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I den här rapporten presenterar vi resultat från forskningsprojektet ”Våld mot samiska kvinnor” som 2021-2024 genomförts av forskargruppen Lávvuo vid Umeå Universitet, på uppdrag av Sámediggi (Sametinget i Sverige).

Rapporten består av en kvantitativ och en kvalitativ del, samt fem åtgärdsförslag riktade till Sveriges regering.

De kvantitativa resultaten i korthet

Den kvantitativa delen av rapporten baseras på enkätundersökningen Samisk hälsa på lika villkor som genomfördes 2021. Resultaten har jämförts med Sveriges befolkning genom den nationella enkäten Sexuell och reproduktiv hälsa genomförd 2017. 

Det övergripande mönstret är att kvinnor är betydligt mer utsatta för våld än män, samt att samiska kvinnor 2021 uppger en högre våldsutsatthet än kvinnor i Sverige 2017, för de flesta typer av våld.

• Över hälften av de samiska kvinnorna har utsatts för sexuellt våld (55,5 procent), sju av tio har utsatts för psykiskt våld (68,5 procent) och nästan var tredje för fysiskt våld (27,9 procent).
• En större andel samiska kvinnor än kvinnor i Sverige i stort uppger utsatthet för de grövsta formerna av sexuellt våld, såsom våldtäktsförsök (14,1 jämfört med 10,6 procent) och våldtäkt (10,3 jämfört med 7,0 procent).
• En större andel samiska kvinnor än kvinnor i Sverige i stort uppger utsatthet för psykiskt våld, både sammantaget (68,5 jämfört med 50,9 procent) och vad gäller alla de former av psykiskt våld som undersöktes.
• Även när det gällde fysiskt våld rapporterade samiska kvinnor (27,9 procent) en högre utsatthet jämfört med kvinnor i Sverige (22,0 procent).
• Samiska kvinnors utsatthet för våld varierar med både ålder och geografi. Överlag var utsattheten högst bland kvinnor yngre än 45 år. Geografiskt var utsattheten för sexuellt och fysiskt våld högre bland samiska kvinnor i mellersta och södra Sverige, med undantag av Stockholmsområdet. För psykiskt våld hade samiska kvinnor i Jämtland Härjedalen en högre utsatthet.
• Det finns flera starka samband mellan olika typer av våldsutsatthet och psykisk och fysisk ohälsa. Upprepad våldsutsatthet (fler än en gång) är förenat med ännu högre risk för ohälsa, särskilt psykisk ohälsa. Starkast är detta samband när det gäller stress och självmordstankar.
• När det gäller diskriminering och rasism uppger en betydande andel av samer i Sverige att de utsatts någon gång i livet. Liksom för andra former av våld i denna undersökning visar analysen att en högre andel samiska kvinnor (44,5 procent) utsatts jämfört med samiska män (37,0 procent).
• HBTQ-samer är mer våldsutsatta än andra samer. Detta gäller sexuellt våld (64,6 jämfört med 30,9 procent), psykiskt våld (81,7 jämfört med 58,4 procent) och fysiskt våld (43,8 jämfört med 25,5 procent).

De kvalitativa resultaten i korthet

Den kvalitativa delen baseras på intervjuer med professionella som arbetar inom samhällets stödstrukturer för våldsutsatta i olika delar av den svenska delen av Sápmi.

