User:Michael Goodyear/Helena von Schantz

Helena von Schantz (born 1959) is a Swedish politician, writer and language (Swedish, English, French) teacher at Djäkneparksskolan in Norrköping. She is President of Liberal Women in Östergötland, and lives in Valdemarsvik, where she is a member of the city council. She stood as a Liberal county and parliamentary candidate in the 2010 elections. She writes for Liberati, Newsmill, Expressen and Norrköpings Tidningar. She is an outspoken liberal and critic of Swedish radical feminism and paternalism. She writes on education, gender issues, morality and civil rights. Her position on parental leave (see below), in which she departed from the position of Birgitta Ohlsson in her own party was welcomed in an editorial in SvD.

Helena von Schantz has been a tireless advocate of the need to base public policy on sound evidence rather than ideology. Her blog was rated amongst the most highly linked. Her activities have won her the praise of local MP Karin Granbom Ellison.

In 2010 her outspoken criticism of the controversial government inquiry into prostitution "Nästa evidensfria utredning" (Practically Evidence-free Inquiry) won her praise from the anthropologist, Laura Agustin, writing in The Local, and other commentators. She then published a multi-party non-partisan critique of the failure to use proper methodology in such public policy documents.

Personal life
Married with children.

Newsmill

 * En delad föräldraförsäkring diskriminerar papporna (Shared parental leave discriminates against fathers) Nov 8 2009
 * Lösningen på våra sjunkande språkkunskaper är inte fler vuxna i skolan, Rossana Dinamarca! (Rossana Dinamarca: The solution to our declining language skills is not more adults in schools) Jun 27 2010
 * Skolpolitikens dagsländor och myror (School Politics: Mayflies and ants) Aug 10 2010
 * Kan vi kvotera oss till jämställdhet? (Can we impose quotas on equality?) Jan 6 2011
 * Sakine Madon och yttrandefriheten (Sakine Madon and freedom of expression) Jan 17 2011
 * Ett liberalt parti ska inte sprida morallagar (A liberal party should not disseminate moral laws) Jan 30 2011

Expressen

 * Klart att vi lärare ger för höga betyg (Of course we teachers give high grades) Dec 7 2009

SvD (Svenska Dagbladet)

 * Eldsjälarna jagas bort från skolan (Enthusiasts chased from schools) Nov 5 2009
 * EU säger nej tack till svensk morallag (EU says no thanks to the Swedish moral law) Joint statement with Camilla Lindberg MP, Alexander Bard, Carl Johan Rehbinder, and Malin Westberg Dec 16 2010

Liberati

 * Varför FRA-lagen är bra för Sverige (Why the FRA law is good for Sweden) Jul 24 2010

Sveriges Radio

 * Svenskan hotad Nov 24 2009 Debate with Horace Engdahl, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy on the status of teaching English in Swedish schools
 * Dec 9 2009 Debate with Jonas Sandqvist of Skolverket, the national education authority on how teacher's grade pupils - see article in Expressen, above.