Précis

Progressive Sweden has long been a world leader in equality between the sexes.

But while Swedish women enjoy more rights and opportunities than most, there is a dark and shameful side to this story.

Despite all the progress, Sweden has among the highest levels of family violence in Europe. Nearly half of all women in Sweden will face physical or sexual violence by men, usually their current or former partner.

"It’s difficult to realise that in the beauty of these places there is also the real ugliness of the worst of human behaviour." – Rosie Batty, family violence campaigner and 2015 Australian of the Year.

To try to understand this paradox - why violence pervades this bastion of gender equality - Foreign Correspondent invited Rosie Batty to Sweden. It was her first big overseas trip since her son Luke was murdered by his father at cricket practice barely two years ago.

"In some ways it seems a long time ago; other times it just seems like yesterday." – Rosie Batty

For Rosie, this trip is no holiday. From the capital Stockholm to the remote far north where temperatures sink to minus 29, she is trying to understand what lies behind family violence in Sweden.

Foreign Correspondent films Rosie meeting fellow activists – men as well as women – politicians and victims. And for the first time since Luke’s murder, she comes face to face with a perpetrator.

"I don’t feel in the least bit intimidated. After the journey I’ve had with Luke’s father I don’t think I could ever be intimidated in the same way again." – Rosie Batty to Sally Sara on their way to meet an offender named Emanuel.

Remarkably, Rosie finds some rapport with Emanuel, as she and Sally Sara get a step closer to understanding why gender equality is just one part of the solution to family violence.

Setting sun behind forests/Dog sled. Super:
Lapland, Sweden

Music
SFX: Dog sled driver

00:00

Dog sled. Title:
ROSIE’S JOURNEY

00:24

SARA: We’ve come to the top of the world. Sweden has a history as the ultimate man’s world, a place of Viking legends and harsh conditions. Now it’s regarded as one of the most progressive and gender equal countries on earth.

00:47

Aerial. Rosie standing in snow

We’ve brought with us a very special guest from Australia, family violence activist, Rosie Batty. ROSIE BATTY: “It’s difficult to realise that in the beauty of these places,

01:13

Rosie 100%

there is also the real ugliness of the worst of human behaviour”.

01:31

Dog sled team

SARA: Some campaigners in Australia say that if men and women were truly equal, domestic violence rates would go down. So we’re here to put that theory to the test. If Australia were more like Sweden, would we be a less violent society?

GUDRUN SCHYMAN : “Sweden is not a gender

01:37

Gudrun 100%

equality country, not yet. We are working on it but there is a lot to do”.

02:02

Emanuel 100%

EMANUEL: “I think the violence is very high here but you don’t speak about it in the streets and don’t speak about it so much”.

02:11

Town GVs

SARA: Swedish women may have more rights and opportunities than ever before, but they’re living in a country with one of the highest rates of family violence in Europe.

02:19

Sara to camera

The statistics show just how widespread the problem is. 46% of Swedish women will experience physical or sexual violence by men. In the majority of cases, the perpetrator is a current or former partner.

02:37

Man pushing child in pram

We want to know why. Is changing the law enough to change attitudes when it comes to gender equality?

02:55

Time-lapse. Gammelstad

Music

03:03

Rosie and Sara walk in Gammelstad

03:09

SARA:  We’re taking Rosie Batty right out of her comfort zone. The temperature here in the village of Gammelstad is a brutal -29 degrees Celsius.

03:17

We’re making the most of the daylight. Up here in the winter of Northern Sweden, the sun only shines for four hours a day. The rest is darkness.

03:31

03:46

ROSIE BATTY: “I can see a similarity when we, you know, look at how isolated some of the Australian communities

03:56

Rosie 100%. Super:
ROSIE BATTY
Family violence campaigner

are and how dangerous that is for the victims of violence to be so isolated, so I think that’s what also really resonates with me”.

04:01

Rosie and Sara walk in Gammelstad

SARA: This is the first time Rosie Batty has embarked on a big overseas trip since her son Luke was murdered by his father in February 2014.

