Swedish women sue varsity over affirmative action
Sweden is one among few good countries in the world,
where systems, law and order, standard of living, etc are considered as the best in the world. In a country like this, when the news of unreasonableness appear, we become astonished.
A group of Swedish women lodged a complaint in the form of class-action lawsuit against the University of Lund for wrongful admissions to male students in the psychology programme. For any program, every individual is supposed to compete with others irrespective of gender for getting admission in the respective course. The University did not maintain this simple norm, because the male students were under represented in some courses. Thirty-one women students did not get admission in the psychology program in 2008 at the
Lund University as women students were over represented. Equal treatment is the term used by the University authority, and due to that women students were deprived from admissions, informed Clarence Crafoored, the lawyer of the women students fighting against the University.
Crafoored and his colleague Gunnar Stroemmer published an open letter in this regard in the Dagerns Nyheter newspaper on last Wednesday. Male students are given preference in higher studies admissions, especially psychology program, they cited. As the government has permitted the universities to practice this method since 2003, the Universities followed it without any apprehension. What wrong the women students committed in being 60% representation in Sweden Universities? Women are dealt with unjustly always as far as higher education is concerned in the Sweden Universities, Crafoored said.
The purpose of the legal suit that was filed by the women’s group cannot reverse the procedure of the University, but is asking compensation to the tune of 75,000 kronor for almost 95% cases. However, Crafoored informed that are in the process of lodging a separate representation on this disparity to the Equality Ombudsman, a government agency that takes care of cases of discrimination. The lawyers of the ombudsman stated that affirmative action by the University is illegal, but they are helpless to do anything on this matter, Crafoored revealed. Crafoored has taken the matter to justice ombudsman for a positive outcome.