Women Play Big Part In Finnish Government

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28159, 24 December 1956, Page 2

Women Play Big Part In Finnish Government

(From a UNESCO Correspondent)

Exactly 50 years ago, the women of Finland were granted the right to vote and thfe right to serve as members of their country’s Parliament—a precedent—not only, for Finland but for all of Europe as well. Looking back, an important question arises: how have Finnish women made use of these rights over the past halfcentury? And what contribution have they made to the work of the Finnish Parliament? There were 19 women in the first Diet elected under the new system when it met in 1907. Then, as now, there were 200 members in the Diet, but the situation has changed considerably for its women members. There are now 30 of them, the highest number in Finnish history. Finland’s population is a little over 4 millions—about 2 million men and 2.2 million women. However, only 2.6 million citizens are of voting age (over 21), and women thus have one representative for about 73,000 inhabitants as against one male representative for 11,700 men.

While the first women members of the Diet, like their successors, took part in all legislative work, they also pioneered in improving the status of their sisters. At that time, unmarried women enjoyed the same civil rights as men, but married women were subject to their husbands’ authority in all questions relating to civil lav;, property and questions relating to the family—a situation which hampered them considerably, especially if they were in business. In education, girls had the same rights as boys to enter primary and secondary schools, but until 1901 they had to apply for a special dispensation to study at universities. Higher Education Gaining access to higher education, however, did not mean that they had equal rights to Government jobs. In this sphere, they had to wait until 1926 to proclaimed the equals of man. And it was only in 1927 that they achieved equality in the judiciary system, 20 years after they had begun to serve in their country’s legislature. Three years later, in 1930, when the new Marriage Act came into force, Finnish women finally became their husbands’ equals in the eyes of the law. Along with these efforts to improve

the status of women, Finnish women members of Parliament have also directed their attention to social legislation. ‘ They have concentrated on such problems as the development of labour laws, improvement of hospitals and sanitation, the organisation of courses for housewives and temperance education. They have taken every possible step to protect children, the aged and the handicapped, to ease the position of illegitimate children, and °ecure for them the same rights as other members of the community. At the same time, through appropriate legislation, they have striven to raise the general educational standard at all levels of instruction, including vocational training. But it should not be assumed that Finland’s women members of Parliament have limited their interests to fields normally within the province of the fair sex. A glance at the composition of the 12 special committees in the Finnish Diet bears this out: women serve on all of these committees except two, defence and communications, and on several of them they act as vice-chairmen. Persistent Prompting Like their male colleagues, women members of the Finnish Parliament do not hesitate to propose motions urging action on the Government. With a persistence characteristic of their sex, women members of Parliament repeat these motions year in year out. They do not hesitate to speak their minds, either. The voices of women parliamentarians are heard in Finland not only on their own special projects, but also in discussions of the budget, taxation and general policy. At present, questions relating purely to th? status and rights of women are receiving less attention than in the past mainly because many of them have already been solved satisfactorily. But among matters still pending in this field, is the question of equal pay for equal work. This principle has become a reality in Finland only in the case of civil servants, after the legislation in the ’twenties which I have already mentioned. Municipalities are adopting this principle as well, but women members of Parliament have still an important part to play in obtaining its application in other branches of employment and in private industry.