ROSIE BATTY: “That’s just the way I live these days,

04:18

Rosie 100%

is a constant bittersweet. You know I’m here having a great time but you’d wish it was, you know, it had happened because of another situation

04:33

Rosie in Gammelstad looking out over lake

and so that’s, you know, the last two years have been incredible experiences and amazing opportunities and it is always bittersweet. In some ways it seems a long time ago

04:44

Rosie 100%

and at other times, it just seems like yesterday”.

05:00

Stockholm. Changing of the Guard

05:05

SARA: While, Sweden proudly defends its reputation of gender equality, the causes of its domestic violence are harder to see. Some outsiders wonder if the long winters and alcohol abuse are to blame, but the reality is that the violence comes from within Swedish society.

ASSOC PROF DALE BAGSHAW: [School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy, University of South Australia] “I was somewhat shocked by that.

05:09

Bagshaw 100%

I didn’t expect it. I believed the myth that Sweden was a gender equal society, but no”.

05:32

Photos. Bagshaw giving talks

SARA: Dale Bagshaw has researched equality and violence in Scandinavia over the past decade.

ASSOC PROF DALE BAGSHAW: “To talk about equality is one thing, but domestic

05:40

Bagshaw 100%. Super:
Assoc. Professor DALE BAGSHAW
University of South Australia

violence doesn’t fit neatly into that concept. It’s something which happens in private, behind closed doors, but central to it is the issue of power and control.

05:50

Men skating

You can say men and women are equal in the public sphere, but when it comes to the private sphere it’s a different story. I think it’s been challenging to some men of course, this whole emphasis on equality”.

06:02

Music

06:18

SARA: Masculinity has been through some big reforms in Sweden.

06:24

Swedish comedy sketches on gender equality from YouTube

It’s become a source of comedy for those who believe Swedish men are too soft.

Man 1:  Merde! I fuck your mother.
Swedish Man: Oh, that’s so good for her. She hasn’t had much of a sex life…

06:29

SARA:  Swedish men are still adjusting to changing times at work. Women hold more than 40% of seats in parliament and an increasing share of power. Generous paternity leave has also reshaped the workplace.

07:07

The stereotype of gender equal Sweden hides the truth.

ASSOC PROF DALE BAGSHAW: “Well I think that’s a bit of a problem for the Swedes, because it’s a myth. In

07:35

Bagshaw 100%

my experience, I think people so firmly believe it that they don’t notice any more when the inequality appears and the abuse and violence is written off as being something other than domestic violence.

07:44

Men skating

“We are equal here, we don’t have domestic violence as a problem”, you often hear people say in the Nordic countries generally.

07:57

Music

08:06

ASSOC PROF DALE BAGSHAW: But it [still affects] the way we think about things, the way we talk about things, you get a social construction of a national identity

08:11

Bagshaw

which becomes very powerful, and the way we talk about things, influences the way we think about things

08:20

Landscape GVs

and if you’re constantly reading in the paper and hearing over newspapers that you are the leaders in the world in terms of gender equality, you come to believe it”.

08:26

Music

08:35

Van passes

SARA: Back on the road with Rosie Batty. We’re on our way to meet a young Swedish man who already has a long track record for domestic violence.

08:46

Rosie and Sara in van

This will be the first time Rosie has come face to face with a perpetrator who is prepared to talk openly.

08:55

“Do you feel comfortable?”

ROSIE BATTY: “Yes I do. I don’t feel in the least intimidated.

09:04

I think after the journey I’ve had with Luke’s father, I don’t think I could ever be intimidated in the same way again”.

09:08

Emanuel walks

Music

09:16

SARA: 26 year old Emanuel grew up in a family splintered by violence. He knows firsthand that it’s not just men who are the perpetrators. It was his mother who unleashed the terror.

EMANUEL: “My mum she was very violent to me and my siblings,

09:22

Photos. Emanuel as child

even my father she used to take my hair and throw me around and chase me and screaming at me. Her worst time was maybe when I was thirteen or something, she was very angry,

09:41

Emanuel 100%. Super:
EMANUEL
Domestic Violence Perpetrator

throwing stuff, she threatened to kill my dad and she took my siblings, my younger sisters, and shake them until they peeing themselves. And I’m starting to get older, so one day I just threw my hand on the table and said ‘If you touch my father or my siblings again I will kill you.’ Then she stopped doing violence to me”.

