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Kvinnorättskämpar och steriliseringsförespråkare? - En rättshistorisk analys av de kvinnliga riksdagsledamöternas syn på steriliseringslagarna.

Stafström, Alva LU (2024) LAGF03 20241
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract (Swedish)
Mellan 1934 och 1975 steriliserades över 60 000 personer och en övervä-gande majoritet av dem var kvinnor. Den lagstiftning som låg till grund för ingreppen hade som syfte att förhindra ”mindervärdiga individer” från att bli föräldrar. I flera fall skedde steriliseringen utan ett frivilligt samtycke från pa-tienten. Uppsatsen syftar till att skapa en förståelse för varför och hur en så-dan lag kunde röstas igenom i Sveriges riksdag. Då de flesta av offren för lagstiftningen var kvinnor fokuserar uppsatsen på att analysera de kvinnliga ledamöternas åsikter. Frågeställningarna som uppsatsen besvarar är vad de kvinnliga riksdagsledamöterna ansåg om steriliseringslagstiftningen samt var-för de hade dessa åsikter.
För att undersöka hur... (More)
Mellan 1934 och 1975 steriliserades över 60 000 personer och en övervä-gande majoritet av dem var kvinnor. Den lagstiftning som låg till grund för ingreppen hade som syfte att förhindra ”mindervärdiga individer” från att bli föräldrar. I flera fall skedde steriliseringen utan ett frivilligt samtycke från pa-tienten. Uppsatsen syftar till att skapa en förståelse för varför och hur en så-dan lag kunde röstas igenom i Sveriges riksdag. Då de flesta av offren för lagstiftningen var kvinnor fokuserar uppsatsen på att analysera de kvinnliga ledamöternas åsikter. Frågeställningarna som uppsatsen besvarar är vad de kvinnliga riksdagsledamöterna ansåg om steriliseringslagstiftningen samt var-för de hade dessa åsikter.
För att undersöka hur steriliseringslagstiftningen uppkom och utvecklades har en rättshistorisk metod använts. Då uppsatsen inkluderar en analys av hur dåtidens ideal och sociala normer påverkade lagstiftarnas åsikter har även en genusrättslig metod nyttjats. Dessutom diskuteras rättspositivism för att få en förståelse för hur riksdagsledamöterna såg på rätten. Uppsatsen bygger på information från rättskällor såsom förarbeten men övrigt historiskt material, exempelvis tidningsartiklar, har också använts. Materialet består vidare av idéhistorisk forskning om steriliseringslagstiftningen. Informationen om riks-dagskvinnorna och dåtidens ideal har begränsats då uppsatsen har en ord-gräns.
Genom en analys av kvinnornas partitillhörighet, tillägg i steriliseringsdebat-ten och övriga engagemang går det att urskilja flera riksdagskvinnor som var för steriliseringslagstiftningen. Vissa av dem motionerade dessutom för att utvidga lagen ytterligare. Uppsatsen diskuterar förklaringar för detta såsom rasbiologins status som vetenskap, avsaknad av mänskliga rättigheter och att kvinnorörelsen själv drev steriliseringsfrågan. Samtidigt lyfter uppsatsen det faktum att det fanns flera riksdagskvinnor som inte deltog i steriliseringsde-batten och därför inte nödvändigtvis var för en steriliseringslag. (Less)
Abstract
Between 1934 and 1975 over 60 000 individuals were sterilized in Sweden and a predominant majority of the patients were female. The legislation which allowed these procedures intended to prevent “inferior individuals” from hav-ing children. In many cases, the operations took place without voluntary con-sent from the patients. The purpose of the thesis is to understand why this law was passed by the Swedish parliament. Since most of the victims of the legis-lation were female, the thesis answers the questions of what the female par-liament members thought about the law and why they held this opinion.
To research how the sterilization legislation developed in Sweden the method-ology of legal history was used. A gender-legal method has also... (More)
Between 1934 and 1975 over 60 000 individuals were sterilized in Sweden and a predominant majority of the patients were female. The legislation which allowed these procedures intended to prevent “inferior individuals” from hav-ing children. In many cases, the operations took place without voluntary con-sent from the patients. The purpose of the thesis is to understand why this law was passed by the Swedish parliament. Since most of the victims of the legis-lation were female, the thesis answers the questions of what the female par-liament members thought about the law and why they held this opinion.
To research how the sterilization legislation developed in Sweden the method-ology of legal history was used. A gender-legal method has also been utilized to analyze how social norms impacted the legislator’s opinions. Legal positiv-ism is also discussed, since the thesis examinates the legislator’s view of the law. Sources of law, such as legislative history, is used along with other his-torical materials like newspaper articles from the examined period. The thesis also employs intellectual historical research as a source. Because of the word count constraints, information about the social norms of the time and facts about the parliamentarians have been limited.
Through an analysis of the female legislator’s party affiliations, contributions in the debate about sterilizations and other engagements, it is apparent that there were several female parliamentarians who supported the sterilization legislation. Many of the women in parliament 1941 even supported to extend the law further. Several explanations for this are discussed in the thesis such as the fact that during this time, eugenics were considered a respected science in Sweden. There was also a lack of human rights protected by law and parts of the Swedish women’s movement itself campaigned for sterilization legisla-tion. However, the thesis also notes that there were female parliamentarians who did not participate in the sterilization debate and were therefore not un-doubtedly in favor of legislation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Stafström, Alva LU
supervisor
organization
course
LAGF03 20241
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
rättshistoria, legal history, sterilisering
language
Swedish
id
9152307
date added to LUP
2024-06-26 12:21:56
date last changed
2024-06-26 12:21:56
@misc{9152307,
  abstract     = {{Between 1934 and 1975 over 60 000 individuals were sterilized in Sweden and a predominant majority of the patients were female. The legislation which allowed these procedures intended to prevent “inferior individuals” from hav-ing children. In many cases, the operations took place without voluntary con-sent from the patients. The purpose of the thesis is to understand why this law was passed by the Swedish parliament. Since most of the victims of the legis-lation were female, the thesis answers the questions of what the female par-liament members thought about the law and why they held this opinion. 
To research how the sterilization legislation developed in Sweden the method-ology of legal history was used. A gender-legal method has also been utilized to analyze how social norms impacted the legislator’s opinions. Legal positiv-ism is also discussed, since the thesis examinates the legislator’s view of the law. Sources of law, such as legislative history, is used along with other his-torical materials like newspaper articles from the examined period. The thesis also employs intellectual historical research as a source. Because of the word count constraints, information about the social norms of the time and facts about the parliamentarians have been limited. 
Through an analysis of the female legislator’s party affiliations, contributions in the debate about sterilizations and other engagements, it is apparent that there were several female parliamentarians who supported the sterilization legislation. Many of the women in parliament 1941 even supported to extend the law further. Several explanations for this are discussed in the thesis such as the fact that during this time, eugenics were considered a respected science in Sweden. There was also a lack of human rights protected by law and parts of the Swedish women’s movement itself campaigned for sterilization legisla-tion. However, the thesis also notes that there were female parliamentarians who did not participate in the sterilization debate and were therefore not un-doubtedly in favor of legislation.}},
  author       = {{Stafström, Alva}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Kvinnorättskämpar och steriliseringsförespråkare? - En rättshistorisk analys av de kvinnliga riksdagsledamöternas syn på steriliseringslagarna.}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}