Election Guide 2002 - Sweden.se

Gudrun Schyman
Gudrun Schyman is one of two women
party leaders in Sweden. She was elected
Chairman at the 1993 Party Congress.
Gudrun, aged 54, was born in Täby, a
suburb of Stockholm. She became
interested in party politics in 1977, when
she moved to Skåne, the southernmost
province in Sweden. There she devoted
her time to environmental issues, energy
and peace and also women’s questions.
She was a municipal councillor in a small
town in Skåne, Simrishamn, between
1980 and 1987 and served on the town’s
social welfare committee between 1982
and 1987. She has two children who were
born during her Simrishamn years.
Gudrun was elected to the Party Executive
in 1981 and to its Executive Committee
in 1984. She became an MP in 1984.
Gudrun Schyman’s background differs
from those of the other leading politicians.
She has also had first-hand experience of
life as a low-paid single mother. She
combines this experience with an ardent
interest in politics and a determination to
bring about social change.
Unlike many other leaders of political
parties, she had many years’ experience
of working life, partly as a social worker,
before entering politics full time. She has
combined her duties as a party leader with
the role of single mother to her children.
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