Government action plan for gender equality 2020–2023
The Government’s Action Plan for Gender Equality 2020–2023 brings together the goals and measures of the Government of Prime Minister Sanna Marin for promoting gender equality. This Action Plan for Gender Equality is based on the Government Programme.
The Action Plan for Gender Equality summarised the measures for which the various ministries were responsible. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health was responsible for coordinating the implementation of the Action Plan.
The final report of the Action Plan was published in February 2023.
- Government Action Plan for Gender Equality. Final report (Publication. Abstact in English)
- Making Finland a global leader in gender equality. Government action plan for gender equality 2020–2023 (MSAH's publications 2021:10)
Measures
- Promote pay transparency through legislation. Set up a tripartite working group to prepare the Government goals of adding provisions to the Act on Equality between Women and Men to grant personnel collectively, personnel representatives and individual employees the right and the effective means for gaining information on pay, and for addressing pay discrimination more effectively.
- Prevent pregnancy discrimination. Further specify legislation so that pregnancy and taking family leave shall not influence the continuation of a fixed-term employment relationship. Explore how to improve the employment security of employees returning from family leave and take legislative and other action as warranted by the findings. This matter is to be discussed in the tripartite working group led by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment preparing for the implementation of the Work-life Balance Directive.
- Improve the status of employees on zero-hour contracts and in temporary work. Conduct a study and strengthen the legislation.
- Ensure access to integration and language education for immigrant women as part of the Government Action Plan on Integration (report).
- The Government aims to promote gender equality on the Boards of Directors of publicly traded companies. The goal is that both genders have a representation of at least 40% on the Boards of Directors of large and medium-sized publicly traded companies. This equal representation should be principally achieved in keeping with the recommendations in the Corporate Governance Code of the Securities Market Association and through the companies’ own actions. The Government will monitor progress towards this goal and evaluate its effectiveness on an annual basis. The Government will also commission a study or report on the factors why women do not make up a higher percentage of Board members, management group members and CEOs in publicly traded companies.
- The Government will continue its systematic efforts to increase the percentage of women among members of Boards of Directors and management groups in State-owned companies, based on goals set in 2004. Progress towards these goals and the gender equality goals defined in the Government Resolution on Stateownership Policy will be monitored on an annual basis in the Government’s reports to Parliament.
- Explore possibilities for increasing flexibility in working life to balance the reconciliation of work and family life and to help people cope at work in order to extend careers. The aim here is particularly to improve the potential for the part time employment of parents of small children and persons caring for their ageing relatives.
- Combine the Maternity Act and the Paternity Act into a single Parenthood Act.
- Promote the proposals given in the report on shared residence.
- Support equitable shared parenting. Enable a child to have two equally valid addresses of residence.
- Enact mandatory gender equality plans for early childhood education.
- 4Execute projects in the ‘Right to Learn’ programme to prepare legislation, permanent funding arrangements and practices and procedures that foster nondiscrimination. The aim here is to curb and prevent learning differentials that are due to socioeconomic background, immigrant background or gender.
- Execute a development project in the ‘Right to Learn’ programme to provide continuing education for teachers in basic education, personnel and management in early childhood education, and school managers. The aim here is to promote gender equality and to neutralise gender segregation in education and in working life.
- Ensure the professional and pedagogical competence of teaching personnel and instructors. Grant funding for hiring teachers and instructors for vocational education and for support measures for teaching and instruction. The aim here is to prevent school dropouts, to boost completions, to prevent social exclusion and to promote equality among students.
- In spring 2020, the Ministry of Education and Culture is to produce a brief preliminary report on the current situation at academic universities and universities of applied sciences in how gender equality and non-discrimination are being promoted in R&D activities. This report is to be based on the gender equality and non-discrimination plans of universities. The results will be leveraged in the performance agreement negotiations with universities in spring 2020. The situational awareness will be enhanced by launching a more extensive study into the current state of gender equality and non-discrimination in research, development and innovation activities (RDI activities) in 2020.
- Prepare a higher education accessibility plan. Review how well higher education complies with the principles of social, regional and language equality, and chart the obstacles that members of various minority groups may encounter in applying for higher education. Take action as warranted by the findings of the review. Neutralising gender segregation in higher education should be examined under the broader topic of the accessibility of higher education.
- Introduce cross-administrative measures during the current electoral term to address with increased effectiveness the phenomena of systematic disruption, intimidation and targeting that are undermining freedom of speech, official activities, research and communications. Secure the resources and expertise required for the prevention and investigation of the aforementioned offences. Promote systematic monitoring of the situation in discrimination offences and hate crimes, nationally and internationally.
- Enact a comprehensive reform of legislation on sexual offences on the premises of integrity and the right of sexual self-determination. Amend the definition of rape in the Criminal Code so as to be based on absence of consent, while ensuring legal protection.
- Reform the legislation concerning restraining orders so as to better safeguard the rights of the victim.
