Femmes3000 Côte d'Azur

But one of the most important symbols of gender equality is considered to be the fact that women got the right to vote early on in Finland’s history. A hundred years ago Finland was an autonomous territory of Russia under the Tsars. In 1906, with the parliamentary reforms and the amendment to the Election Act, Finland, a country that was still not independent, had the world’s first modern parliament. The right to vote was universal and equal. Finnish women at the time were the first in Europe to win the right to vote in general elections, and were the first women in the world to have the right to stand as candidates in elections. And this right was exploited enthusiastically from the start. The following year the first women candidates were elected – 19 Finnish pioneers. At present, 83 of our Parliament’s MPs are women. The 20 ministers in the Cabinet include 12 women – the Government with more women in it than any other in the world.

New Zealand was actually the first country in the world to give women full rights to represent people in parliament – back in 1893 – but this only related to white women. As regards the other Nordic countries, women got the right to vote in Norway in 1913, in Iceland and Denmark in 1915, and in Sweden in 1920. French women had to wait until 1944!

Finland is a pioneer in a lot of other areas too. Harmonisation of work and family life is easier for us than in many other countries. For example, we have family leave, a functional system of day care and free school meals for children. Our system of maternity care is among the world’s best. Girls do well at school and Finnish women of working age are more highly educated than men. Gender is no longer a barrier in the choice of occupation or profession.

Although the status of Finnish women in society is important, there are still other things we need to concentrate on. These include equal pay and less periodic, irregular work. Women have influence on many different levels and in their various roles: as mothers, wives, friends and colleagues. But women do not necessarily feel that they are influential. We often even underestimate our own strengths and abilities. There should be more women in management positions as women are clearly an underused resource. I intend now to look at some of these matters in more detail.

(Equality)

The Nordic countries are regarded as the world’s most equal countries. But differences between women and men can easily result in unequal status or treatment in society – even in Finland. That is why just having the same opportunities is not enough. We also need to take action to improve the position of women.

In Finland people have to comply with the Act on Equality between Women and Men. The purpose of this law is to prevent discrimination based on gender, promote equality between women and men, and improve the position of women in working life. The Act applies both to employees and trainees.

Every employer must, for example, place women and men in jobs in the company impartially and fairly and give them the same opportunities for promotion and advancing their careers. An employer must also ensure that working conditions are suitable for both women and men and make it easy for them to harmonise work with family life. There also has to be equality on state committees, including advisory committees, and administrative councils, which must consist of at least 40% women.

The World Economic Forum’s Chief Economist, Augusto Lopez-Claros, has said that a society that does not make use of half of its workforce is not a wise or prudent one. The Nordic model deserves praise and recognition because competitiveness improves when we use all the brains we have. Our society gives women – at least in principle – equal opportunities to participate.

(Pay differences)

In Finland 66% of women between the ages of 15 and 64 go to work, which puts the country fourth highest in the European Union. The employment rate for Finnish women is the second highest in the EU. Over half of all salary earners in Finland are women. Finnish women are very interested in being trained and at present they are better educated and trained than men. But, in spite of the fact that women are highly educated and trained, they do not have the same financial benefits and rewards as men. Not even a university degree or other qualifications will guarantee that women have the same opportunities for employment as men.

The fact that women’s pay has still not reached the pay levels for men is a big problem in our society. In Finland, the euro for women is only worth about 80 cents. Pay differences in Finland are one of the highest in the EU: Finland came fifth in a comparison of how great the differences in salary were between women and men in the EU countries. Although much attention has been paid to the problem, and we have promised to do something about it, the pay differences between women and men have increased in Finland by 3% in the last 10 years. The trend has been downward in most other EU countries.

The principle reason for salary differences is that women and men do different kinds of work. In Finland there is a very clear division between female and male industries, when compared internationally. But what is the sense of making salaries in female-dominant industries lower than in male-dominant ones? Does one industry have the right to pay smaller salaries just because more women happen to work in it? Obviously, you should be paid for your labour in accordance with how demanding and difficult the job is and not according to gender.

A good example is the care sector. That is often taken as an example of a female-dominant industry. Yes, there are more female workers in the care sector and it is perfectly true that men in the care sector are poorly paid. But that is no good reason for underpaying your staff. Nurses’ pay, in particular, in no way reflects the responsibility of the job, its demands and the time they have to spend training.

(Balancing work and leisure time)

Something which is spoken of a lot too is the harmonisation - or compatibility – of work with family life. In Finland a crucial element here is the fact that both parents often go out to work. And they mainly work full-time. However, the difficulty of combining work with family life is frequently seen as being just a problem for women.

The system of family leave is a very important part of Finnish working life. Parental leave has been a system where women and men share the leave and this has been the case for almost 20 years now. A parent has the right to stay at home for 11 months on social benefits. After that it is still possible to continue to stay at home on child care leave until your child is three years old without losing your job.

