FEM-ABLE
Sweden
Good practices on women political participation
Västerbotten utan gränser – Västerbotten without borders
Politician's Safety Survey (PTU) in Sweden
Västerbotten utan gränser – Västerbotten without borders
- Objective
- Target group
- Implementation
- Results/Impact
- Lessons learned
- Transferability
- Resources/Support
- Contact information
The aim of the project “Västerbotten without borders” (VuG) is to develop, test and eventually establish a comprehensive digital healthcare delivery model. This project combines customized digital technology and the attractiveness of innovative work models for healthcare providers. In this model, the skills of the professionals are utilized regardless of where they are located. In particular, the VuG activities are based on the delivering of different healthcare services to Swedish patients from a virtual clinic established in Spain.
The objective behind this innovative project is:
- To provide high quality medical services in nursing homes and other medical care facilities and institutions by allowing professionals to conciliate better their work duties and personal lives.
- To provide more opportunities and therefore increased presence of female medical workers in these positions by taking into consideration that they often occupy the role of caregivers in their private lives.
- To ensure more stability and security for female health workers by enabling them to work remotely and conciliate their responsibilities.
- To increase career opportunities and projects for female workers in the Region of Västerbotten thanks to the possibility to pursue a career in the health sector and maintain longer term jobs thanks to new technologies and remote work opportunities.
While the target group of the project includes both men and women with medical background and willing to work in the healthcare sector, the project is conceived to respond to female workers’ struggles to conciliate work and family responsibilities.
Additionally, the project also targets in an indirect way health care and medical institutions as well as beneficiaries, as they have opportunities to benefit from more available and stable job candidates which may result in increased quality of the task performed.
The project was conceived and implemented for the first time in 2018 by Virginia Zazo and Manuel Gonzalez Garcia while working in Västerbotten and then moving to Australia. In order to continue perform their duties and combine different life areas, they incorporated a robot that allowed them to be “present” in a remote way in the form of “virtual clinic”. This firstly temporary solution was led to the reflection on whether solutions offered by digital technology could solve some of the challenges of healthcare. Ever since its creation and the support from the Region of Västerbotten, it has been implemented with success.
Due to its innovative aspect in the field of healthcare, the project was awarded the Vitalis scholarship in 2023 and was considered an initiative that provides benefits for individuals, businesses or society in the field of healthcare.
The VuG project was implemented in different medical and healthcare facilities in the region of Västerbotten attracting and featuring professionals from different countries (such as Spain, Finland, Portugal and Sweden) to perform their duties remotely. To date, a total of 11 professionals in the health field have been recruited and are currently employed in different facilities (nursing homes, health centres, psychiatry, clinics, among others).
The project has also resulted in diversifying and increasing the quality of healthcare in the Region of Västerbotten which is a real solution to the lack of educated professionals available in the area and the difficulties in recruitment.
The project has also had possitive impact on patients who appreciate the possibility to see the same professionals, have more extended visits and therefore increased quality and attention from the professionals.
This project proves to be attracting more highly educated women to Region Västerbotten in areas of work that are often difficult to integrate and stay in due to recurrent role of women as caregivers in their private lives, which often does not allow them to pursue long-term stable careers. It also is an example of a successful use of technology as a tool to create sustainable differences for the benefit of society with a special emphasis on more equal opportunities system developed.
The good reception and impact of the project has also proven essential the role of women in leading positions in strategic sectors (such as the healthcare one and the technological one) which results in tailor-made, more inclusive and sustainable initiatives that directly responds to real needs and issues in terms of equality.
This working method can obvious be applied to several locations within Europe and offers real solutions of high quality to problems related to poor healthcare provisions, lack of highly educated and committed staff and fewer real opportunities for women to pursue a long-term career in health care sectors.
Project’s presentation available here: https://youtu.be/wJdxpssCgbw
Region Västerbotten www.regionvasterbotten.se
Virginia Zazo virginia.zazo@regionvasterbotten.se
Politician's Safety Survey (PTU) in Sweden
- Objective
- Target group
- Implementation
- Results/Impact
- Lessons learned
- Transferability
- Resources/Support
- Contact information
- To measure Safety Challenges: to quantify harassment, threats, and violence faced by elected representatives, including women, in their political roles.
