Swedish Equality Minister Paulina Brandberg addresses concerns over religious clothing on children

In a recent interview, Swedish Equality Minister Paulina Brandberg addressed the issue of religious clothing on children. She expressed that preschool staff should more frequently report concerns when young children wear headscarves. “Preschool personnel should intervene and notify social services when they suspect that a child is at risk,” she stated. Brandberg emphasized that the presence of a headscarf on a young child, particularly when combined with restrictions on play with boys, signals potential signs of honor-based oppression.

Brandberg acknowledged that it can be challenging for educators to intervene in such situations, but highlighted that the real difficulty lies with the children facing these pressures. The government and the Sweden Democrats have reached an agreement in the updated Tidö Agreement to explore whether mandating religious clothing could be criminalized. Brandberg noted a lack of guidelines on when and how school staff should act or report such cases to social services, prompting the government to create new directives for schools and preschools.

While some members of Brandberg’s party, the Liberals, have previously called for a total ban on headscarves in preschools, she indicated that this approach would be hard to implement. “One cannot enact legislation targeting a single religion; it will inevitably lead to broader discussions on the criminalization of religious garments in schools,” she said. Instead, she proposed that legislation should focus on caregivers and those enforcing the pressure. “We already have laws against unlawful coercion, but we need to examine if this can be expanded to include forcing someone to wear religious clothing,” she concluded.