SAK - Föreningen för medföljare inom Utrikesförvaltningen  

Bli medlem och medverka till att utlandsvillkoren beaktar UD:s medföljandes rätt till grundtrygghet vid utlandsstationering samt vid hemkomsten. Hjälp oss att se till att UD-familjen inte förlorar på att utlandsstationeras.

Vi kräver också att UD står upp för den anställde och dennes familj

Tyngden i våra krav kan mätas i antal medlemmar. Ditt medlemskap är guld värt.

The Swedish Foreign Affairs Spouses´ Association

Sophia Albertina Klubben, or SAK, is an interest-oriented association of spouses and partners of Swedish foreign service officers and personnel. Its main concern is to promote the well-being of its members during their foreign postings, as well as when they are home-based in Sweden.

SAK, founded in the early 1960s, and one of the oldest organization of diplomatic spouses, has tranformed itself from being a social club into a serious cause-oriented organization. It has taken up the concerns of diplomatic dependents directly related to their social and economic security. Diplomatic spouses and partners are by majority composed of women, who in the past were content with their roles as hostesses/hosts complementing the diplomatic work of their husbands/wives or partners.

But the times have changed, particularly in the light of the Swedish government's policy on equality between men and women. Diplomatic spouses grew more aware of their individual identities and career potentials. SAK took up the concerns and grievances of its membership and became the main spokesman for a collective body urging for reforms to improve the economic security of spouses.

In particular, SAK, in collaboration with the foreign ministry's administration and personnel departments took up the issue of pension rights, insurances, right to work during postings abroad, temporary leave from work in Sweden, education, health and medical care issues, entry or re-entry in the Swedish labor market, and special concerns of children of diplomatic families.

One critical area in SAK's work is the dilemma facing the foreign-born spouses/partners - a special group of people whose lives and careers started elsewhere, outside of Sweden. They could easily be classified as the under-represented group in the foreign ministry in particular, and in Sweden in general.

The composition of the spouses/partner is also changing from being predominantly women-dominated to one where the percentage of men is growing in numbers.

Sophia Albertina Klubben took its name from Swedish Princess Sophia Albertina, sister to King Gustav lll, who once lived in the palace that is today Sweden's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.