The Alternative party celebrates a "historic achievement," while the Minister for Equality strongly criticizes the party.

The Alternative party expressed its celebration on social media on Thursday of a historic event in Denmark: Alternativet is the first party ever to have an all-female parliamentary group, with six women occupying the party's seats in the Danish parliament, after politician Torsten Gejl left his seat to take sick leave due to stress.

The announcement was met with strong criticism from Denmark's Minister for Equality, Marie Pierre, who described the party's celebration of the all-female parliamentary group as "inappropriate," according to a post on her Twitter page (now known as X). She also stated that it sends a signal that men are not welcome in the Alternativet party's parliamentary group, according to TV2 and Ritzau: "The goal can never be to have a group that is 100 percent women. It sends a signal that men are not welcome and polarizes the struggle for equality.".

Gender equality

According to TV2, Alternativet party leader Franziska Rosenkilde told Ritzau on Thursday that she sees the all-female group as a positive development, as men still dominate the overall parliamentary representation. At the same time, Rosenkilde emphasized that she believes the ideal solution would be to also include men in the party's parliamentary group. She clarified that the party never wanted a 100% female parliamentary group, but that was the voters' decision, as they had an equal number of male and female candidates. She added, "We are simply celebrating a historic event that took 105 years to achieve. Do you think our Minister for Equality will acknowledge that?" This is according to a written response, as reported by the source.

Comment by Danish Minister for Equality, Marie-Pierre

Marie-Pierre points out that “you can’t dream of celebrating a parliamentary group made up only of men. When you go out and celebrate, and moreover you are proud of it, which I can understand, the Alternativet party is that they are helping to say that it is important to keep competent men away.”.

However, the current situation of the women's parliamentary group appears to be temporary, as Torsten Gejl has stated that he plans to return after his sick leave, according to the source.