almost systematically more favourable for men.  If you look at unemployment, or disability for instance, you can see that men receive much more assistance and help. 

With gender budgeting it becomes apparent that society is much more active in helping men than women.

 

You refer to the Swedish law on prostitution as one of your future possible fights.  Could you tell me more about it, and how hard it was to get through in the first place?

Our law, which makes it illegal to pay for sex, but not to be a prostitute, was adopted in 1999.

It was very hard to get passed.  Women’s organisations had been working on it for years before it was final; but in the end the women’s organisations, women politicians and more and more men were united.  It was also a time we came to agree over something major in Sweden.  It was not so much to do with prostitution, but with the moral groundings of our society.  You see, we came to ask ourselves was what was acceptable and what was not in a society that strives for equality between women and men.  One of the things we decided could not exist was the possibility to buy another person. 

I think most Swedish people are happy with the law.  A recent survey showed that 86% of the population is in favour of the law.

 

You say that the 1999 law was not just to do with prostitution, but with your society and gender equality.  Could you elaborate?

Yes the law is not just about prostitution.

We were taking a stance on many issues.  We agreed that prostitution is a form of male violence against women; and violence against women is not acceptable in a country where you want equality between men and women.  It is all seen in a context of equality. 

The law also has another aspect.  We call it a normative law.  Which means it sets the norms for men in Sweden.  Today when you speak to Swedish men, I think more and more of them, from the bottom of their hearts, will tell you it is appalling to buy a woman.  You see it changes the way you are thinking.

 

Would you say the law has worked in so far as the prostitution industries and human trafficking are concerned?

Yes.  It has not gone underground as people say.  It has diminished a lot.  We have very few cases of trafficked women every year.  Sweden is now a very expensive country to have prostitutes because you have to move them around all the time and you have to be very careful.

 

What countries seem set to follow in your Swedish footsteps?

Well, as you know, Norway followed last autumn, and Iceland last week. 

Great-Britain seems set to follow us too.

And then rather surprisingly for some maybe, the Netherlands.  Because right now in the Netherlands, the system is proving a disaster.    I have been told that they cannot cope!  We are seeing the Dutch police regularly come to Sweden to meet with their Swedish counterparts, and talk over effective strategies.  Initially, the Swedish police were against the law but now they have converted and they are in favour of it. 

 

So would you consider yourself a feminist?

Absolutely!  Born and bred.

 

 

www.sverigeskvinnolobby.se