Sweden considers replacing “father” and “mother” by “parent” in administration

In a government report, several proposals were made to make the Swedish family code more gender neutral. One of them is that concepts like father and mother should be changed to "parent". In cases where it is necessary to distinguish between the two, the wording "parent who has given birth to the child" and "parent who has not given birth to the child" can be used, Varlden Idag writes.

Gender blindness

However, women's rights organisations are worried about the developments. In an opinion article in Svenska Dagbladet, they speak out against the change of the family code.

"Sweden's women's organisations look with great concern at how people in Swedish public administration and legislation seem to be turning back the clock and falling back into gender blindness", they write in the article.

DNA

Replacing father and mother with parent is wrong because the parenting of men and women is vastly different, the organisations argue. "Motherhood is determined based on birth, while paternity is established through the mother's confirmation, presumed based on the fact that the man is married to the mother or with the help of DNA", the 30 organisations that signed the article argued. They point out that it is impossible to ignore biological differences between males and females.

"Using the term "parent who gave birth to the child", reduces women to objects", the critics complain. They believe that inclusion of a small minority that does not consider itself male or female should not lead to the exclusion of the majority of people."