- Enact a provision whereby grounds for increasing the punishment pursuant to chapter 6 section 5 of the Criminal Code include committing the offence with a gender-based motive.
- The Minister for Social Affairs and Health and the Minister for Nordic Cooperation and Equality shall organise round-table discussions on sexual harassment with experts. Prepare recommendations for preventing sexual harassment based on these discussions involving various administrative branches.
- Do not apply conciliation in cases where it might compromise the legal protection of the victim. Evaluate the continuation of conciliation in cases of intimate partner violence.
- Enact an Act on assisting victims of human trafficking, empowering local authorities to provide such assistance. Add references to victims of human trafficking to social welfare and health care legislation. Update the Reception Act so as to erode the link to the criminal justice process as required by international obligations.
- Enact national legislation for and take care of safe and supported housing services for victims of human trafficking as required in EU legislation. Assign the duty of monitoring and steering these operations to the Finnish Institute for Health
and Welfare. - Conduct a survey on the current situation of prostitution in Finland.
- Enact an Act on gender confirmation that is consistent with the right of self-determination. Remove the requirement of infertility and separate medical treatments from legal gender change.
- A gender confirmation may be made on application for any adults who present a justified explanation of perceiving themselves as belonging to the gender to which they wish to confirm. There will be a reconsideration period for the gender confirmation procedure.
- Abandon gender encoding in personal identity numbers in the personal identity
number reform, as proposed in the Ministry of Finance report. - Strengthen the right of self-determination of intersex children and discontinue cosmetic and medically non-essential genital surgical procedures on small children.
- Commit to promoting gender equality in budgeting processes. Promote gender budgeting as part of developing sustainable development budgeting.
- Emphasise and specify the budget drafting guideline issued to ministries as regards recording gender impacts. Ensure through steering and monitoring that gender impact assessments are included in budget drafting processes.
- Ministries shall systematically include the gender perspective in their key processes, particularly budgeting, performance management and law drafting. Monitor the quantity and quality of gender impact assessments on an annual basis.
- Continue and enhance operative gender equality work at ministries. Ensure that the required human resources (coordinators) and support from the civil service leadership are available for this work. Ministries shall implement and actively monitor their operative gender equality plans.
- Continue the process to develop mainstreaming the gender perspective across central government.
- Improve gender equality competence in central government. Bring into active use the digital gender mainstreaming training designed for central government. The management of agencies and institutions subordinate to ministries shall ensure that their personnel participate in the training. Ministries shall also include information on gender equality in their respective training programmes (orientation and other personnel training). The goal is to achieve a significant improvement in competence during the electoral term. The Government shall monitor progress on an annual basis.
- Boost the production of gender-analysed data and its use as an input for preparation and decision-making.
- Conduct a broad-based study or investigation on the gender-specific social, financial and health impacts of the coronavirus crisis in the short and long term. This shall include gender-specific impacts of measures decided on by the Government (restrictive measures, support packages, etc.). Adopt an intersectional approach to this study, considering not only gender but also age, socioeconomic status, ethnic background and minority group membership.
- Step up gender equality efforts at the EU level and promote effective implementation of the EU Gender Equality Strategy through both specific measures and mainstreaming. Finland is involved in reinforcing and developing the mainstreaming of the gender perspective and related processes through concrete measures such as gender impact assessments particularly in the Commission’s focus areas such as actions concerning digitalisation and demographic change, climate policy, economic policy and the implementation of Agenda 2030 in the EU. Finland promotes the mainstreaming of the gender perspective in council work and gender budgeting in the EU.
- Finland is in favour of promoting equal pay by increasing pay transparency through EU legislation. Finland also considers it important to clarify the concept of equal pay for work of equal value.
- Implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights is crucial for the promotion of gender equality. Finland considers it highly commendable that the Commission has launched the process to issue the implementation plan for the European Pillar of Social Rights at the beginning of 2021 and will contribute actively to its confirmation. Enhance the promotion of gender equality and the principles of the economy of wellbeing within the European Semester.
- Continue to actively defend the rights of women and girls in international human rights policy contexts. This theme will be prominently featured in Finland’s campaign for membership of the UN Human Rights Council for the term 2022– 2024. Monitor and make use of reporting on high-level speeches and statements on gender equality in the EU Gender Action Plan for external relations.
- Through financial and operational planning, implement the goal in the Government Programme that eventually 85% of new development cooperation projects will set goals promoting gender equality. Monitor attainment of this goal annually (number of projects and amount of funding).
- Mainstream gender equality in all development cooperation, with specific reference to the status and rights of women and girls. Evaluate and monitor gender impacts and norms more systematically than before. Boost implementation through guidelines, tools and personnel training. Monitor and systematically evaluate implementation.
- Increase the number of experts serving as gender equality advisors and liaisons in civilian crisis management operations. Finland will offer more male applicants for these duties than at present. Ensure that the gender perspective is considered in crisis management training and exercises.