WHERE WOMEN RULE

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 155, 27 March 1926, Page 17

WHERE WOMEN RULE

Few people understand why Finland has produced more famous women than any other country in the world in proportion to its size. There lias always been a large preponderance of women in Suomi—as Finland is locally called—and since the world war this surplus has increasedThe Finnish woman lias a wonderful “wav with her,” states a writer in the ’“Daily News.” She is resourceful, energetic, enterprising, and pushes her way to the front in everything without’anv apparent effort. No one who has been in Finland has failed to be impressed by the enormous force, independence, and energy of its women. In every walk of life they are to the fore. During the Bolshevik invasion they fought as ardently for independence and freedom as any sou of the soil, and many of them, disguised as men, shouldered rifles and were engaged in a number of desperate actions. No form of work is considered derogatory in the “Land of a thousand Lakes.” Women are engaged as Tramway conductors, road sweepers, bricklayers, mechanics, engineers, arcliiticts, doctors, dentists, lawyers. No profession or trade is- closed to them. Men and women are absolutely equal before the law. There are . many members of the Finnish Parliament, and women monopolise the borough councils, boards of guardians, etc. It is sometimes difficult to understand what the men do in Finland. Every Government office _is .. overrun with women. In the Finnish Customs House in Helsingfors the male officials seem to occupy subordinate positions, but there was always an absence of “bossing” on the part of the womenFinland is almost a terra incognita to the majority of English men and women. It is wonderful that a country a little larger than the United Kingdom' should hold the most advanced views and possess no “sex question.” It seems to be a characteristic of the Finns to regard a man and woman as absolutely equal. Even the great national epic, Kalevala, believed to be over three thousand vears old. enjoins equality of sex. Needless perhaps to say, Finland is a prohibition country.