Men think about sex, women nag: jobs agency
The Swedish Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen) has been accused of sexism after literature used in its business start up course claimed that the female brain had a "nag, complain and feel sorry for myself" centre, according to a Sveriges Radio report.
Students attending the four week courses are taught that women walk with a "teetering gait" and deploy a "pleading gaze" and that the male brain thinks almost exclusively about sex. Other purported typical male traits include "to itch oneself in the arse".
Following the Sveriges Radio report, the Employment Service has called on its sub-contractor Personalstrategerna to account for the lessons dedicated to "typical male and female behaviour".
Klas Finck, who runs the courses on behalf of the jobs agency, has however defended the content, arguing that it is designed to tackle prejudices and "lighten things up a bit".
"If you highlight the prejudices about how we act and don’t act then we can also influence them," he said to Sveriges Radio.
However not all of his students attending the course have taken the content so lightly.
"I was shocked because it felt so crazy to be thrown back to the Stone Age on a course to which the Employment Service has sent you," said Mia, one of the 300 students who have completed the course, to Sveriges Radio.
Despite Finck’s protestations that the examples are intended to illustrate and problematise behaviour and habits unbecoming of a business leader, Britt Karlsson at the Employment Service is critical.
"I don’t think this is appropriate at all. It is completely unacceptable, both the literature and also the comments. Regardless of the purpose. We will be following this up at the earliest opportunity," Karlsson told Sveriges Radio.
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Students attending the four week courses are taught that women walk with a "teetering gait" and deploy a "pleading gaze" and that the male brain thinks almost exclusively about sex. Other purported typical male traits include "to itch oneself in the arse".
Following the Sveriges Radio report, the Employment Service has called on its sub-contractor Personalstrategerna to account for the lessons dedicated to "typical male and female behaviour".
Klas Finck, who runs the courses on behalf of the jobs agency, has however defended the content, arguing that it is designed to tackle prejudices and "lighten things up a bit".
"If you highlight the prejudices about how we act and don’t act then we can also influence them," he said to Sveriges Radio.
However not all of his students attending the course have taken the content so lightly.
"I was shocked because it felt so crazy to be thrown back to the Stone Age on a course to which the Employment Service has sent you," said Mia, one of the 300 students who have completed the course, to Sveriges Radio.
Despite Finck’s protestations that the examples are intended to illustrate and problematise behaviour and habits unbecoming of a business leader, Britt Karlsson at the Employment Service is critical.
"I don’t think this is appropriate at all. It is completely unacceptable, both the literature and also the comments. Regardless of the purpose. We will be following this up at the earliest opportunity," Karlsson told Sveriges Radio.
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