Retired Swedish women demand fairer pensions

‘Old Lady Patrol’ members have, since 2014, often gathered on streets of Stockholm; their 2023 protest season against unequal pensions has just begun

Average gap between men’s and women’s pensions in Sweden is 28 per cent, the largest among Nordic countries; more women than men are at risk of poverty

Reading Time:3 minutes

Birgitta Sevefjord, 79, chairwoman of the “Tantpatrullen” movement, leads a demonstration for better pensions for women in Stockholm, Sweden, in March. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:00am, 14 Apr 2023Updated: 2:24am, 14 Apr 2023

“Old ladies need more money!” a group of grey-haired women chants in front of Sweden’s parliament, as their recurring protest against the country’s pension system enters its 10th year.

During the warmer months, members of the red-hatted “Tantpatrullen” (The Old Lady Patrol) gather every Thursday on the cobbled streets of Stockholm’s Old Town, right across from parliament. They have just begun their 2023 protest season.

In a country that prides itself on being a champion of feminism and gender equality, the association of retired women is calling for an increase in women’s pensions. Women are penalised by a system that favours people with high salaries who work well into their sixties.

“The pension system is supposedly neutral but men’s and women’s lives are not neutral,” said Brit Rundberg, co-founder and at nearly 90 the oldest member of the Tantpatrullen.

These elderly women in Sweden are demanding a new pension system, to make women’s incomes in retirement equal to men’s. They have been protesting for years. Photo: AFP

In Sweden the average gap between men’s and women’s pensions is 28 per cent, the largest among the Nordic countries, according to a recent study by the inter-parliamentary Nordic Council.