This chapter presents an in-depth study of Sweden which demonstrates that the election of women to parliaments matters for policy priorities and the willingness of the state to change in women-friendly direction. The analysis of the chapter serves two main purposes: The first aim is to substantiate the claim that increases in the proportion of women elected affects the willingness of the state to change in women-friendly directions. In this section, the data used comes from an archive of policies and legislation on gender equality compiled by Statistics Sweden and from surveys among Swedish citizens and members of the national parliament, the Riksdag, conducted by the Swedish National Election Study Program (SNES). The second aim of the chapter is then to substantiate the claim that, in Sweden, continued progressive gender equality developments are not to be taken for granted. As indicated by data from Transparency International, corruption levels are on their rise in Sweden which constitute a threat to the gender equality architecture of this country. The chapter discusses corruption as a form of state contraction. Previous research showing that women in particular react negatively to state contraction is discussed.