• Intervjustudien visar att våld mot samiska kvinnor är en fråga som behöver förstås i relation till den bredare politiska och historiska, koloniala, och könade kontext som våldet utspelar sig i.
• Frågan om våld mot samiska kvinnor osynliggörs och beskrivs som svår att adressera – både i det samiska samhället och i majoritetssamhället.
• Kunskapen om det samiska samhället är låg inom samhällets stödstrukturer. Deltagare beskrev att samiska perspektiv saknas i styrdokument kring mäns våld mot kvinnor och i befintlig terminologi. Detta gör att förhållanden i det samiska samhället som kan påverka den våldsutsattas situation negligeras i mötet med samiska klienter, patienter och brukare som utsätts för våld.
• Frågan om våld mot samiska kvinnor beskrevs som ”känslig” och ”laddad”. Sammantaget framträder ett stigma kring frågan och en oro för att ”göra fel” eller bidra till fördomar och rasism mot samer, både i det samiska samhället och majoritetssamhället.
• Problemet med våld mot samiska kvinnor beskrevs som svår att adressera inom en redan marginaliserad samisk kontext, där värnandet av samiska kollektiva rättigheter har prioriterats.
• Det finns en rad särskilda förhållanden knutna till det samiska samhället som är viktiga att ha kunskap om och vara lyhörd för i mötet med våldsutsatta samiska personer och i arbetet för att motverka våld mot samiska kvinnor.
• Närheten och lokalkännedomen i mindre samhällen beskrevs som styrkor, men samtidigt lyftes utmaningar såsom bristande anonymitet, resurser, kompetens och insatser. Svårigheten att vara anonym och långa geografiska avstånd till samhällets stöd beskrevs som extra påtagligt i det samiska samhället. Stark samhörighet i det samiska samhället beskrevs som positivt men också potentiellt problematiskt när det gäller den utsattas situation.
• Bristande tillit till myndigheter bland samer är en potentiell barriär för att nå och stötta våldsutsatta samiska kvinnor. Den bristande tilliten relaterades till både historiska och samtida erfarenheter av okunskap, förtryck, rasism och diskriminering.
• Deltagare beskrev ojämställdhet och tystnad kring våld mot kvinnor i det samiska samhället, och att våld mot kvinnor ofta hanteras internt. Tystnaden knöts till en lojalitet med samiska män, ett ideal att samiska kvinnor ska vara starka och klara sig själva, samt en vilja att skydda familjen och det samiska kollektivet.
• Ett centralt hinder för utsatta kvinnor att lämna en våldsam relation beskrevs vara rädslan för att uppbrottet skulle innebära förlust av deras samiska sammanhang. Ens samiska identitet beskrevs till exempel som nära knuten till platsen och markerna och därmed som svår att upprätthålla vid flytt till en annan ort för att söka skydd.

Åtgärdsförslag till Sveriges regering

Baserat på de utvecklingsbehov som identifierats genom detta forskningsprojekt utmynnar rapporten i fem åtgärdsförslag riktade till den svenska regeringen.

1. Uppdra åt Sametinget att följa upp och samordna arbetet för att motverka våld mot samiska kvinnor.
2. Utforma en nationell policy för att motverka våld mot samiska kvinnor.
3. Utveckla stödstrukturer för våldsutsatta samiska kvinnor och flickor.
4. Genomför kortsiktiga utbildningsinsatser.
5. Säkra långsiktig kunskapsproduktion och kompetenshöjning.

Frågan om sexuellt våld har under de senaste åren fått ett allt större utrymme i Sápmi. I denna artikel, som baseras påden populationsbaserade studien «Samisk hälsa på lika villkor» (Samisk HLV) 2021, undersöks utsatthet för sexuelltvåld bland samiska kvinnor och män i Sverige jämfört med kvinnor och män i Sveriges befolkning. Analysen visaratt sexuellt våld mot kvinnor utgör ett mycket omfattande samhällsproblem i det samiska samhället, i minst sammaomfattning som i övriga Sverige. Samiska kvinnor rapporterar en signifikant högre utsatthet för flera former av sexuelltvåld jämfört med kvinnor i Sverige, däribland utsatthet för våldtäkt och våldtäktsförsök. Analysen visar även attsamiska kvinnor är mer benägna att söka vård samt polisanmäla efter övergreppet, vilket nyanserar bilden av en tystnadkring sexuellt våld i Sápmi. Utifrån ett urfolksfeministiskt perspektiv belyser artikeln hur könade och kolonialamaktrelationer samspelar vad gäller utsatthet för sexuellt våld i Sverige och att positionen som både kvinna och sameökar utsattheten för sexuellt våld, medan att vara man och same inte gör det. Sammantaget pekar artikeln på att bådekön och samisk tillhörighet har betydelse för utsatthet för sexuellt våld och därmed på vikten av att inkludera samiskaperspektiv i framtida forskning om, och politiska insatser mot, sexuellt våld.

This chapter reflects on how social constructionism and discourse analysis relate to the dominant theory and methodology of criminal law and legal scholarship in Sweden. Contemporary feminist legal studies in Sweden are often based on a social constructionist theory and methodology of law. Studies of criminal law and men's violence against women, however, are an important exception. In contemporary Swedish criminal legal scholarship, law is most often conceptualized as a formal, closed and coherent system of rules and principles. Criminal law has traditionally had a relatively low-key role in the Nordic welfare states. The defensive model of criminal law policy builds on neoclassical values and stresses that values such as legality, proportionality and fairness cannot be subordinated to the need to prevent crime through criminalization. Dogmatic criminal legal scholarship is comprehended as an internal systematic perspective within boundaries that are set up by the legislator and the courts. 

