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Mayor of Stockholm: ‘You can be a mother and a fantastic politician’

Mayor of Stockholm Anna König Jerlmyr talks about her vision for the city's future, why she wants more girls to play chess and what makes Stockholm 'A Woman's Place'.

Published: 8 March 2019 09:01 CET
Mayor of Stockholm: ‘You can be a mother and a fantastic politician’
Mayor of Stockholm Anna König Jerlmyr

I think Stockholm is a fantastic place to be a woman. We are very aware of things like gender issues, equality and women’s rights. Though we have our challenges, of course! For example, two days ago I was sitting on a panel and we talked about FemTech and investment into female founders. A small percentage of venture capital goes to female founders and I think it’s such a big possibility for Stockholm — we need more investment to go to female entrepreneurs.

But we also see progress. According to a new study by Dr. Nima Sanandaji, CEO of the think tank European Center for Entrepreneurship and Policy Reform, women in Sweden now make more money than men in 9 percent of all occupations. And furthermore, a majority of Sweden’s young CEOs today are women.

When I was young, I felt like I had a lack of female role models. When I started in politics, I was 16 years old and the female politicians tried to be like men. They dressed like men and almost acted like men, and I could never relate to that. I feel really feminine and I like to dress feminine and be myself. But I think that’s changed now. You can be both, you can be a strong woman but you can also wear a dress, you can be a mother and a fantastic politician.

Read more about Stockholm’s ‘A Woman’s Place’ initiative

I think it was a British member of parliament who once said to me: ‘What are you doing here, you should be home raising children!’. I was also a member of parliament, it was at one of these European meetings and I was shocked. I think of Britain as an equal country, he was much older. But sometimes you get these questions and of course you remember these comments. They are very rare I would say. Most people are very positive. Now I’m president of Eurocities and when we went to Brussels they were so positive, saying this signalled a change.

I want to see more girls playing chess. I asked my son how many girls are in his chess club. None! I think chess is also a subject, if they are good in chess they are good in programming and mathematics. And we need more women to study engineering and become role models for others.

I am a really strong supporter of ‘feminist urban planning’. I work with NGOs about how we can have inclusive city planning. It’s also gender based, of course. If public spaces are safe for women, they’re safe for everyone. So we have to address women’s needs: it could be lighting, making sure it’s clean and that ground level is lit by lots of shops and restaurants. Safe play areas for children, too. 

Stockholm is a good city for women when it comes to the possibility to achieve your goals. It’s almost like the American dream but it’s the Stockholm dream! You can do so much. You have fantastic possibilities because of the flat hierarchies and lots of the employers are also very open to flexible working. And you have a tax deduction on services like cleaning and home help. Now I think women can combine a career and have quality time with the children because they are not cleaning all the time!

In Stockholm, we have a lot of informal networks for women. It would be best if both men and women meet in the same informal networks in the long-run. But for now, it’s an answer to the traditional male-only networks. I see the younger generations meet together but even at an early age they separate at school, they tend to play differently. It’s really important to encourage girls to do engineering or for boys to be creative. 

Find out what makes Stockholm ‘A Woman’s Place’

We are very tolerant and interested in new people. I hope so anyway! We are also quite a big city, and it’s a beautiful city. It’s a good place to raise a family. When people are asked why they chose Stockholm, it’s because it’s an equal city; men and women have the same opportunities and it’s a good place to raise children. 

In the next ten years, I want half of Stockholm’s unicorn companies to be created by women. It would be great to have a female prime minister in Sweden and to see more female leaders in the business community, as well as female innovators. I want more girls to go to KTH and study engineering and programming and to work with safety in the segregated areas. I don’t want to see any ‘honour’ crimes, it’s the goal that in ten years these will disappear. 

I want Stockholm to be an inclusive and open city in every way. Today Spotify can attract programmers from many countries where the culture is not so open and tolerant to, for example, LGBTQ people. Therefore, to work with LGBTQ rights is also a way of showing that this city is open and welcoming to everyone.

This article was produced by The Local Creative Studio in partnership with Invest Stockholm.

