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Infographics

  • Elections and voting
  • Political decision-making
  • Corporate sector

Elections and voting

Since the late 1980s, women have had a higher voting turnout than men in Finnish parliamentary elections.

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Women had a higher turnout than men in all age groups except in those aged 65 and over in Finnish parliamentary elections of 2019.

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The share of female candidates in Finnish parliamentary elections of 2019 was 42%. 47 percent of the MPs elected in the 2019 elections were women and 53 percent were men.

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There have been more male candidates in all age group, excluding those aged 20-24 in Finnish parliamentery elections of 2019.

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Of all candidates in Finnish parliamentary elections of 2019, the proportion of those with foreign backgroung was 2.4%.

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The proportion of women aged over 60 who were elected was clearly lower than their proportion among the candidates in Finnish parliamentary elections of 2019.

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Political decision-making

In Prime Minister Marin's government, the share of women is 53% and the share of men 47%. From 1991 to 2015, at least approx. 40% of government ministers were both women and men.

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Out of 76 Finnish governments, a woman has been as Prime Minister three times and as Minister of Finance twice.

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Women account for less than 40% of Finnish ministries' senior management.

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The share of women as chairpersons of municipal councils was 39% and the share of men 61% in 2017. The percentage of female chairpersons has increased steadily since 1993 when their share was 16%.

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31% of chairpersons of municipal boards were women and 69% men in 2017. The percentage of female chairpersons has increased steadily since 1993 when their share was 11%.

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The share of women as chairpersons of municipal committees was 30% and the share of men 70% in 2013.

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39% of members of municipal councils were women in 2017. In municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants, 36 % of elected council members were women. 0.6 % of the councilmembers do not speak Finnish, Swedish or Sámi as their first language.

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Corporate sector

In 2020, the share of women as chairpersons of the boards of directors of listed companies was 7%. The share of female board members was 30% and the share of female managing directors 8%.

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On executive boards of listed companies the share of women was 27% in 2020. The share of women in support function management was 43% and in business function management 15%.

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In listed companies female board members were more highly educated than male board members. Most common fields of education for women were economic or administratite sciences or law. Men were most often educated in the technical field.

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In state-owned companies the share of women as board members was 41% in 2018. The share of women as chairpersons of the boards of directors was 20% and as managing directors 16%.

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In unlisted companies the share of female board members was 19% in 2018. The share of women as chairpersons of the boards of directors was 11% and as managing directors 13%.

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Updated: 7.12.2023

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The Gender Matters? project is funded by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (REC) 2014–2020.

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