Int'l Women's Day celebration in Finland discusses women's rights

As the International Women's Day is approaching, a celebration was held in Finland on Friday, discussing widely about women's rights both domestically and internationally.

Held at the European Commission Representation in Finland, the event was hosted by the European Parliament Information Office Finland and the Coalition of Finnish Women's Associations (NYTKIS).

Citing positive development in Finland when addressing the event, Miapetra Kumpula-Natri, Member of European Parliament, said Finland used to suffer from low share of women in high-level technological education. But in a recent free training for Artificial Intelligence, over half of the 300,000 participants were women, and recently 40 percent of applicants to Aalto University technology subjects were women.

Maria Mailasalo, a specialist at Finland's National Council of Women, said that even though Finland has an international gender-equality image, major problems remain.

"The salary gap between men and women has not been filled and violence against women remains a major problem". As a new challenge, Mailasalo mentioned the situation of paperless women, the immigrants who have arrived here without documents.

Addressing the celebration on behalf of the Finnish Foreign Ministry, Counsellor Tanja Leikas-Botta noted that currently only two percent of the world development funding goes to promoting women's equality.

The event highlighted the principles on women's rights raised in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995, which was produced at the end of the Fourth World Conference on Women. It has been considered as the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing women's rights.

Finland's National Council of Women at five year intervals updates on how Beijing Declaration was applied in the country. Mailasalo told the audience that 42 civic organizations contributed to the report last autumn.

Veronika Honkasalo, chairman of the NYTKIS, said the spirit of the Beijing Declaration is required also in the Nordic countries, even though known for their equality.