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WORKING IN SWEDEN

‘Reassess your cultural background’: Key tips for foreign job hunters in Sweden

Many foreigners living in Sweden want to stay in the country but struggle to find a job, despite having relevant qualifications. The Local spoke to three experts for their advice.

Published: 7 May 2024 09:00 CEST
'Reassess your cultural background': Key tips for foreign job hunters in Sweden

One international worker who found it hard to land her first job in Sweden is Amanda Herzog, who eventually founded Intertalents in Sweden with the aim of helping other immigrants find work in the country.

Herzog originally came to Sweden to study at Jönköping University and decided to stay after graduating.

“I thought it would take three months, maybe six months to find a job, I was prepared for that,” she told The Local during a live recording of our Sweden in Focus podcast held as part of Talent Talks, an afternoon of discussions at the Stockholm Business Region offices on how to attract and retain foreign workers in Sweden.

“What happened was it took over 13 months and 800 applications to actually get a job in my industry, within marketing.”

During this time, Herzog was getting multiple interviews a month, but was not getting any further in the process, despite showing her CV to Swedish recruiters for feedback.

“They were baffled as well,” she said. “By the time I landed my dream job, I had to go outside of the typical advice and experiment, and figure out how I actually can get hired. By the time I got hired, I realised what actually works isn’t really being taught.”

‘Reassess your cultural background’

Often, those who come to Herzog for help have sent out hundreds of CVs and are unsure what their next steps should be.

“My first piece of advice is to stop for a second,” she said. “Reassess your cultural background and how it fits into Sweden.”

Herzog, for example, discovered she was interviewing in “the American way”.

In the US, when asked to tell an interviewer about yourself, you’d be expected to discuss your career history – how many people have you managed? Did sales improve while you were working there? – while Swedes are more likely to want to know about you as a person and why you want to work in a specific role for their company in particular.

“A lot of people don’t know this, so imagine all of the other cultural things that they’re doing differently that they learned in their country is normal,” Herzog adds.

“Just start with learning, because it could be that you don’t need to change very much, you are qualified, you just need to connect with the Swedish way of doing things.”

 
 
 
 
 
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Networking is important

“Don’t hesitate to reach out for help and guidance,” said Laureline Vallée, an environmental engineer from France who recently found a job in Sweden after moving here nine months ago with her partner, who got a job as a postdoc at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

“You tend to insulate yourself and consider yourself not capable, but you’re not less capable than you were in your home country, you just need to explain it to the employers.”

Another tip is to network as much as you can, Vallée said.

“Networking is really important here in Sweden, so just go for it, connect with people in the same field.”

This could be through networks like Stockholm Akademiska Forum’s Dual Career Network, which helps the accompanying partners or spouses of foreign workers find a job in Sweden, or through other connections, like neighbours, friends, or people you meet through hobbies, for example.

Make a clear profile for yourself

Another common issue is that applicants are not presenting themselves clearly to recruiters, Stockholm Akademiska Forum’s CEO, Maria Fogelström Kylberg, told The Local.

“If you’re sending 600 applications without an answer, something is wrong. We have seen many people looking for jobs working in a supermarket, and the next application is a managing director post,” she said. “You have to decide ‘who am I? What do I want to do?’, you have to profile yourself in a clear way.”

This could be editing down your CV so you’re not rejected for being overqualified, or just thinking more closely about how you present yourself to a prospective employer.

“Which of my skills are transferable? How can I be of use to this company? Not what they can do for me, but what problem can I solve with my competence?”

Job hunters should also not be afraid of applying for a job which lists Swedish as a requirement in the job description, Fogelström Kylberg said.

“Sometimes if I see an ad for a job and I have a perfect candidate in front of me, I call the company and say ‘I have a perfect candidate, but you need them to speak Swedish’, they then say ‘no, that’s not so important’. This is not so unusual at all so don’t be afraid of calling them to say ‘do I really need perfect Swedish?’”

Listen to the full interview with Maria Fogelström Kylberg, Amanda Herzog and Laureline Vallée in The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers.

Interview by Paul O’Mahony, article by Becky Waterton

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