As I said at the beginning, the harmonisation or compatibility of work and family life is easier in Finland than in many other countries thanks to this system of family leave, as well as a good system of day care and free school meals. Children start school at 7. Before that, all children under school age have the right to a place at a day care centre or their families can apply for a home care or private care allowance.

Even if women return to work quickly, who do you think it is who most often gets to stay at home to look after a sick child? This should be for both parents to take responsibility for and find solutions to. The harmonisation of work and family is a challenge for both sides, but, unfortunately, the structure of our society demands that women themselves and their employers pay the costs of parenthood. These costs are that female employees progress slowly in their careers or their employers have to pay their salaries when they are away from work.

All too often this results in a situation where companies would prefer to employ men rather than women at an age when they may become pregnant. As long as the companies do not receive full compensation if one of their employees is away because of the birth of a child, women’s position in the employment market is in reality worse than men’s. The costs are shared but there is still a long way to go before we see the costs being shared equally by all employers.

Women also have to do periodic, or irregular, work more often than men. We are proud of the equality that exists in our country, but it is surely ironic that in Finland this type of work is done by more of the workforce than anywhere else in Europe. Just under 12% of women in work in the EU countries are in temporary employment. In Finland it is 20%. However, there are fewer women doing part-time work in Finland than in the other EU countries: 18% of Finnish women are in part-time work, whereas the figure is 31% in the EU on average.

Obviously, if you are continually going from one temporary job to another, it is difficult to make any long-term plans, such as buying a house or having children. Of course, for some a temporary job is a conscious choice but for too many it is an inevitability. It is a round of job interviews with questions that make allusions to plans for a family; it is about working under the continuous pressure of having to demonstrate that you can do the job efficiently; and, finally, as the end of the contract approaches, it is the worry about getting more temporary work – was I good enough? Did I do enough?

(Advancement in one’s career)

People often have the idea that in Finland there are large numbers of women in managerial positions and in top government jobs. But it is not like that. Certainly, there has been a clear increase in the number of female managers and section heads in Finland, and women have also risen to positions of leadership and power in political life to some extent. On the other hand, women see their careers come to a stop very often at a certain level, for example, demanding head of section or management positions, but generally no higher than that. Women are also still a big minority in senior management and on companies’ boards of directors. Women simply do not rise to the top of companies the same way that men do: this is what is referred to as the invisible barriers to advancement in women’s careers – the so-called ‘glass ceiling’.

Why is this? Are women by nature weaker in male sectors and as leaders and managers? There have been numerous studies of this and they are still being carried out. They tend to show the same thing: women are no worse than men in any area of managerial skill or ability. The studies show that large companies run by women are clearly more profitable and more solid than those managed by males. Companies run by women can utilise resources and women’s expertise.

But it is alarming that women very easily undervalue their abilities - while men overvalue theirs. This in itself will come as no surprise, when you consider general attitudes, the lack of motivation or encouragement, the fact that women are rarely trained for management, and that they are not kept informed. Women are easier to ignore when information is being given out and positions are being filled as we are not on any natural ‘distribution list’ - we are just kept in the dark.

Anyone with just a little experience of the world of business realises the importance of networking. You cannot do it alone. Everyone in the business world needs partners, sponsors, manufacturers, buyers, workers – the list could go on and on. But women do not have any obvious support network of the same kind men have as a matter of course. There is no all-us-men-together attitude, or old boy network, among women, although such an attitude could help us out of precarious situations. Although women are empathetic in other respects and can chat easily amongst themselves, they very often do not have any professional association holding them together.

Networks of women have an important role to play here. Although it would be best if we could get rid of the gender division entirely, there are also things that are nice to share only among women. So women need their own networks which men have nothing to do with.

Finally, ladies and gentlemen,

After all I have just said I cannot, however, have any worries concerning the future of Finnish women. We still have certain problems, but it has become very evident that in many respects we are still global pioneers. Although we sometimes take equality for granted, we are aware, both men and women, that there is still work to do. We are not going to rest on our laurels - we do not intend to remain satisfied with what we have achieved. Because as long as we are having the debate on equality - where it exists and where it does not – we will not really be living in an equal society.

It cannot be denied that if a woman is in a high position at her place of work, she and her family will have to make sacrifices. Combining work with family life means that a woman needs to make different decisions on day-to-day routines. She will also rely on networks of support and an equal sharing of household duties in the family. She will need to make decisions that have a social impact and she will also have to make great efforts. Getting the balance right between career and family, however, means a woman can also have a balanced life and experience success outside, as well as in, the home.

Maria Mitchell once said: “No woman should say ‘I am only a woman’. Only a woman! How greater than that could anyone hope to be!”"

Suvi LINDEN

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