Racism and Gender in the Parliamentary Workplace: Insight Into Immigrant Background MPs' Experiences of Discrimination in Sweden

ABSTRACT Numerous studies have explored MPs' opportunities to participate in politics from a gendered perspective. Still, a much smaller number of studies have focused on parliamentarians' immigrant backgrounds, particularly in relation to gender. Taking a broader perspective, this study examines if and how men and women MPs in the Swedish parliament with immigrant backgrounds experience discrimination in their parliamentary work. Drawing on documents and interviews with MPs, our findings demonstrate recurrent instances of direct and indirect discrimination within the parliamentary workplace, especially in contact with the public. While both men and women have been exposed to such discrimination, the type of discrimination they experience in part takes both raced and gendered forms. We conclude that the Swedish Riksdag is not only a gendered workplace but also a racialized workplace with signs of institutional racism.