Feminists have long criticized how provocations narrative of a woman 'asking for it' functions as a legal 'abuse excuse' for violent men and confirms their rationalizations and justifications for violence. This article aims to challenge a particular aspect of provocation in Swedish criminal law namely, a tendency to individualize and subjectivize culpability in a way that suggests that the individual male perpetrator's specific understanding of his violence should be the perspective from which to understand and judge his violence. Criminal legal culpability is approached as an important aspect in the relationships between gender, power, and violence, and the author argues that the notion of culpability should be changed in two respects. The tendency to regard emotions as 'factual' should be replaced by an evaluative view on emotions and men's responsibility for their emotional responses to women should be judged by acknowledging how values and reasons intersect with power relations

I Förtroendeutredningens betänkande "Ökat förtroende för domstolarna" behandlas domstolarnas kvalitetsarbete, bemötande, domskrivning och mediekontakter. Ombedd att kommentera betänkandet har jag valt att inrikta mig på frågan om domstolars bemötande av parter och bevispersoner, särskilt vad avser institutionellt bemötande, personbemätande samt utbildningsfrågor. Utredningen står för ett viktigt perspektivskifte där brukarnas upplevelser liksom frågor om värdegrund och motverkande av diskriminering lyfts fram. Frågan om domstolars bemötande blir väl belyst i betänkandet och om utredningens förslag genomförs kommer bemötandefrågorna onekligen att ta ett viktigt steg framåt.

A strong assumption in Swedish family law that shared parenting and parentalcooperation post-separation or divorce are preferred creates, as in many otherjurisdictions, problems for mothers who try to protect themselves and their childrenfrom violent fathers. Changes in law during the last decade have, however,weakened the assumption that joint custody and extensive contact with violentfathers are the normal legal outcomes. This article analyzes how fathers’ rights discourses since 2006 have been visible in, and influenced by, Swedish law reformprocesses on child custody and related issues, taking particular account of thecontext of fathers’ violence against mothers. In the analysis, fathers’ violenceagainst mothers is situated within a Swedish gender equality context, and fourdomains of law and policy that are related to fathers’ violence against mothersare delineated as an analytical framework in order to understand the dynamicsof fathers’ rights discourses in relation to the law reforms. The study shows thatfathers’ rights groups have been active and that their discourses are visible in thelegislative documents but that the space for fathers’ rights discourses has beensomewhat restricted in law reforms since 2006. However, the author argues thatthe four law and policy domains seem to lack the ability to counteract fathers’rights discourses regarding economic issues. Moreover, discourses on children’srights, interests, protection, and well-being that are present within all domainshave been more influential on the outcomes of the reforms than gendered discourseson fathers’ violence against mothers. Even though gendered discourses onviolence seem to have played a role in counteracting fathers’ rights discourses,gendered discourses have struggled at the same time to influence several domainsrelated to fathers’ violence against mothers.

This article deals with the ways in which gender and race are recognized and addressed in Swedish criminal and alien law with reference to men’s violence against women with insecure residency. It offers an analysis of Swedish preparatory works and case law which seeks to unmask and problematize intersecting power structures and discourses in law. The analysis shows that a perspective on men’s violence against women as related to gender and power to some extent has been implemented in and had significant effects on criminal law, while the significance of race and racism has not been properly acknowledged. Swedish alien law is blatantly lacking in an understanding both in terms of gender power relations and of the ways in which men’s violence against women can be racialized or culturalized. The main conclusion is that there are significant processes of ‘othering’ abused women in both legal areas, but especially in alien law where abused migrant women are constructed as unwanted in the Swedish society when no longer fulfilling their function as men’s partners. The author argues that the notions that men’s violence against women always harms women and is about the assertion of power and control over women should be placed at the centre of an intersectional approach to law and policy. Such an approach will hopefully contribute to counteract current Swedish problems associated with a simplified approach to gender, race and men’s violence against women.

This article deals with the ways in which gender and race are recognized and addressed in Swedish criminal and alien law with reference to men’s violence against women with insecure residency. It offers an analysis of Swedish preparatory works and case law which seeks to unmask and problematize intersecting power structures and discourses in law. The analysis shows that a perspective on men’s violence against women as related to gender and power to some extent has been implemented in and had significant effects on criminal law, while the significance of race and racism has not been properly acknowledged. Swedish alien law is blatantly lacking in an understanding both in terms of gender power relations and of the ways in which men’s violence against women can be racialized or culturalized. The main conclusion is that there are significant processes of ‘othering’ abused women in both legal areas, but especially in alien law where abused migrant women are constructed as unwanted in the Swedish society when no longer fulfilling their function as men’s partners. The author argues that the notions that men’s violence against women always harms women and is about the assertion of power and control over women should be placed at the centre of an intersectional approach to law and policy. Such an approach will hopefully contribute to counteract current Swedish problems associated with a simplified approach to gender, race and men’s violence against women.

