Women in Finland Women's suffrage Are men and women treated equal in Finland? The Parliament Act in 1906 established the unicameral parliament of Finland and both women and men were given the right to vote and stand for election. Can a female hold official public office in Finland? election. Thus Finnish women became the first in the world to have unrestricted rights both to vote and to stand for parliament. What other offices did she hold? In elections the next year, 19 female MPs, first ones in the world, were elected
Before women's suffrage could any girl go to university?
Before women's suffrage, could any girl go to university in Finland?
The area that in 1809 became Finland was a group of integral provinces of the Kingdom of Sweden for over 600 years, signifying that also women in Finland were allowed to vote during the Swedish Age of Liberty (1718-1772), when suffrage was granted to tax-paying female members of guilds  The predecessor state of modern Finland, the Grand Duchy of Finland was part of the Russian Empire from 1809 to 1917 and enjoyed a high degree of autonomy. In 1863 taxpaying women were granted municipal suffrage in the countryside, and in 1872, the same reform was given to the cities  The Parliament Act in 1906 established the unicameral parliament of Finland and both women and men were given the right to vote and stand for election. Thus Finnish women became the first in the world to have unrestricted rights both to vote and to stand for parliament. In elections the next year, 19 female MPs, first ones in the world, were elected and women have continued to play a central role in the nation's politics ever since. Miina Sillanpaa, a key figure in the worker's movement, became the first female minister in 1926.  Finland's first female President Tarja Halonen was voted into office in 2000 and for a second term in 2006. Since the 2011 parliamentary election, women's representation stands at 42,5%. In 2003 Anneli Jaatteenmaki became the first female Prime Minister of Finland, and in 2007 Matti Vanhanen's second cabinet made history as for the first time there were more women than men in the cabinet of Finland (12 vs. 8). CANNOTANSWER
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Women in Finland enjoy a "high degree of equality" and "traditional courtesy" among men. In 1906, the women of Finland became the first women in Europe to be granted the right to vote. There are many women in Finland who hold prominent positions in Finnish society, in the academics, in the field of business, and in the government of Finland. An example of powerful women in Finnish politics is Tarja Halonen, who became the first female president of the country (she was Foreign Minister of Finland before becoming president). In religion, where most of the Finnish people are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (the other major Christian denomination in Finland is the Eastern Orthodox Church), women can be ordained as priests. In terms of finance, Finnish women have been described as "usually independent financially". Married women, by custom, introduce themselves by mentioning their forename first, then their maiden name, and then the surname of their husbands. The Telegraph wrote in 2006:

Location 
Finland is bordered on the east by Russia, on the south by the Gulf of Finland and Estonia, and on the west by the Gulf of Bothnia and Sweden, and on the north/north west by Norway. One quarter of the territory is north of the Arctic Circle.

Population

By gender (2020) 
 Total population: 5,533,793
 Men population: 2,733,808
 Women population: 2,799,985

Life expectancy (2020) 
 Life expectancy in years for total population: 81.82
 Male: 79.03 years
 Female: 84.62 years

Women's suffrage 

The area that in 1809 became Finland was a group of integral provinces of the Kingdom of Sweden for over 600 years, signifying that also women in Finland were allowed to vote during the Swedish Age of Liberty (1718–1772), when suffrage was granted to tax-paying female members of guilds.

The predecessor state of modern Finland, the Grand Duchy of Finland was part of the Russian Empire from 1809 to 1917 and enjoyed a high degree of autonomy. In 1863 taxpaying women were granted municipal suffrage in the countryside, and in 1872, the same reform was given to the cities.

The Parliament Act in 1906 established the unicameral parliament of Finland and both women and men were given the right to vote and stand for election. Thus Finnish women became the first in the world to have unrestricted rights both to vote and to stand for parliament. In elections the next year, 19 female MPs, first ones in the world, were elected and women have continued to play a central role in the nation's politics ever since. Miina Sillanpää, a key figure in the worker's movement, became the first female minister in 1926.