- Temporal Comparison: to compare safety incidents during election and interim years to identify trends and variations over the political cycle.
- Inform Countermeasure: to provide data for developing strategies to combat and prevent threats, violence, and harassment against politicians.
- Identify Vulnerable Groups: to identify factors making certain representatives more susceptible to harassment, including gender, age, background, and political affiliation.
- Assess Reporting and Support: to evaluate reporting rates and the effectiveness of support systems for affected representatives.
- Election Campaign Impact: to determine if election campaigns contribute to increased threats and harassment.
- Evaluate Awareness: to assess awareness of support systems within political organizations.
PTU aims to comprehensively understand the safety challenges faced by elected representatives, with a focus on promoting a safer political environment for all, including and especially focusing on the role and situation of women in politics.
The survey encompasses a wide range of elected representatives, including members of the Swedish Riksdag (Parliament), municipal, and county council politicians, and delegates from other political assemblies. This inclusivity ensures that the safety and participation of women in various political positions are considered.
By collecting data from these diverse political roles, the survey can identify any safety challenges faced by women in politics. This information can lead to targeted efforts to improve the safety and encourage greater participation of women in political life.
The survey’s coverage of both local and national representatives acknowledges the importance of women’s participation at all levels of government, promoting a more balanced and inclusive political landscape.
The PTU survey follows a systematic process to achieve its objectives. It begins with careful planning and design, outlining its objectives, formulating questions, and determining the research methods to be employed. Elected representatives are then invited to participate by completing online or paper surveys.
To ensure the survey’s validity, a representative sample of elected representatives is carefully selected, ensuring diverse representation. Once responses are collected, data analysis takes place. Patterns and insights are extracted from the responses to gain a comprehensive understanding of the safety challenges faced by politicians.
The survey findings are compiled into a report, providing an overview of the safety issues and trends observed among elected representatives. This report is made public and shared with relevant stakeholders, including policymakers, political organizations, and advocacy groups.
The survey results play a crucial role in informing the development of policies and interventions aimed at improving the safety of elected representatives. It provides data-driven insights to guide decision-making. In response to the survey findings, awareness campaigns and training programs may be initiated to address safety issues.
To track changes and progress over time, surveys may be repeated at regular intervals. This ongoing monitoring and evaluation ensure that the safety of politicians remains a priority and that interventions are effective in mitigating threats and harassment.
The impact of the PTU on women’s political participation can be detected and measured in several areas of interest:
- Safety Empowerment: The survey can empower women in politics by addressing safety concerns.
- Policy Measures: It can lead to policies and resources for women politicians’ safety.
- Public Awareness: Raises awareness of challenges, garnering public support for gender equality.
- Increased Participation: Encourages greater women’s participation in politics.
- Better Representation: Contributes to more gender-balanced political bodies.
- Long-term Change: Over time, fosters a safer, more inclusive political environment for women.
Patterns of victimization vary between women and men. While both genders experience victimization to a similar extent, there are differences in these incidents. For instance, women are more likely to encounter threats and attacks on social media, and a higher percentage of women reported that their most recent victimization incident had a sexual component compared to men.
Furthermore, women are more prone to worrying about their personal safety or the safety of their relatives in relation to their political duties. In 2018, this concern was highlighted by women who had experienced victimization. Their level of worry has consistently increased in each year the survey has been conducted.
The PTU findings in Sweden can have global relevance and be used in other countries in a way that:
- Researchers and policymakers can compare safety experiences.
- Effective safety measures can be adapted and serve as example for other contexts and other countries.
- Advocacy groups can raise awareness and advocate for women politicians’ safety in a more concrete and informed way.
- Scholars can use PTU as a reference for their research and more in-depth analysis of participation and reality of women in the political sphere.
- PTU contributes to international discussions on gender equality in politics as it shows trends, patterns and problematic areas that need improvement and further discussions.
In essence, PTU’s insights can nourish and be starting point and essential source for discussions, policies, and research worldwide, even beyond its original scope of study.
Next survey will be published in November 2023 and will be available here:
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.