Finland ranks 4rth in gender equality index

Finland ranked fourth in the index of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) released on Tuesday, said an official press release.

Sweden held the top place in the list among the 28 member states in European Union followed by Denmark and France.

The Gender Equality Index compares the development of gender equality in the EU member states between 2005 and 2017.

The index measures the state of gender equality in six domains: work, money, knowledge, time, power and health.

Finland has always been among the best countries in the index. This time, France succeeded in improving its scores, especially concerning decision-making, and passed Finland, said a press release issued by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

Finland's development has been slower, although its scores increased slightly in some domains, such as money and power, the press release added.

In many other EU countries, gender equality has improved in the domain of power. This is a consequence of, for example, quotas and other active measures carried out to improve gender equality in political and economic decision-making. Quotas also contributed to raising the ranking of France.

“The lesson to be learnt from the results is evident: there is no natural progress towards gender equality. The governments need to act and work continuously to achieve gender equality”, said Thomas Blomqvist, Minister for Nordic Cooperation and Equality, in his address at the publication event for the Gender Equality Index.

“I hope this information is widely used in decision-making in the EU, not only in gender equality policies but also in the area of employment, education and health policies, to name just a few”, said Blomqvist.

This time, the specific theme of the Gender Equality Index was to reconcile work and private life. Women still use clearly more time than men do for housework and unpaid caring of children or other family members. This has an impact on the wage development of women and the wellbeing of women and their families.