Finland's first female President Tarja Halonen was voted into office in 2000 and for a second term in 2006. Since the 2011 parliamentary election, women's representation stands at 42.5%. In 2003 Anneli Jäätteenmäki became the first female Prime Minister of Finland, and in 2007 Matti Vanhanen's second cabinet made history as for the first time there were more women than men in the cabinet of Finland (12 vs. 8).

Women's rights movement 
In 1970 there was a brief but strong women's movement. Rape in marriage was not considered a crime at the time, and victims of domestic violence had few places to go. Feminists also fought for a day-care system that would be open to the public, and for the right for not only paid maternity leave but also paternity leave. Today there is a 263-day parental leave in Finland. It is illegal to discriminate against women in the workforce. Two feminist groups were created to help the movement: The Marxist-Feminists () and The Red Women (, ). The feminists in Finland were inspired by other European countries such as Sweden and Switzerland. Other important groups for the Finnish women in the 1970s include Unioni and The Feminists ().

Women's rights 
Finland became one of the first countries to grant women the right to vote, and still today they are among the top countries for women equality. Finland was voted second in the Global Gender Gap Index in women's rights. Finland made marital rape illegal in 1994. In 2003 the government of Finland proposed addressing issues with gender inequality. They planned to promote gender equality over the entire public administration, reform the Act on Equality () that the men and women in Finland share, promote equal pay for work of equal value, increase the number of women in political and economic roles, assessing gender equality from the male point of view, prevent domestic violence and intimate partner violence, protect victims of trafficking and the possibility of criminalizing buying sex. This act is called the Government Action Plan for Gender Equality () and it included more than 100 issues that needed discussion.

Education

In history 
In the late 18th century and early 19th century private schools for girls were established in Finland, among the more known being those of Christina Krook, Anna Salmberg and Sara Wacklin. These schools were criticized for its shallow education of accomplishments, which resulted in the decision that girls should be included in the school reform of 1843, and the following year, two Swedish-language state schools for girls was founded in Turku and Helsinki, Svenska fruntimmersskolan i Åbo and Svenska fruntimmersskolan i Helsingfors. This led to the establishment of a net of girl schools of a similar kind in Finland. At first the schools were reserved for girls from upper-class families.

At this time it was not possible for the girls to pass the baccalaureate and move on to university studies. In 1865 a grammar school made it clear that only girls whose upbringing and manners were impeccable and whose company cannot be considered detrimental to others, and who were from "respectable" families could be in the school.

After the first woman in Finland, Maria Tschetschulin, was accepted as a university student by dispensation in 1870, advanced classes and colleges classes were included in many girl schools to prepare students for university (by means of dispensation), and in 1872, the demand that all students must be members of the Swedish language upper classes was dropped. Women were given the right to teach in grammar schools for girls in 1882.

When the dispensation for female university students was dropped and women were accepted at the same terms as men in 1915, girls and boys started to receive the same education in the school system, and the girl schools in Finland started to be changed to same sex education, a development which was completed in the 1970s.

Today 
Finland students start their schooling a year after a lot of other countries. In spite of this, Finland is now one of the top-performing countries in mathematical skills, but also one of the few whose boys performed as well as girls. While in most countries the most able girls lag behind the most able boys in mathematics performance, according to the PISA 2012 Results Overview, the OECD gender score difference in mathematics, reading, and science was a result of -6 (boys - girls) in Finland. Additionally, while the highest-performing students of problem solving in the world are largely males, Finland makes an exception where the proportion of top-performing females is about the same as the proportion of top-performing males. This is also true among the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) where the top-performers in problem solving are predominantly men, except for in Finland, Australia and Canada.

As for Finland's educational benefits for students, Finnish schools offer state-funded schooling which makes it easier for women and men to go to work after being on parental leave. Women represent 32% of students studying in mathematics and computer science.

Women in the workforce 
According to the Finnish Labor Force Survey around 32% of the 301,000 people who are self-employed are women. Women first became involved in labor markets through agrarian societies. Even before the public daycare systems, the number of women in the workforce was still very high, over 50%. The number of workers in the labor force that makes up the females (ages 15–74) is 51%, where men is 49%. 32% of the women are involved in entrepreneurship.

