The Nordic Countries Still Have a Rape Problem

Better gender equity is not enough to totally dismantle a patriarchal history

Nordic countries such as Sweden and Denmark have a reputation for beautiful scenery and nearly idyllic gender equality, but as with so many cultural narratives, the myth doesn’t really tell the whole truth. In 2019 Amnesty International (AI) released a report stating that “flawed legislation and widespread harmful myths and gender stereotypes have resulted in endemic impunity for rapists across the region.”

The report covers 4 Nordic countries, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Norway. Although these countries do have a long history of better rights for women relative to other places going back to the time of the Vikings, in general, a lot of the same issues exist as far as the role of women — something that negatively impacts how rape and rape victims are viewed.

The written sources portray Viking women as independent and possessing rights. Compared to women elsewhere in the same period, Viking women had more freedom. However, there were limits to this. Even if women had a relatively strong position, they were officially inferior to men. They could not appear in court or receive a share of the man’s inheritance. It was the man who had the political power.

A Viking woman had the right to divorce, but her father may well have agreed to that marriage for her without her consent. At least a divorcing woman retained her dowry and personal belongings so that leaving the marriage did not automatically signal poverty but for the most part, a woman’s place in society was tied to the position and status of her husband. In general, during marriage women spent their time caring for the home and for children, although they also managed the farm when their husbands were away from home.

Women were responsible for bringing up children and caring for the elderly. They did have the ability to become merchants, work outdoors on the farm and perform carpentry and leatherwork as well as practice medicine. Burials indicate women could achieve a high social standing in rural communities. The sumptuous burial of Oseberg especially shows women attained power, influence and wealth. But these women were the exception.

Today, despite things like mandatory parental leave for both parents after the birth of a child in Norway and heavily subsidized childcare provisions across the region allowing more women to stay in the workforce, old gender roles linger. Women are still expected to be primary caregivers of children and the elderly and to care for the home.

Many who can afford help choose not to, because there is a degree of stigma attached to outsourcing household chores in Scandinavia. Even the region’s most high-profile influencer and businesswoman, Isabella Löwengrip, faced criticism when she hired a personal assistant after divorcing her husband.

The AI report points out that many outdated views about women and rape continue and this helps to foster a system that sometimes turns a blind eye and is not supportive of rape victims.

Social stigma and a lack of trust in the justice system often mean that women and girls fail to report attacks, and those that do, are frequently failed by callous and prejudiced justice systems or outdated laws. One survivor told us she would never have reported her rape if she had known how she would have been be treated, and her story is typical in justice systems which are stacked against rape survivors.”

Whilst the situation facing survivors of rape is not uniform across the four Nordic countries, there are disturbing parallels among them whose criminal justice systems ignore, deny and tacitly condone sexual violence against women.

Outdated laws which define rape by use of violence rather than lack of consent have contributed to this dynamic. Sweden has since passed a consent-based law, and at the time of the AI report the other three countries mentioned were considering updating theirs to reflect the lack of consent as a key element of rape. However, it takes time for the culture to change even if the laws do.

The implicit assumption in law or in practice that a victim gives her consent because she has not physically resisted is deeply problematic since “involuntary paralysis” or “freezing” has been recognized by experts as a very common physiological and psychological response to sexual assault.

This focus on resistance and violence rather than on consent has an impact not only on the reporting of rape but also on wider awareness of sexual violence, both of which are key aspects in preventing rape and tackling impunity. The definition does not cover all cases of rape and thus some cases cannot be punished as rape.

Here are some of the things that Amnesty International discovered:

• Every year, around 50,000 women in Finland experience sexual violence, including rape. Most of those responsible for these crimes are never brought to justice. In 2017 only 209 convictions were secured for rape.
• (In Norway) Gender stereotypes and rape myths underpin attitudes of many people in the justice system. These damaging attitudes are reflected by one regional public prosecutor who told Amnesty International: “I have had a lot of student cases — decent young men who have done something stupid. It is not easy to convict a student who has come to this city to get a good education and who behaves well in court. He was drunk and horny and has done something stupid.”
• A recent study found that almost one in 10 people in Sweden agreed that gender-based violence against women is often provoked by the victim herself. One survivor told Amnesty International: ”I even got that comment from my mother. She said ’I have always tried to teach you how to dress.’”
• (In Denmark) Of the 24,000 women found by a recent study to have experienced rape or attempted rape in 2017 alone, just 890 rapes were reported to the police. Of these, 535 resulted in prosecutions and only 94 in convictions.

Although the Nordic countries are better in many respects around gender equality than most of the rest of the world, there is yet plenty of room for improvement. Despite some greater opportunities in the Nordic countries, the roles of women are still deeply entrenched, and old myths and stereotypes abound, contributing to a disgraceful dynamic around rape.

© Copyright, Elle Beau 2022