The aim of this article is to map the Swedish context regarding men’s intimate partner violence against Sami women and (1) discuss what knowledge and perspectives that dominates that context, and (2) reflect upon possible starting points formeeting the need for knowledge. The outline shows that men’s intimate partner violence against Sami women is a blind spot in Sweden. Important aspects, such as human rights and colonialism, are neglected in the policy discourse. At the most, the policy discourse includes abused Sami women in the problematic category “particular vulnerable groups”. The author argues for a need to problematize if and how responsibility is taken for addressing and responding to the violence and suggests a postcolonial and intersectional approach that centers around how the imbalance of power and control runs through abused women’s experiences. Finally, the author highlights how such an approach also is a matter of indigenous research ethics.

During the last 30 years, rape has been the subject of more government and official investigations and legislative changes than any other criminal act in Sweden. However, there have been very few policy initiatives that have explicitly addressed rape and other forms of sexual abuse. In addition, the underlying dimensions of gender, power, sexuality and equality have barely been recognized in law and policy-making processes. This is somewhat peculiar in a Swedish context, where equality and issues of gender and power have generally been highly influential in framing legal and policy responses to men's violence against women.

Men’s physical and psychological violence against women in intimate relationships is a serious social problem and contravenes the political goal of gender equality. Over the last few decades men’s violence against women has become a central issue in Swedish gender equality politics. Criminal law reforms have been carried through with the objective of enhancing criminal legal protection for women and promoting gender equality.

The starting point of this thesis, however, is that the ability of criminal law to promote gender equality must be questioned. Instead criminal law is at risk of producing and reproducing hindrances to gender equality and criminal legal protection for women. It is such processes in criminal law that are explored and analysed in this thesis, inspired by feminist legal theory and social constructionist theory, and through the application of discourse analysis.

The main purpose of the thesis is to explore and analyze how violence, perpetrator and victim are constructed in the criminal legal discourse of men’s physical and psychological violence against women in intimate relationships and what legal or social consequences these constructions might have. A second aim of the thesis is to throw a light on and analyze two major criminal legal aspects of men’s physical and psychological violence against women in intimate relationships. Firstly, how criminal law deals with issues of responsibility for the violence. Secondly, how questions about the use of criminal law are linked to possibilities and problems from a crime victim-perspective.

The analysis indicates two major problem areas. In the first, the victim is treated in relation to stereotypical conceptions of women exposed to violence. A male-gendered discourse on responsibility limits the possibilities for women to behave as actors in relation to men and still being offered the subject position of victim. In addition, a focus on questions such as “Why doesn’t she leave?” and “Why doesn’t she cooperate with the criminal justice system?” produces an understanding of the main problem of violence as being related to the victim. The second problem area concerns a tension between how criminal legal reforms, aimed at enhancing criminal legal protection for women and promoting gender equality, have been justified by the legislator and how mainstream criminal legal scholarship argues in the issue of use of criminal law.

The main aim of the Swedish Women’s Peace reform in 1998 was to enhance criminal legal protection for women exposed to violence in heterosexual relationships and to promote gender equality. However, these ambitions risk being contravened in a masculinist criminal legal system. One problem concerns how the victim is constructed in criminal legal cases. The author argues that moral balancing and discourses of responsibility and guilt in Swedish cases constrain the agency possible for women and suggest that a more comprehensive policy in Sweden must be developed to include violent men, their agency, and their responsibility for the violence.

I denna artikel problematiseras rättsutvecklingen av ungdomspåföljderna ur ett barnrättsperspektiv, med fokus på påföljden ungdomsvård och dess föregångare. Det huvudsakliga intresset är inriktat mot att bidra till den straffrättspolitiska diskussionen genom att visa hur den spänning mellan behandling och förtjänst som finns i straffrätten kan förstås och utmanas ur ett barnrättsperspektiv. Artikeln beskriver vilka rättigheter barn som begår brott har enligt internationell barnrätt, hur den svenska rättsutvecklingen på området ser ut samt belyser hur barns rättigheter har synliggjorts i straffrättsliga förarbeten. Författaren visar bl.a. på hur olika påföljdsfrågor kan vara problematiska ur ett barnrättsperspektiv och argumenterar för att barns rättigheter inte nämnvärt har inverkat på rättsutvecklingen av påföljden ungdomsvård trots att barnperspektiv har lyfts fram som en väsentlig aspekt under senare tids reformer.