Equality in the workforce 
Employers who have at least 30 employees must have a gender equality plan that includes a women's and men's pay comparison. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and other important labor market organizations set guidelines for gender equality planning.

Women in the military 

Military service is required for men in Finland, but is voluntary for women. Women who enlist are allowed to train for combat roles. Finland is one of 16 other countries in the world that permit women in front-line combat positions.

Recreation 
In using the sauna, women bathe separately from men, except if they are with family members or friends.

See also 
 Demographics of Finland

References

External links 

 Finland, everyculture.com
 Finland, Cultural Etiquette, eDiplomat

 
Finnish women
Finland
Helen Brewster Owens (April 2, 1881 – June 6, 1968) was an American suffragist and mathematician.

Early life and education 
Helen Brewster Owens was born April 2, 1881 in Pleasanton, Kansas to Clara (née Linton) and Robert Edward Brewster. Her mother, who was a teacher and president of the Lincoln County Women's Suffrage Association, prompted Brewster's interest in the movement from a young age. As a girl, she attended the 1893 County Fair with her mother where she helped distribute flyers of Frances Willard.

Brewster Owens received a B.A. degree in mathematics from the University of Kansas in 1900 and her master's degree one year later from the same institution. Her master's thesis was titled "Collineations of Space which Leave Invariant a Quadric Surface," and it built off of the work of Ruth G. Wood, a groundbreaking woman in mathematics in her own right. She continued her graduate studies at the University of Chicago, but she and her family moved to Ithaca, New York before she could complete a PhD. She finally received her doctorate in mathematics in 1910 at the age of 29 from Cornell University, advised by Virgil Snyder.

Mathematical career 
Brewster Owens taught math at the University Preparatory School in Ithaca, New York from 1910 to 1912. In 1914, she was hired as an assistant professor of mathematics at Wells College in Aurora, New York. Next, she served as a mathematics instructor at Cornell University from 1917–1920. After several more interruptions to her profession due to moves for her husband's career, she reached the next stepping stone in her career when she was appointed an associate editor of the American Mathematical Monthly. In 1936, Brewster Owens began a major research project on the history of women in mathematics. From 1941–1949, she taught at Penn State University as an assistant professor.

Suffrage activism 
Brewster Owens kept up her suffrage career from that first visit to the 1893 County Fair with her mother throughout her life. In 1910, she was elected to the board of the Resolutions Committee of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association. In 1911, she returned to Kansas for a spell to continue the fight for suffrage there. Soon after, Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National American Woman's Suffrage Association asked Brewster Owens to return to Kansas as her personal representative. Working there throughout 1912, Brewster Owens bore witness to the state's ratification of the suffrage amendment - by 16,000 votes, the greatest majority of any state up until that point. She then returned to New York to fight for suffrage there.

Personal life
Brewster Owens married her classmate, Frederick William Owens, in 1904. She gave birth to her first daughter, Helen, upon their move to Chicago one year later. She died on June 6, 1968, in Martinsburg, West Virginia

References

External links
Papers of Helen Brewster Owens, 1867-1948. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
 
  Biography on p. 475-479 of the Supplementary Material at AMS
 :File:Woman s Who s who of America.pdf, 1914, p. 615 (= p. 606 in Pdf file)

1881 births
1968 deaths
American suffragists
Cornell University alumni
Cornell University faculty
University of Kansas alumni
University of Chicago alumni
20th-century American mathematicians
American women mathematicians
20th-century American women scientists
People from Pleasanton, Kansas
20th-century women mathematicians This is a timeline of women's suffrage in Wisconsin. Women's suffrage efforts began before the Civil War. The first Wisconsin state constitutional convention in 1846 discussed both women's suffrage and African-American suffrage. In the end, a more conservative constitution was adopted by Wisconsin. In the 1850s, a German language women's rights newspaper was founded in Milwaukee and many suffragists spoke throughout the state. The first state suffrage convention was held in Janesville in 1867. The 1870s, several women's suffrage groups were founded in the state. In 1884, a women's suffrage bill, allowing women to vote for school-related issues is passed. In 1886, voters approve the school-related suffrage bill in a referendum. The first year women vote, 1887, there are challenges to the law that go on until Wisconsin women are allowed to vote again for school issues in 1902 using separate ballots. In the 1900s, women's suffrage conventions continue to take place throughout the state. Women collect petitions and continue to lobby the state legislature. In 1911 Wisconsin legislature passes a bill for women's suffrage that will go out to the voters in 1912. On November 4, 1912 voters disapprove of women's suffrage. Women's suffrage efforts continue, including sponsoring a suffrage school and with the inclusion of a National Woman's Party (NWP) chapter formed in 1915. When the Nineteenth Amendment goes out to the states, Wisconsin ratifies on June 10 and turns in the ratification paperwork first, on June 13, 1919.

