Gendering the Finnish Parliament: From Gender Equality Planning to Gender Sensitive Parliament

Politics in Finland is widely considered as the sphere in public life where gender equality and women’s position and rights have advanced furthest. This is indeed the case in the light of statistics about women’s political representation. This paper makes a strong case for applying and adopting the Gender Sensitive Parliament (GSP) framework in the Finnish Parliament. The paper exposes the continuing gender biases in the formal and informal institutions and discourses of the Finnish parliament. Drawing on an interview data with women and men politicians from the six biggest parties represented in the parliament, the paper explores how gender affects the work of the parliamentarians. The paper then proceeds to discuss national gender equality policy solutions to these problems, which include – among others – the legal obligation of the parliament to draw up a gender equality plan for its employees every two years. The latest plan is dates back to 2011 and has not been updated since. The paper compares the national solution of gender equality planning and its effectiveness, shortcomings and the potential that it holds with international frameworks such as the GSP to draw some conclusions about the ways in which the current gender inequalities could be tackled.