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How rising levels of hate are forcing women out of public life
01st December, 2025 01:46 PM
Increasing hate, threats, and harassment against female politicians are scaring women away from public life and forcing them to censor themselves, the Swedish government’s equality agency has said, warning that this poses a “big threat to democracy.”
Women’s safety in politics has come under heightened scrutiny in the Scandinavian country since October 2025, when Anna-Karin Hatt resigned as leader of the Centre party after only five months in office, citing hate and threats.
“To constantly feel like you need to look over your shoulder and [to] not feel completely safe, not even at home … I am affected by it much more deeply than I thought I would [be],” she said at the time.
Hatt’s departurecame three years after a man was found guilty of murdering Ing-Marie Wieselgren, the psychiatry coordinator for Sweden’s municipalities and regions, and of plotting to kill the then Centre party leader, Annie Lööf, at a democracy festival on the island of Gotland.
Lööf said she respected Hatt’s decision to resign, adding: “I also understand the reality she describes … I know how it feels.”
Public figures and researchers in Sweden say that the political atmosphere in the country, as elsewhere, has become more hostile and polarised in recent years. They say this is leading to censorship in public debate and having an effect on legislation.
Line Säll, head of unit at the department for analysis and follow-up at the government body the Swedish Gender Equality Agency, said the climate was “scaring away a lot of groups” and prompting many women to “think twice” about political engagement.
She added: “For us who work with gender equality politics, it is also going in the wrong direction when it comes to the government and parliament’s goals for gender equality – that women should have the same power and influence as men over society and their own lives.”
Säll claimed that many women, particularly younger women, feel “enormous vulnerability” in public office, which impacts their ability to do their jobs and lead a normal life. “It’s a very big threat against democracy,” she said.
Some find the pressure untenable. “We have a much higher proportion of young women who resign from political office in local politics, so it has consequences when it comes to censoring yourself, taking yourself away from public life.”
Sweden has long been seen as a global leader on gender equality and prides itself on its freedom of expression and demonstration laws that are protected by the constitution. But statistics show a different story when it comes to politicians.
The 2025 politicians’ security survey, carried out by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, found that 26.3 per cent of female elected representatives reported being exposed to threats and harassment last year because of their position. The equivalent figure for men was 23.6 per cent.
When it came to feeling vulnerable, the gender gap was markedly larger, at 32.7 per cent of women reporting such feelings compared with 24 per cent of men.
The overall percentage of people from a foreign background, regardless of sex, who reported feeling vulnerable was also significantly higher, at 31.5 per cent compared to 24.1 per cent of those from a Swedish background.
