Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

DISCRIMINATION

Payday for woman denied job for being ‘too young’

A woman who was denied a job as a receptionist for being "too young" has been awarded a settlement of 50,000 kronor ($7,700) by Sweden's Equality Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen).

Published: 17 January 2013 10:23 CET

Payday for woman denied job for being 'too young'

The 20-year-old woman applied for a summer job as a guest house receptionist, armed with a CV boasting of experience in similar jobs and a secondary school education including a programme in the Hotels and Tourism field.

The guest house cited the woman’s age as the reason she would not be hired.

“Thank you for your application, but unfortunately we’re looking for someone older,” management responded.

The lodge justified the move by explaining they have a policy of only hiring people who are at least 22-year-old.

The job was eventually given to three other people, all older than the woman.

The slighted 20-year-old contacted Sweden’s Equality Ombudsman, which investigated the case and determined the rejection was a clear case of age discrimination.

“According to the discrimination laws, every prospective employee has the right to be judged on their merits when seeking work,” ombudsman Agneta Broberg told the Lag & Avtal newspaper.

“In this case, it didn’t happen as the woman concerned was deemed to be too young.”

The guest house admitted to violating discrimination laws, and the woman was awarded a 50,000 kronor settlement.

The Local/og

Follow The Local on Twitter

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

'Sweden should apologise to Tornedalian minority': Truth commission releases report

Stockholm’s policy of assimilation in the 19th and 20th centuries “harmed the minority and continues to hinder the defence of its language, culture and traditional livelihoods,” the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Tornedalians, Kvens and Lantalaiset said in an article published in Sweden’s main daily Dagens Nyheter.

“Amends must be made in order to move forward,” it said, adding that “acknowledging the historic wrongdoings” should be a first step.

The commission, which began work in June 2020, was to submit a final report to the government on Wednesday.

Tornedalen is a geographical area in northeastern Sweden and northwestern Finland. The Tornedalian, Kven and Lantalaiset minority groups are often grouped under the name Tornedalians, who number around 50,000 in Sweden.

The commission noted that from the late 1800s, Tornedalian children were prohibited from using their mother tongue, meänkieli, in school and forced to use Swedish, a ban that remained in place until the 1960s.

From the early 1900s, some 5,500 Tornedalian children were sent away to Lutheran Church boarding schools “in a nationalistic spirit”, where their language and traditional dress were prohibited.

Punishments, violence and fagging were frequent at the schools, and the Tornedalian children were stigmatised in the villages, the commission said.

“Their language and culture was made out to be something shameful … (and) their self-esteem and desire to pass on the language to the next generation was negatively affected.”

The minority has historically made a living from farming, hunting, fishing and reindeer herding, though their reindeer herding rights have been limited over the years due to complexities with the indigenous Sami people’s herding rights.

“The minority feels that they have been made invisible, that their rights over their traditional livelihoods have been taken away and they now have no power of influence,” the commission wrote.

It recommended that the meänkieli language be promoted in schools and public service broadcasting, and the state “should immediately begin the process of a public apology”.

The Scandinavian country also has a separate Truth Commission probing discriminatory policies toward the Sami people.

That report is due to be published in 2025.

Url copied to clipboard!