Finland – 2014 results

There is no evidence that women face restricted access to public space in Finland. There are no restrictions to women’s freedom of assembly in Finland. There is a wide-ranging and active array of women’s organisations. In 2008, state subsidies to these organisations became regulated by law.^[75]

Finland was recently governed by its second female Prime Minister from 2010 to 2011. Finland does not have quotas for women in its national legislature; nonetheless, it has one of the world’s highest female participation rates.^[76] In the 2011 elections, women won 85 of 200 seats (42.5%) in the Finnish parliament^[77] —the country’s highest rate thus far.^[78]Half (four of eight) of the political parties entered the election campaign with female leaders, and women were the majority in two parliamentary groups.^[79] As reported in 2011, the majority of the Finnish members of European parliament are women.^[80] As of 2012, the President of the Supreme Court and half of Finnish ministers were women, including the Minister of Finance. This amounts to double the 2012 OECD average share of female ministers of about a quarter.^[81]

With regards to municipal elections, according to Statistics Finland, there has been a general upward trend in the share of female candidates over the past decades; however, comparing the results from the 2008 to the 2012 elections reveals that the trend has now levelled off. Actually, there were slightly fewer female candidates in 2012 compared with 2008 (38.8% vs. 40.4%). Another trend in Finland since 1953 has been that the share of votes-cast for women is higher than the share of female candidates in municipal elections. This was also the case in 2012 with 40.7% of votes-cast going to women.^[82]

While Finland does not have gender quotas at the legislative level, the Equality Act (232/2005) provides for quotas for other decision-making bodies of the state administration (such as boards, committees, and working groups). According to the provision, both women and men should have at least a representation of 40%, unless particular reasons require otherwise.^[83]

Women in Finland comprise about half of state employees (49.6% in 2009), but are less present in leadership roles. In 2009, they were only 28.2% of the highest leadership and about a third of the middle management.^[84]

According to Government reporting, the gender distribution of journalists in Finland is about even, though women are under-represented in the media in news content and as experts.^[85] The Government maintains the Council of Ethics in Advertising, whose guidelines include that advertisements should not condone any form of discrimination based upon sex. However, the Council may not issue sanctions.^[86]

A 2012 study by the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) of nine Finnish media companies, including six newspapers, two television stations, and one radio station, found a relatively high degree of gender equality at all occupational levels. Women were present in greater numbers than men in several occupational levels associated with news reporting and production. They represented a slight majority (51.2%) in the senior professional level, and 59.4% in the junior professional level.^[87]However, their participation rate was less in the governance of the companies, such as boards of directors. Women comprised 37% of those in governance, and just over a third in both senior and top-level management. Moreover, while men’s and women’s salaries were similar at the average to low range of middle management, men’s salaries were considerably higher at the average to high range of the junior and senior management and senior professional levels.^[88]While a plurality of women were employed in regular full-time jobs at these companies, they also greatly outnumbered men in the less secure categories of part-time and contract work.^[89]  The IWMF study found that all the Finnish companies surveyed had policies on gender equality, maternity and paternity leave, and on offering educational training to women, and two-thirds had sexual harassment policies.^[90] Three Finnish companies offered child care support in addition to that offered by the local government.^[91]

Some organisations have expressed women’s rights concerns about the content of Finnish media. According to UNIFEM Finland, only a small number of gender-specific programmes have been offered by the Finnish Broadcasting Company. The Nytkis Coalition of Women’s Associations for Joint Action has stated that Finland’s media and advertising culture is increasingly pornographic, with negative consequences for women.^[92] The Government acknowledged in its report to CEDAW in 2007 that the “over-sexualisation” of media content in Finland may have a negative impact on the self-esteem of girls and the image of women in the society.^[93]On the other hand, an EU report praised the Finnish media for its positive role in promoting women’s economic participation.^[94]

The Act on Equality between Men and Women (1987) prohibits discrimination in the workplace based on sex, including in hiring, wages, working conditions, and termination. The Ombudsman for Equality monitors gender equality in employment. In cases where gender-based discrimination is proven, the law provides that individuals may receive compensation for lost wages. In 1992, the Act was expanded to prohibit discrimination on the basis of pregnancy and to require employers to offer training programmes to facilitate the advancement of women.^[95]

Statistics from 2012 indicate that the majority of women work fulltime, although women are more than twice as likely as men to be in part-time employment (19.7% of women vs. 9.0% of men). The gender pay gap has been declining over the last few years in Finland, but as of 2012, still stood at 17.1%.^[96]Women spend more time on domestic work than men in Finland, with men’s share of domestic work at 72% the female share.^[97]Women comprise about a third of entrepreneurs, which is high in comparison with the EU average.^[98] An EU working paper notes that the Finnish Government effectively implemented a strategy to increase the share of women on company boards to about a quarter in 2009, and to decrease the share of companies without any females on its board to less than a third in 2010 (compared with almost a half in 2008). The strategy included quickly achieving the Government’s own target of 40% women on boards of state-owned companies in 2006.^[99]

As reported in 2009, Women in Finland are entitled to 105 days of paid maternity leave, 30 to 50 of which may be taken before the baby’s due-date. Women who earn less than a certain threshold annually (49,004 Euros in 2009) are entitled to 90% of their pay during the first 56 days of leave. The percentage of the salary paid during leave is less for higher earning women. During the rest of the leave, the percentage paid is lower, for example 70% for those who earn below a certain threshold. However, in practice, half of all mothers with an employment contract receive full pay during the first three months of maternity leave.^[100]

Under Finnish law, both parents are entitled to paid parental leave during the first six months after the birth of their child if they are employed full-time. The leave can be taken either by the mother or the father, or it can be shared. Over 90% of all parental leave was used by mothers in 2009.^[101] However, fathers have an incentive to take some of the parental leave: if they take the last two weeks of it, they receive an additional two weeks. Together, these four weeks are referred to as the “father’s month.”^[102] Legislation that entered into force in 2010 increased the maximum length of this “month” to six weeks.^[103] Parents also receive a stipend under national social security and are given an allowance for child care. Both parents cannot take parental leave at the same time with the exception of multiple-birth cases. After this initial leave period, one of the parents can take child home care allowance until the child reaches the age of three.^[104]