Detta kapitel innehåller en berättelse om och våra reflektioner kring erfarenheter av en påtvingad nedläggning under 2018 av forsknings- och utbildningsmiljön Juridiskt forum (Umeå Forum for Studies on Law and Society). Vi börjar i en meta-berättelse om utveckling, framgång, motstånd och fall. Ur denna berättelse har två teman utkristalliserats: Exkludering av genusrättsvetenskap från utbildning och forskning samt Genusrättsvetenskap och genusrättsvetenskapare som arbetsmiljöproblem(et). Dessa kontextualiseras som uttryck för den rättsdogmatiska traditionens motstånd mot de kritiska ontologiska och epistemologiska utmaningar som den nordiska genusrättsvetenskapliga traditionen och socio-rättsliga studier representerar. Vi hävdar att motståndet på institutionell, akademisk och personlig nivå i grunden handlar om en djup oförmåga och ovilja att hantera mångfald, kritik och utveckling. När nu denna kamp är över, och vår gränsöverskridande, kritiska miljö har eliminerats så finns det ändå inga vinnare. Istället anser vi att utvecklingspotentialen för den snäva rättsvetenskap som produceras i Umeå idag är låg, vilket underminerar möjligheterna till att uppfylla förändringsbehov i juristutbildningen. Motstånd har ständigt varit närvarande under genusrättsvetenskapens nära 40-åriga nordiska historia och andra starka genusrättsvetenskapliga miljöer och enskilda forskare har gått liknande öden till mötes som vårt. Ändå slutar inte vår berättelse i pessimism. Nedläggningen av Juridiskt forum kan inte hindra utvecklingen. Genusrättsvetenskapen i Norden har satt sig och utvecklas starkt som akademiskt ämne. Efterfrågan är stor från juriststudenter och volymen på expertuppdrag, forskning och publikationer är omfattande. Viktiga samhällsutmaningar ställer nya kunskapskrav på framtidens jurister. Genus och rätt är utan tvekan en del av denna kunskapsutveckling i Norden.

Previous studies show a lack of deference and activities when it comes to women's human rights and gender equality in the multi-level governance of the Arctic. According to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, women in the Arctic are vulnerable, in particular indigenous and rural women. Their rights are not upheld in the Arctic states for example when it comes to exposure to violence, equal participation in governing bodies, and economic self-support. The public governing bodies have almost no focus on gender equality at all, despite far-reaching international obligations and, for several of the states, national ambitious agendas for gender equality politics. International instruments with obligations to strive for gender equality, such as the CEDAW, the ILO Convention 169 and UNDRIP, are scarcely referred to and not sufficiently implemented by the public governance bodies. The aim of this article is to raise awareness of the obligations set up by human rights documents to promote women' rights in the governance of the Arctic, in order to put pressure on the states to develop strategies for a future gender equal governance. We have a special focus on the general lack of awareness within public governance, and on men's intimate partner violence against indigenous women.

Många modeller för integration av genus i grundutbildningen utgår från att inte bara "inkallade genusspecialister" utan även den ordinarie läraren på kursen ska integrera genus. Kompetensutveckling av lärare framhålls som nödvändig i detta sammanhang. Vårterminen 2005 utvecklades och genomfördes en vidareutbildningskurs för lärare vid juridiska institutionen för att möta just detta behov. Vi är fyra lärare på institutionen som har utvecklat och genomfört kursen inom ramen för vårt engagemang i det genusrättsliga seminariet. Kursen genomfördes som en seminarieserie och fick namnet; Integration av genusperspektiv i juridikundervisningen – varför, vad och hur? Samtidigt såg vi behov av att utveckla en mer generell modell som kunde användas av andra institutioner eftersom det saknas en sådan kurs vid Umeå universitet. I denna uppsats vill vi presentera seminarieserien och dela med oss av våra tankar kring hur kursen skulle kunna fungera som en generell modell.

This chapter analyzes the internal contradictions of family, tax and social welfare law with regard to their implicit assumptions of family and dependence. It explores how law can contribute to the resurrection of gender inequalities, an approach other than the traditional one is needed. The chapter utilizes a descriptive approach in order to identify how sex inequalities are resurrected in sex-neutral legislation. It shows how residence-related family support benefits and social assistance provisions are based on a presumption of maintenance obligations within the family. Contemporary Swedish family law is characterized by secularism, individualism and equality. Economic independence for women is a central policy goal for sex equality. Residence-based benefits are primarily based on the need for support. The common feature of these benefits is that they are supposed to provide basic welfare security for families with children.

