History
Finland has had two female Prime Ministers, Anneli Jäätteenmäki (2003) and Mari Kiviniemi (2010-2011). Anneli Jäätteenmäki
Finland has had one female president, Tarja Halonen, who was elected as a president two times in row in 2000-2006 and 2006-2012. Tarja Halonen
Anna Kontula Member of Parliament 2011 Left Alliance
Merja Kyllรถnen Minister of Transport 2011 Member of Parliament 2007 Left Alliance
Paula Lehtom채ki Member of Parliament 1999 Minister of Environment 2007 - 2011 Minister of Foreign Trade 2003 - 2007 Centre Party
Mari Kiviniemi Member of Parliament 1995 chairwoman of Centre Party (main opposite party) Prime minister 2010 - 2011 Minister of Municipality 2007 - 2010 Minister of Foreign Trade 2005 - 2006
The same thing that has been on the news.. ...Well, it was predictable, let's leave this be... ... The best thing in Emma Gala was large scale of music and the presentation was good, but...
Tarja Halonen, former President
Do female politicians have equal opportunity to have an influence on the politics compared to male politicians?
YES
NO
Parliamentary election in 2011 - 39% of candidates were women - Only one party had more women than men as candidates - 43% of the chosen were women (89 from 200) - Compared to other countries, Finland has the third most women among the members of the Parliament, after Rwanda and Sweden. In 2008 Finland had the most female ministers in the world (60%). - The current Finnish government: 9 women, 10 men
The amount of women in municipal elections
Women in committees Committees are one of the most important institutions of the Parliament. They prepare the laws.
- Women think that expertise is what matters, whereas men build safety nets for themselves -> women are easily left without support - The amount women can have a say in politics is dependent on the party they belong to. In the left-wing parties people try to promote gender equality more than in right-wing parties.
"If a woman is strong and enterprising, she is seen as the iron lady. Whereas a man would be an expert and a great leader."
Merja Kyllรถnen, Minister of Transport
"Women's political agenda are paid less attention because men are more likely to be seen as experts and many important themes are accepted more easily when they are presented by men rather than women.
The fact that many women haven't been able to get to important positions in the Parliament has influenced the matter."
Anna Kontula, member of the Parliament
Does the media treat the female- and male politicians in the same way?
YES
NO
The Media - The female politicians think that the image created by the media is very important - The media isn't always equal towards female politicians: is it more interested in the family and the looks of women?
Is this what the media is actually interested in? Do high heels really make the difference?
- Media highlights female politicians, but still in politics, women must struggle to survive - Media can also give wrong information and cause misunderstandings "If two men don't agree with each other, the media tells that they don't agree with each other. But if two women don't agree with each other, the media tells they are fighting." Paula Risikko, minister
Do the looks affect the credibility of a politician?
YES
NO
Appearance
It's taken for granted that women have to take care of their looks if they want to succeed. Women also get often criticized for their looks. For men looks are secondary.
Instead of focusing on the things the minister of finance was saying, the press decided to 채focus on her eyelashes and fingernails.
Jutta Urpilainen while she was the leader of Social Democratic party
Is this the thing the public should concentrate on?
Main problem in equality in Finland
- Pay gap between women and men is experienced as a problem
- Reasons: women take 90% of all parenting leaves -> developments in salaries slows down equality in the parenting leave -issue is reached in around 200 years women ask less pay than men there are more men working as leaders, and men do longer workdays -In female-dominated professions the pay is low: "woman's euro is 81 cents" -In the private sector women get about 800â‚Ź less pay than men
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Solutions
-parenting leaves could be shared more equally between the mother and the father (6+6+6-form) -men should not prefer men at work
- For women it's more difficult to take part in elections, because a) they don't get funding as easily b) they are expected to take care of their families - women as leaders: municipal and governmental level there are quite many, but only few on business level
-Nowadays discrimination is not direct, it consists of expectations -Equality has improved in the long term, but there's still much to be improved
- Influencing on equality begins from grassroot level: parenting.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1811SK xua9ScHg0RDdkXdSxSh3S6Cly5aGjgupoX W7MM/edit?pli=1#slide=id.gd23e445d_12