Sweden prides itself on equality – so why is its political gender gap growing?

Which party Swedes are most likely to back when they go to the polls could depend in part on their gender. Photograph: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Which party Swedes are most likely to back when they go to the polls could depend in part on their gender. Photograph: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images Analysis Sweden prides itself on equality – so why is its political gender gap growing? Miranda Bryant in Södertälje As general election looms, survey shows twice as many men as women support far-right Sweden Democrats One is led by Sweden’s first female prime minister, Magdalena Andersson , and has promised smaller school-class sizes, more housing and free dental care for young people. The other, led by Jimmie Åkesson , has neo-Nazi roots and has pledged to lower taxes, improve public safety and treat “anti-Swedishness” as a hate crime. In the run-up to Sweden’s general election in September, the Social Democrats and the Sweden Democrats are placed first and second respectively in the polls, and between them are expected to scoop up more than 50% of the vote. But which party Swedes are most likely to back could depend in part on their gender, amid a widening gap between male and female voters. View image in fullscreen Moska Hassas, the chair of the Social Democrats youth association, says there has been a ‘sick backlash’ in attitudes towards women. Photograph: Josefine Stenersen/The Guardian The 2022 election brought a record-breaking gender gap between men and women, and the latest statistics show that in September the gulf is likely to be even wider: a recent survey by Statistics Sweden found that twice as many men as women support the far-right Sweden Democrats, while female support for the Social Democrats is 10 percentage points higher than its male equivalent. If only women voted, the left-leaning bloc, led by Andersson’s party, would gain 64% of the vote, the survey found. If only men voted, the right-leaning parties, with the current prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, of the Moderates at the helm, would get 51%. Why, in Europe’s supposedly most gender-equal country, does gender play such a big role? Lena Wängnerud, a political science professor at the University of Gothenburg, said the move leftward of women and rightward of men had been happening since the 1970s, but that in recent years the Sweden Democrats had replaced the centre-right Moderates as the main choice for men. Graph showing gender voting gap Her research showed that men in the private sector were most inclined to vote rightwing, driven by support for lower taxes, a smaller public sector and less immigration, she said. “The fact that women have not shifted to the right to the same extent, regardless of whether they work in the public or private sector, stems from their greater reliance on a well-functioning welfare state, given that they still bear the primary responsibility for caregiving in the private sphere.” Nelly Ailo, 41, a pharmacy assi