‘Male-free’ festival in Sweden was found guilty of discrimination

The Statement Festival, a women-only festival in Sweden, was reportedly found guilty of discrimination.

BBC reported on Friday that the festival was found guilty of discrimination by Sweden’s Discrimination Ombudsman (DO), which ruled that describing the event as “male-free” breached the anti-discrimination laws in the country.

A regulator for the DO also reportedly said that the marketing promoting the event “discouraged a certain group from attending.” 

{mosads}The organizers behind the event said in a Facebook post earlier this week that they are “too busy changing the world” to respond to the ruling, however.

“It’s sad that what 5,000 women, non-binaries and transgender experienced as a life-changing festival made a few cis [cisgender] men lose it completely,” the post read.

“The success of the Statement festival shows that is exactly what we need, and the DO’s verdict doesn’t change this fact,” the organizers added.

The DO went on to say that they will not impose financial penalties for the festival’s restrictions because “no differentiation based on sex was made between visitors at entry,” despite the event being described as man-free.

According to Billboard, the first Statement Festival was held in Gothenburg, Sweden, back in August 2017. The DO later launched an investigation into the event in July 2018.

The event was reportedly created after the country’s biggest musical festival, Bravalla, came under scrutiny due to the large number of sexual assault offenses reported at the event the previous year.

The organizers behind Bravalla also reportedly canceled the event this year in response to the reports from last year, according to BBC. 

“Certain men … apparently cannot behave. It’s a shame. We have therefore decided to cancel Bravalla 2018,” the organizers reportedly said at the time.