Sexual and gender-based harassment is a work environment concern, especially in hierarchical and male-dominant organisations such as the police. This scoping review aims to examine the existing literature on such harassment against police employees in Europe to identify the available knowledge and highlight the gaps for future studies. Following the Arksey and O’Malley framework, 16 relevant articles were analysed. Most of the studies were focused on sexual harassment, and gender-based harassment was mostly absent or mixed with other discriminations. The analysis resulted in six main themes: existence of sexual and gender-based harassment; perpetrators; associated factors; consequences; individual response; and impact of organisational policies. The findings demonstrate that such harassment remains prevalent among police employees, emphasising the need for continuous and rigorous supervision, evaluation, and comprehensive revision of policies by police authorities. This study recommends further research to address the identified gaps in this field.

In this cross-sectional study, we investigated work-related stress, gender-based and sexual harassment among police officers working in vulnerable areas in Stockholm. Data were collected from 152 police officers using a set of questionnaires. The results indicated that job stress in “impact on significant others” and “operational stress” were reported as the two most highly rated work-related stress in police officers. Female police officers rated higher stress in “impact on significant others” and “operational stress” compared to their male counterparts. Job experience was correlated with two stress subscales only in female officers. Working as patrol officers and more than one shift were negatively associated with some stress subscales among male officers. The male officers who had experience of sexual harassment reported higher “self-image” stress and “operational stress”, whereas the female officers had higher “self-image” and “confrontation with death” stress. After controlling for gender and job experience, sexual harassment had a significant relationship with “operational stress” and “self-image stress” in police officers.

The aim of this cross-sectional study is to increase our understanding of job satisfaction in Swedish police officers by taking into account work-related stress, and sexual and gender-based harassment. Data were collected from 152 police officers working in vulnerable areas in Stockholm using sociodemographic questions, the Police Stress Identification Questionnaire (PSIQ), Sexual and gender-based harassment questions, and Job Descriptive Index (JDI). The obtained results indicated that male and female police officers reported the highest satisfaction in “people on your present job.” The lowest score of job satisfaction in both male and female police officers was related to “opportunity for promotion” and then “pay.” There were no significant differences in the subscales of job satisfaction between male and female police officers. The older and more experienced officers, the less satisfaction was reported in “job in general” and more satisfaction reported in “pay.” Comparing job satisfaction between patrol officers and those officers who worked in internal services showed police patrol officers had higher job satisfaction in “job in general,” “work in the present job,” “opportunity for promotion” and “supervision” compared to their counterparts in internal services. There were not any significant differences between the subscales of job satisfaction between male and female police officers. There was not any significant association between job satisfaction subscales and having experience of sexual or gender-based harassment. Among various subscales of police stressors, organizational stress was in negative relation with three domains of job satisfaction; “job in general,” “pay” and “supervision.” Also, hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed organizational stress was most often of predictive impact related to various job satisfaction domains in police officers.

This article focuses on policy and law concerning violence against women as a public health issue. In Sweden, violence against women is recently recognized as a public health problem; we label this shift "The public health turn on violence against women". The new framing implies increased demands on the Swedish healthcare sector and its’ ability to recognise violence and deal with it in terms of prevention and interventions. The aim was to describe and discuss the main content and characteristics of Swedish healthcare law, and national public health and gender-equality policies representing the public health turn on violence against women. Through discursive policy analysis, we investigate how the violence is described, what is regarded to be the problem and what solutions and interventions that are suggested in order to solve the problem. Healthcare law articulates violence against women as an ordinary healthcare issue and the problem as shortcomings to provide good healthcare for victims, but without specifying what the problem or the legal obligation for the sector is. The public health problem is rather loosely defined, and suggested interventions are scarce and somewhat vague. The main recommendations for healthcare are to routinely ask patients about violence exposure. Violence against women is usually labelled "violence within close relationships" in the policies, and it is not necessarily described as a gender equality problem. While violence against women in some policy documents is clearly framed as a public health problem, such a framing is absent in others, or is transformed into a gender-neutral problem of violence within close relationships. It is not clearly articulated what the framing should lead to in terms of the healthcare sector's obligations, interventions and health promotions, apart from an ambivalent discourse on daring to ask about violence.