In a country that prides itself on being a champion of feminism and gender equality, the association of retired women is calling for an increase in pensions for women
Birgitta Sevefjord (R), 79, chairwoman of the "Tantpatrullen" movement (Auntie Patrol), leads a demonstration for better pensions for women in the old town of Stockholm, Sweden, in front of the Swedish parliament, while the lettering on the banner reads "We demand a new pension system". - The protest of The Tantpatrullen against the Swedish pension system is entering its tenth year, in the name of better rights for women.
Image: Maelle Lions-Geollot / AFP)
"Old ladies need more money!" a group of grey-haired women chants in front of Sweden's parliament, as their recurring protest against the country's pension system enters its 10th year.
During the warmer months, members of the red-hatted "Tantpatrullen" (The Old Lady Patrol) gather every Thursday on the cobble streets of Stockholm's Old Town, right across from Sweden's parliament. They have just begun their 2023 protest season.
In a country that prides itself on being a champion of feminism and gender equality, the association of retired women is calling for an increase in pensions for women, who are penalised by a system that favours people with high salaries who work well into their sixties.
"The pension system is supposedly neutral but men's and women's lives are not neutral," Brit Rundberg, co-founder and at nearly 90 the oldest member of the Tantpatrullen, told AFP.
In Sweden the average gap between men's and women's pensions is 28 percent, the largest among the Nordic countries, according to a recent study by the inter-parliamentary Nordic Council.