09:57

Emanuel walks

SARA: But there was no counselling or prevention program for Emanuel.

10:22

Emanuel stands looking into camera

Instead, he was eventually arrested for assaulting and threatening his former partner.

EMANUEL: “The worst violence I have done to her is I’ve been chasing her, thrown her on the ground

10:27

Emanuel 100%

and dragged her and pulled her in the hair and took the hand around her throat and I threatened her, to kill if she done, do something like this again I will kill her”.

10:41

Emanuel sits on bike rack

SARA: “What look do you see in her eye when this is happening?”

EMANUEL: “Her eyes were very big and pupils too were very, very big and she had a lot

10:55

Emanuel 100%

of tears when she cried and she trying... all the time when I was hurting her she was trying to stop me. She was hugging me. She was trying to calm me down but it didn’t work. I had to have my own time to calm down because when I was in this anger, nothing could stop me”.

11:08

Rosie and Emanuel

ROSIE BATTY: [to Emanuel] Greg killed my son as control and revenge, to hurt me.

SARA: It’s a raw, but respectful conversation. Emanuel is undergoing voluntary counselling.

11:30

Listening to Rosie Batty’s story is chilling. He’s terrified that one day he could lose control and kill someone.

11:43

Emanuel 100%

EMANUEL: “When I hear the story it makes me cry inside because that was a very, very strong story for me... to hear her son has been killed by her husband. That’s a very hard story to hear”.

ROSIE BATTY: “If he didn’t have intervention,

11:52

Rosie 100%. Super:
ROSIE BATTY
Family violence campaigner

he very potentially could kill somebody and it makes me realise, that you know, certainly every day looking men, what they may be hiding underneath, that you would really have no idea.

12:15

Rosie and Emanuel talk

So yes, it made me realise that he is on a very dangerous path and I’m really pleased that he is understanding of how much support he

12:31

does need to make those changes”.

EMANUEL: “I’m like that. When I don’t any words left I just explode. I just black out. I don’t know what I’m doing until I’ve done very bad things and I just realise after all this when I calm down, maybe it can take up to 12 hours to... maybe to sleep and really think, shit what I have done?”

ROSIE BATTY: “I’m that kind of volcanic person too, and you know, over the years

12:41

Rosie 100%

you can be... I can be, you know, appear to be completely normal and very quickly something can trigger me into, into that kind of space he was talking about. So I do understand that, but certainly I would never, and never have and I don’t think I ever, ever will hurt anybody. I don’t break things, I don’t throw things, I don’t smash things. In fact what I really do is shout very loudly which is very confronting for people and certainly not behaviour I like within myself. So I can understand going from normal to that rage very quickly and then not being able to control the space that you’ve found yourself in. I do understand that”.

13:15

Stockholm GVs

SARA: It’s unclear whether Sweden is genuinely more violent than its European neighbours or if it simply has higher rates of reporting. Once a case has been reported, victims are at the mercy of a system which is sometimes slow to act. Despite the huge focus on gender equality here in Sweden, the system is far from perfect.

14:05

Sara on street to camera

Some victims say they have been let down by the police and the courts which should be there to provide protection and justice.

14:33

Sofia being pushed in wheelchair

One victim has agreed to speak with us on the condition she isn’t identified. Sofia doesn’t move with footsteps any more. She relies on the loyalty and kindness of others.

SOFIA: “There’s still a lot of fear, but at the same time

14:41

Sofia

I’m living with a false identity under police protection. So I am still very afraid”.

15:05

Photos of crime scene/Sofia’s husband

SARA: On the 10th of February 2013, Sofia’s husband threw her off a balcony. He then phoned for an ambulance pretending it was an accident.

SOFIA’S HUSBAND: [SOS Call] “She’s fallen from the balcony!”

OPERATOR: “From the balcony?”

SOFIA’S HUSBAND: [crying]

OPERATOR: “You must listen to me now. Tell me what has happened.”