19th century

1840s 
1846

 October 5: Delegates of the 1846 Wisconsin Constitutional Convention start meeting in Madison. The final draft of the constitution had women's rights provisions and considered suffrage for African Americans.
 April: This version of the Wisconsin Constitution is rejected by voters.

1850s 
1852

 Woman's rights newspaper, Die Deutsche Frauen-Zeitung, is founded in Milwaukee by Mathilde Franziska Anneke.

1853

 Clarina I. H. Nichols and Lydia Folger Fowler tour Wisconsin and speak on temperance and women's suffrage.

1855

 November: Lucy Stone speaks about women's suffrage in Madison and Kenosha.

1856

 Women's suffrage club started in Richland Center.
Three women's suffrage petitions are brought to the state legislature by Senator C. C. Sholes of Kenosha County.

1860s 
1867

 October 9-10: First state suffrage convention is held in Janesville.

1868

 The Woman Suffrage Association of Wisconsin (WSAW) is founded.

1869

 February 24-25: State suffrage convention is held in Milwaukee and arranged by Lila Peckham and Laura Ross Wolcott.

1870s 
1870

 State suffrage convention is held.

1878

 The Madison Equal Suffrage Association (MESA) is founded.
1879

 Organization of the Marathon County Woman Suffrage Association.

1880s 
1880

 May: Mukwonago Woman Suffrage Club is organized.
A women's suffrage referendum passes both houses and waits to be passed again the next year.
1881

 The women's suffrage bill, passed in 1880, fails during the second vote.

1882

 September 7: State suffrage convention is held in Madison. The  WSAW changes their name to the Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Association (WWSA).
 Centralia Equal Suffrage Association, Grand Rapids Equal Suffrage Association, Milwaukee Olympic Club, Milwaukee South Side Woman Suffrage Association, Whitewater Woman Suffrage Club, and Woman Suffrage Association at Mosinee are founded.

1884

 A bill passes the state legislature, giving women the right to vote for candidates relating to education. 
September: State suffrage club is held in Richland Center.
1885

 State suffrage meeting held in Whitewater.
The suffrage bill passed in 1884 is passed again and will go out to a voter referendum.

1886

 State suffrage meeting is held in Racine.
Fall: Voters approve the women's suffrage referendum, giving women the right to vote in education-related elections.

1887

 April: Attorney General of Wisconsin, Charles E. Estabrook instructs inspectors at polling places to throw out women's votes.
Olympia Brown is turned away from voting in municipal elections.
State suffrage meeting is held in Madison.
Suffrage newspaper, the Woman Citizen begins publication.

1888

 January 31: The Wisconsin Supreme Court decides that the new education suffrage law means that women can vote for any candidate on ballots that contain school-related issues.
State suffrage meeting is held in Stevens' Point.
The Supreme Court of the United States reverses the Wisconsin Court, clarifying that women in the state can only vote on school issues, not other candidates.
1889

 Another case challenges the school-election law and women are effectively barred from voting for several years.

1890s 

1890

 Theodora W. Youmans uses the Waukesha Freeman as a platform to encourage women's clubs to form in Waukesha.
State suffrage meeting is held in Berlin.
1891

 State suffrage meeting is held in Menominee.

1892

 State suffrage meeting is held in Richland Center.

1893

 State suffrage meeting is held in Mukwonago.

1894

 State suffrage meeting is held in Racine.

1895

 State suffrage meeting is held in Evansville.

