Villkorad representation? : En inblick i den diskriminering ledamöter med utländsk bakgrund utsätts för i sitt riksdagsarbete

Sammanfattning: Are all parliamentarians treated equally in their parliamentary work? And do all parliamentarians have equal opportunities to carry out their duties? This study seeks to understand if parliamentarians with a foreign background have equal opportunities to carry out their parliamentary duties and whether this differs between men and women. To achieve this, in-depth interviews with Swedish parliamentarians with a foreign background, have been conducted. The study shows that there are cases of both direct and indirect discrimination against people with a foreign background in the Swedish parliament. Most of the respondents also face direct discrimination and racism on social media that is linked to the legislators' background and/or gender. Male and female respondents do not seem to experience different levels of discrimination. However, the discrimination they experience seems to be different. The study also investigates the strategies used to respond to discrimination. The strategies and time the legislators spend on responding to the discrimination require a great deal of commitment outside their regular work tasks. The respondents thus seem to have to work more and harder in their parliamentary work, a commitment that takes both time and energy.