SOFIA’S HUSBAND: “From the balcony!” [screaming]

15:16

Sofia

SOFIA: “It’s a miracle I’m alive after a fall of almost 14 metres. I have many injuries. He wanted me to die, but I’m alive”.

15:46

Sofia in wheelchair with Ia

SARA: Sofia has lost most of her sight and part of her hearing. She’s paralysed on one side of her body and has severe facial injuries.

IA SVEGER: [Sofia’s lawyer] “Every bone in her body was more or less broken and her head was completely damaged. So I mean the first time I met her it was three or four months after

16:03

Ia 100%

the fall from the balcony. And she had a helmet on in order to keep her head stable because of all the operations when they had actually opened up her case.... her head. It was awful”.

16:25

Police photo. Sofia’s husband

SARA: Sofia’s husband was sentenced to nine years in prison for attempted murder but he was acquitted

16:37

Sofia in wheelchair with Ia

after falsely claiming Sofia was suicidal and she’d jumped. Sofia’s lawyer was infuriated. She took the case all the way to the Supreme Court and won. But Sofia’s husband fled the country before he could be arrested. He’s still on the run.

16:44

Sofia 100%

SOFIA: “If they had handled it properly, he would have served his sentence. I would have felt more safe and secure”.

17:03

Ia 100%. Super:
IA SVEGER
Lawyer

IA SVEGER: “With this case you can see all the mistakes that have been done during the whole trial from the first day when he tried to kill her, to today, actually. And now we can count all the mistakes and there are a lot of them I would say, done by everyone - by the prosecutor, by the police, by the social authorities, by everyone I would say”.

17:15

Sofia 100%

SARA: “Why do you think that men carry out this kind of violence?”

SOFIA: “I don’t know. I really don’t know why. I think it has to do with personality disorder... and power. Power”.

17:38

GVs Stockholm

17:55

SARA: While some activists are fighting in the courts, others believe that politics is the answer. Here in the Swedish parliament, there’s plenty of debate about the “F” word – feminism. In fact the current government has proclaimed itself to be a feminist government. It says that feminism

18:00

Sara to camera

guides its decision making in everything from health, to education and even foreign policy.

18:19

Gudrun Schyman on TV show debating

One Swedish politician is not afraid to use her voice to raise the profile of women’s rights.

18:25

GUDRUN SCHYMAN: [on TV show debating] “We have masculine roles loaded with violence and virility and that is expressed in violence in different forms, including sexual violence”.

18:33

SARA: Gudrun Schyman was the leader of the left party but she decided to set up a party of her own.

GUDRUN SCHYMAN: [on TV show debating] “You are so ignorant, it’s embarrassing to talk to you about these issues!”

GUDRUN SCHYMAN: I saw that, it wasn’t possible to have these

18:42

Gudrun 100%. Super:
GUDRUN SCHYMAN
Co-founder, Feminist Initiative

questions about women’s human rights up on the top of the agenda, it was seen as something that was on the side. And when women start to talk about our experiences and we raise from shame to readiness to act you can’t stop it .That is the future. It’s feminism.

18:59

Gudrun walks with Rosie

SARA: Gudrun co-founded the Feminist Initiative in 2005. The party is yet to achieve victory in Sweden, but has won a seat in the European Parliament. Gudrun has no regrets about leaving the political mainstream.

GUDRUN SCHYMAN: “No, it was the best thing I did in my political work and it was…

19:30

Gudrun 100%

I didn’t have any choice, because I had this awareness and I can’t close my eyes and my ears. I had to continue the work and I had to figure out what is the best way of doing now. How could we have these questions dealt with in a proper way and how could we use the democratic system to do that?”

19:54

Rosie and Gudrun talk

ROSIE BATTY: “People have said I should go into politics, I have it said to me all the time. What would be your suggestion? What would be your advice?”

GUDRUN SCHYMAN: “To start a feminist party. That is what is needed everywhere”.

SARA: “Would you ever consider going into politics?”

20:22

Rosie 100%. Super:
ROSIE BATTY
Family violence campaigner

ROSIE BATTY: “I would never discount it. I mean I’ve never even considered the things I’m doing now and that’s where I think I, you know... who knows? All I do know is that I genuinely want to make a difference and so if I was comfortable and confident that I could make a significant- continue to make a significant difference through a political career, I think I would definitely consider that, because I think it would be a real privilege to be given that opportunity”.

