The woman who wants Sweden's gender rating at a cinema near you
The woman who wants Sweden's gender rating at a cinema near you
A gender bias rating launched by Swedish cinemas had the world talking last week, thanks to our pick for Swede of the Week Lina Thomsgård, founder of Equalisters, and her efforts to kick patriarchy in the cojones one list of competent women at a time.
Thomsgård, 36, founded Equalisters (Rättviseförmedlingen) in 2010. The idea was simple: men get too much space in the public arena. They talk, they comment, they pontificate left, right, and centre, and despite an abundance of equally eloquent and competent women, men continue do dominate the screens, pages, and stages of Swedish public debate. Are female experts somehow considered less "expert"?
"It's an old habit," she tells The Local when asked to explain why journalists in Sweden so often seek comment from male experts.
"We're all so shaped by gender stereotypes about who should do what. And if you've always seen experts that are men, it may be a bit more annoying, or even scarier, to instead look around and ask a woman."
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Last month, Thomsgård was front and centre for the launch of the "A-märkt" campaign in which four Swedish cinemas started to rate films according to whether or not they passed the so-called Bechdel test for gender bias.
"Since we work to spread knowledge and point out skewed views and highlight alternatives, we wanted to be a part of launching A-märkt," she says.
http://www.thelocal.se/20131114/lina-thomsgard-at-equalister-wants-swedens-gender-bias-rating-at-a-cinema-near-you
