Rising Violent Crime Rates Among Women in Sweden Blamed on MeToo

A popular Swedish newspaper described the prevalence of violent crime among female criminals, saying: “Gender equality has reached perhaps the most macho-heavy environment there is”, adding that “few feminists would celebrate it”.

Violent crime has surpassed drug offences as the most frequent crime committed by women sentenced to longer prison terms in Sweden.

At the women's leading high-security institutions Hinseberg and Ystad, the majority are now convicted of violent crimes instead of drug crimes as was the case before, according to the Swedish Prison and Probation Service. The institutions also attested that more inmates have links to criminal networks.

Over the past five years, the average sentence for convicted women has also increased, Swedish Radio reported.

In 2021, the Stockholm police said the number of girls in gangland environments has doubled, and instead of merely being passively exploited, women are becoming active perpetrators.

Newspaper Aftonbladet columnist Kicki Sehlstedt argued it is an indicator that “Gender equality has reached perhaps the most macho-heavy environment there is”, adding that “few feminists would celebrate it”.

Catherine Gardell, formerly a criminal and today a Linköping-based expert in crime prevention, ascribed this trend to the MeToo movement that sought to prevent harassment and empower women.

“Today, in all other contexts, young girls are told to stand up for themselves. If there anywhere women have been exploited in the past, is it in the criminal world. Now many are tired: Why should they keep their boyfriend's drugs, or hide things without making money themselves? Violent crimes become a natural consequence,” Gardell told Aftonbladet.

According to her, having to deal with men with a large capital of violence promotes readiness to use violence and arm yourself.

Back in 2017, Sweden became one of the epicentres of the global MeToo movement. Over the course of several months, the Scandinavian nation saw a series of high-profile accusations against alleged sexual predators, underpinned by dozens of petitions by women of various trades ranging from from church officials and opera singers to prostitutes. Since then, MeToo and the topic of sexual abuse becoming a fixture in the already heavily-feminist Swedish media discourse. Remarkably, following the MeToo campaign, a number of women behind the numerous allegations of sexual misconduct were convicted of libel.