20:38

Gudrun on Dancing with the Stars

21:09

SARA: Gudrun Schyman enjoys the spotlight. She has even been on Sweden’s version of Dancing with the Stars. She’s resurrected her political career after very public battles with alcoholism and charges of tax fraud.

“Have you ever quite met a politician like that before?”

21:15

Rosie 100%

ROSIE BATTY: “No... I don’t know whether Australia is ready for Gudrun. I can’t quite… I can’t quite see our current government talking from the feminist perspective in the feminist language and embracing feminism at this point”.

21:40

Music

22:00

Gudrun and Rosie walk

SARA: Gudrun is a seasoned and successful political campaigner. She’s also a survivor of domestic violence at the hands of her former partner.

GUDRUN SCHYMAN: “I think that is the most terrible thing that you can experience, because there is a moment

22:04

Gudrun 100%

when you understand that now it happens and you are frozen. You can’t do anything. That moment is death and it’s extremely hard to be a part of that. And it gives you memories also in your body, absolutely.

22:26

Ocean GVs/Rosie by ocean

That is the strongest impact that violence always has in all levels on all levels, in all situations, the meaning of the violence is control”.

SARA: Gudrun Schyman’s story is an example of how family violence exists in a country that proclaims itself to be gender equal. Fear and stigma still run deep.

ROSIE BATTY: “I think that has been the thing

22:52

Rosie 100%

that’s held us back, because if you’re not able to talk about something, if you’re not able to be honest about something either as a perpetrator of violence or as a victim of violence, you don’t discover what may be needed and what solutions may be there. We can assume, we can think, but we can’t really get to the bottom of something unless we’re really listening to people who are truly affected”.

23:26

Sara and Rosie into hovercraft

Music

23:54

SARA: The lessons from Sweden are complicated. While it leads the way in equality, it lags behind other countries, including Australia, when it comes to prevention and services for victims.

ASSOC PROF DALE BAGSHAW: “I think we are ahead in some ways, because

24:37

Bagshaw 100%. Super:
Assoc. Professor DALE BAGSHAW
University of South Australia

we are more inclined to acknowledge that we need to do more research, that there is a major problem and I’m pleased to see

24:52

Rosie and Sara in hovercraft

with Rosie Batty being the Australian of the Year that the public consciousness of domestic violence and family violence generally has been raised.

25:00

Music

25:08

SARA: The journey across Sweden has opened up new ideas and experiences for Rosie Batty. Time away from home has also given some precious moments of joy – after such deep sadness.

ROSIE BATTY: “It’s a hard thing

25:14

Rosie 100%

because you do.... initially it’s a real relief to know that you can actually feel happy and you can enjoy things and you can actually find real happiness in the moments, and it’s a real relief because you know, you don’t know whether you’re ever going to be able to do that again. But you do, you can, but it is, it’s very bittersweet”. [teary]

25:39

Snowy landscape GVs/Sara and Rosie walk

Music

26:04

SARA: The path ahead is still unclear. Rosie has spent the past two years campaigning relentlessly for an end to family violence, but she’s been fighting private battles too since the death of her son.

“Rosie, do you think the grief has fully hit or do you worry that something’s coming?”

26:21

Rosie 100%

ROSIE BATTY: “I have no idea. I just know that… I don’t know whether I will ever fall to pieces. At the start I couldn’t let myself, in case I never pulled them back again. So I just think, you know, you let things out at different times.... and that’s just life”.

26:43

Rosie walks in snow through village. Night

SARA: “Are you a strong woman?”

ROSIE BATTY: “I think I have to be, people keep telling me I am. You know, what is strength? I suppose strength is, you know, always pushing forward, always… it’s about pushing through all your self-doubt.

27:16

Rosie 100%

I am strong, but I’m not tough and I’m trying to work out those differences at different times in my life. So I’m not tough, but I’m strong.

27:33

Rosie stands looking to camera

Music

27:48

Moon/Landscape GVs

28:02

Outpoint

28:39