1896

 State suffrage meeting is held in Waukesha.
Ten day suffrage open house is held at Manona Lake Assembly where Anna Howard Shaw speaks to a group of around 4,000 people.

1897

 State suffrage meeting is held in Monroe.

1898

 State suffrage meeting is held in Spring Green.
National suffrage convention held in Madison.

1899

 State suffrage meeting is held in Platteville.

20th century

1900s 

1900

 State suffrage meeting is held in Brodhead.

1901

 Belle Case La Follette lobbies the state legislature to reinstate women's right to vote for school-related candidates and issues.
Women are again allowed to vote on education-related issues because separate school ballot boxes are provided by law.
State women's suffrage convention is held in Brodhead.
1902

 Headquarters for women's suffrage are opened in Madison.
State women's suffrage convention is held in Madison.
April 1: Women in Wisconsin vote again for school related issues on a separate ballot.
1903

 A municipal suffrage bill is introduced in the state legislature, but only gets a small vote.
A full women's suffrage bill passes the state assembly, but not the state senate.
State women's suffrage convention is held in Platteville.

1904

 State women's suffrage convention is held in Janesville.

1905

 The state assembly passes a municipal suffrage bill, but it fails in the state senate.
State women's suffrage convention is held in Milwaukee.

1906

 State women's suffrage convention is held in Madison.

1907

 State women's suffrage convention is held in Madison.

1908

 State women's suffrage convention is held in Madison.
Maud Wood Park tours several Wisconsin colleges and helps set up suffrage groups for college students.

1909

 State women's suffrage convention is held in Madison.
WWSA circulates petitions for a federal women's suffrage amendment and collect more than 18,000 signatures.
A bill for a referendum on women's suffrage passes in the state senate, but fails in the state assembly.

1910s 

1910

 State women's suffrage convention is held in Madison.

1911

 March 31: A suffrage bill passes the state senate.
April 26: The suffrage bill passes the state assembly and will go to the voters as a political referendum in 1912.
 The Political Equality League (PEL) is organized.
Wisconsin Men's League for Women's Suffrage formed.
State women's suffrage convention is held in Racine.
Summer: Campaign headquarters for the vote are set up in Milwaukee.
August 2: State women's suffrage auto tour begins in Milwaukee.

1912

 November 4: The vote for women's suffrage fails in the referendum.

1913

 January: Zona Gale calls for a joint conference of PEL and WWSA.
February 4-5: The joint convention is held in Madison.
A women's suffrage referendum passes in the state legislature, but is voted by the governor.
PEL and WWSA merge and keep the name WWSA.
April 26: La Follett testifies in front of the United States Senate Select Committee on Woman Suffrage.

1914

 June 18-24: A suffrage school is held in Madison.
 December: State suffrage convention is held.
1915

 Several women's suffrage bills are introduced in the state legislature, but are unsuccessful.

1916

 March: A Congressional Conference is held in Milwaukee with Carrie Chapman Catt as featured speaker.
June: Suffragists from Wisconsin march in the Chicago parade.

1917

 A National Woman's Party chapter is founded in Wisconsin.
March 4: Olympia Brown from Wisconsin is one of the suffragists picketing the White House.
A voter referendum bill is introduced in the state senate, but loses in the state assembly.

1919

 February: A bill to allow women to vote in the Presidential elections passes.
June 10: Wisconsin ratifies the 19th Amendment.
June 13: Wisconsin is the first state to complete the ratification process, turning in the papers to the Secretary of State.

1920s 
1920

 March: WWSA dissolves.
The League of Women Voters (LWV) Wisconsin is formed.

See also 

 List of Wisconsin suffragists
 Women's suffrage in Wisconsin
 Women's suffrage in states of the United States
 Women's suffrage in the United States

References

Sources

External links 
 Campaign for Women's Suffrage
Brief Legislative History of the Woman's Suffrage Movement in Wisconsin by J. W. McMullin (September 1915)

Wisconsin suffrage
Politics of Wisconsin
Timelines of states of the United States
Suffrage referendums
American suffragists
History of women's rights in the United States
History of women in Wisconsin
Women's suffrage in the United States