Swedish equality watchdog investigates boys-only school scholarship

Sweden's Equality Ombudsman will investigate a complaint over a Ystad Gymnasium scholarship that the school's current criteria reserve for ‘well-behaved boys’ on vocational programmes.

SVT reported on Sunday that 18-year-old vehicle and transport student Bella Draker complained after learning she could not apply because she is not a boy. Applicants must also be registered in Ystad municipality, and the award varies with the foundation's return.

The school told SVT it had twice asked Kammarkollegiet to change the terms and been refused. The authority says a foundation purpose normally changes only when new circumstances make it impossible to follow, clearly useless or contrary to the founder's intention. Without that, exceptional reasons are applied restrictively.

That does not settle the school's own equality duty. In a 2019 case, the ombudsman found that a university remained responsible under discrimination law when it allocated foundation money using an age limit set by the foundation. The ombudsman has not yet ruled on the Ystad complaint.

Ystad Gymnasium's current list also includes a separate award reserved for a female final-year student in language and economics.

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