Kvinnoforum was established in 1988 by Bam Björling. Having gained great experience from working within the trade industry, the public sector as well as being politically active and involved in the social movement, she concluded that in order to achieve impact and change requires an independent actor which can work across all sectors.
Kvinnoforum was furthermore established to combine work at grass root level as well as with structural change.
Kvinnoforum was given the task of increasing opportunities for girls and women within the wider society, on the labour market and in their private lives. Attention was primarily given to issues such as drug misuse, HIV/AIDS, prostitution, unemployment, single parents and female immigrants that had not been given sufficient consideration by the women’s movement. One aspect of the task given to Kvinnoforum was to re-organise the work carried out in order to develop strategies for change and to prevent it from becoming a traditional organisation.
Kvinnoforum did initially exist as a publicly funded project. However, when it had been running for two years, it had gained enough recognition in order for it to become an independent organisation. Soon afterwards, the board of directors decided that Kvinnoforum should not depend entirely on public funds but should seek funding from other sources.
This construction has led to new and unexpected co-operations and solutions through which Kvinnoforum has broadened and expanded it's work.
Kvinnoforum has kept growing throughout the years and currently covers most of the issues that concern girls and women from different cultures in their day-to-day lives. Some areas of Kvinnoforum’s work has decreased or discontinued as other organisations have gained necessary skills and knowledge, and new issues are continuously being added to the agenda – often against the odds. Kvinnoforum has also moved from looking at issues from a women’s perspective to a gender perspective which means that Kvinnoforum’s work nowadays includes both women and men, girls as well as boys. However, the board of directors has always consisted of women and men.
Kvinnoforum has since the start co-operated with other organisations on an international level. It began with developing activities in Latin America and the Middle East, and has grown to include involvement in projects all over the world.
