Finland is not behind the USA in this issue, but neither is it very far ahead…

One of the things that first attracted me to Finland was its stellar rating as a top nation in the world for gender equality, second only to Sweden or perhaps Norway. However, in my five years of living in Finland, I’ve found this national trait to be debatable; not absolute truth. I consider myself to be in a good position to talk about this issue because, as a foreign woman married to a Finn and living in Finland, I am able to see the society from an outsider’s perspective, and notice things that Finns, or particularly Finnish women, might not be able to see, or might choose not to see. 

I can only compare Finland with the USA because those are the only two countries in which I’ve spent a considerable amount of time. It is important to realize that both countries (and I could go so far as to say that all countries) have regional differences in general attitudes and habits. I do not think that any particular region or town in either country should be used to represent the nation as a whole, though this is often the case. I have frequently been involved in discussions with people who have lived in both countries and proclaim that “In the USA it’s like this and in Finland it’s like that”, to which I often reply, “Well, A is not necessarily so in the place where I come from in the USA, nor is B often true where I live in Finland”. 

Feminism is one of those issues that seem to bring out strong regional differences, as so many stories of independent, headstrong, capable women come from southern Finland, particularly in the capital Helsinki area. The further north you go, the more evidence there is of male chauvinism, co-dependence in romantic relationships, gender discrimination in the workplace, and disrespect towards feminist values. Since it is common for foreigners visiting or living in Finland to draw most of their conclusions from what they see in the Helsinki area, they tend to assume that those characteristics are consistent throughout the entire country. 

In Finland, most women work full-time away from home and are expected to do so, even though in recent years there has been an increase in the number of those staying home. Finland is proud of the high percentage of women in the workforce, but if we peel back the layers of the issue, there is slightly more to the story. Finland’s economic system makes it nearly impossible for a two-adult household to survive on one income.  Many Finnish women have little choice but to work, even if they would rather be homemakers. Additionally, if a woman of any age is unemployed, the social security system pays an allowance for various circumstances, such as studying to earn a degree, taking non-degree classes as part of a job search, having children, or as a stipend for doing housework if her husband’s income is below a certain level. Many advocates of socialism have raved about the ingenuity of this system, but it only gives the illusion of women’s independence, and is roughly the equivalent of a husband giving his wife money out of his own paycheck in the American system. So the end result is the same: a woman who does not work still gets money; it does not matter whether that money comes from the government or from her husband. The concept of a housewife definitely does exist in Finnish culture, but it is covered up with various labels, such as “maternity salary”, and “home allowance”.

By law, all women in Finland do have access to the same career prospects as men, but in reality the gender divide is much the same as it is in the U.S. Women are more likely to get lower-paid, blue-collar jobs regardless of their education, and they still dominate “traditional” female sectors such as nursing, teaching, childcare, cleaning, cooking, beautician work, office reception duties, and cashier work. Men are more likely to become engineers, bus drivers, construction workers, plumbers, car repair technicians, police officers, lawyers, and airline pilots. Of course, you will find women who are employed in male-dominated sectors and vice versa, but in many of the cases that I am aware of, the female professional seemed to have secured her job because of her personal connections to the industry, not because of her own motivation or area of education. 

Expanding on that, in 2004 I attended a day-long women’s entrepreneurial seminar in Oulu. Representatives from the local public business service center gave an excellent and honest speech on the challenges faced by Finnish business women. The gist of the speech was that, as much as we’d like to think things have changed over the course of history, women are still a minority in the business world, and most business that are started and run entirely by women either remain very small, or they fail. Women tend to get smaller business loans than men, and are more likely than men to have their loan applications denied, perhaps partly because the decisions are made by male-dominated review committees who may doubt women’s abilities to make a return on the investment. Indeed, the very fact that there are small business loans for women in Finland indicates that there are inequalities, otherwise there would be no need for special treatment. There were four female entrepreneur guest speakers at the seminar, and I was expecting accounts of their own ingenuity and persistence in building their businesses, but it soon became clear that three of the women had not even started their businesses themselves, but rather inherited companies from their parents, causing me to wonder if they really owed their success to their own motivation and expertise, or if they owed it to existing family connections and wealth that most likely originated from the father or grandfather. As I left the seminar, I found myself thinking, “Well, that’s great for women who come from entrepreneurial families, but what about those who do not; what chances do they have, realistically?” Some time later, I heard about a centuries-old business club in our city that is exclusive to men and apparently still does not accept female applicants; how ironic that I first heard about the club from a fellow guest at the city hall reception held in honor of Finland’s national Women’s Day. 

Then there are the smaller matters that blend in to everyday life, yet stand out as obvious when taking a wider perspective. Women still do most of the housework, and in some more conservative areas and farming communities, men are not expected to be involved in cooking or cleaning at all. Despite the strengths of the socialist welfare model, young women seem to have a harder time getting established as adults and paying the bills if they are single, and when a couple gets married, it is more likely that the woman will change or give up her current lifestyle to accommodate the man’s needs and career goals, than vice versa. For hobbies and personal interests, men are more likely to be found in hardware stores, electronics emporiums, and automotive supply shops; whereas women tend to frequent fashion outlets, craft shops, and interior decorating boutiques. 

In my view, neither country has achieved absolute gender equality, but the measures of equality or inequality are interpreted differently in each society. What an American woman considers necessary to be liberated may not be the same as what a Finnish woman considers necessary, but both may consider themselves to be as equal as possible in their respective cultures.