GOAL

Maktsalongen’s (makt=power, salong= parlor) goal is an equal society in which power and influence are distributed fairly and equaliy. We want more young women* to see themselves as leaders and challenge norms that set tight frames about how power looks and what a leader can be.

BACKGROUND

Maktsalongen was founded in November 2011. The founders, Sara Haraldsson and Sofia Brändström, who both had been leaders in youth organizations, shared a frustration over the gender inequality that still existed in organizations. So they started a mentorship program for women* who are leaders in youth organizations.

Today Maktsalongen still work with mentoring programmes and networks, but we also do much more.

Maktsalongen works with gender equality on three levels: the structure, organization and the individual. 

STRUCTURE

Creating equality requires major structural changes. This requires a discussion and debate about the structures that create inequality. Maktsalongen aims to create such discussions and debates. This has mainly been done through seminars, creating and participating in debate in established media and also social media.

ORGANIZATION

Organizations has to proactivily work to create gender equality, but many organizations don’t know what to do or how to do it. Our belief is that it doesn’t need be so difficult to work with equality and we are trying to show organizations that.

We give lectures on gender equality, leadership and stress. We have developed a MethodKit for Equality (which are available in both Swedish and English), a tool to help organizations and companies to work more equally. Inga ursäkter (No Excuses) is a site where we have gathered common problems and excuses on why not to work with gender equality and offer specific solutions to each problem.We have written two book that can help organizations with different areas that usually creates difficulties: Stress & motståndskraft (Stress & resiliance) that is a book about how individuals and organizations can tackle stress and Handbok för jämställda möten (Manual for gender equal meetings) that helps organizations create more inclusive meetings.

INDIVIDUAL

A change in the structure and work of organizations is required in order to achieve the goal of gender equality in civil society. But until we have reached that, there are many people who are effected by the gender inequality that still exists in the organizations. Therefore, Maktsalongen has networking and mentoring programs for women who are leaders on a local, regional and national level in their organizations. By bringing women together they can support and encourage each other, share experiences and inspiration.

OUR ORGANIZATION

Maktsalongen is a non-profit organization run by a board elected by the annual meeting. The annual meeting also decides what the organization will work with the upcoming year. The staff of Maktsalongen is responsible for taking the decisions of the annual meeting and the board and making those decisions into actions.

*by women, we mean people who self-identify as women