Country report, gender equality : how are EU rules transposed into national law? : Finland 2025.
Date: 2025-10-08
Institutions: Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers
Subjects: Finland, age discrimination, anti-discriminatory measure, equal pay, equal treatment, gender equality, maternity leave, national law, parental leave, paternity leave, pension scheme, report, sexual discrimination, sexual harassment, social security

Finland 
2025 

 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers 
Directorate D — Equality and Non-Discrimination 
Unit D.3 Gender Equality 

European Commission 
B-1049 Brussels 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Country report  

Gender equality 

How are EU rules transposed into 
national law? 

Finland 

Kevät Nousiainen 

Reporting period 1 January 2024 – 1 January 2025 

2025  Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2025 

© European Union, 2025 

PDF  

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ISSN 2600-0164  

doi: 10.2838/3803764    DS-01-25-022-EN-N 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

CONTENTS 
1

Introduction ............................................................................................... 5
Basic structure of the national legal system ............................................ 5
1.1
List of main legislation transposing and implementing the directives .......... 5
1.2
Sources of law .................................................................................... 7
1.3
1.4
Main surveys, reports on gender equality and other issues ....................... 8
General legal framework ............................................................................ 9
Constitution ........................................................................................ 9
2.1
Equal treatment legislation ................................................................... 9
2.2
Implementation of central concepts ......................................................... 11
Sex/gender/transgender .................................................................... 11
3.1
Direct sex discrimination .................................................................... 12
3.2
Indirect sex discrimination .................................................................. 13
3.3
Multiple discrimination and intersectional discrimination ......................... 15
3.4
Positive action ................................................................................... 17
3.5
Harassment and sexual harassment ..................................................... 21
3.6
Instruction to discriminate .................................................................. 23
3.7
Other forms of discrimination .............................................................. 23
3.8
Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 23
3.9
3.10
Remaining issues ............................................................................... 23
Equal pay and equal treatment at work (Article 157 of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Recast Directive 2006/54)
 ................................................................................................................. 25
General (legal) context....................................................................... 25
4.1
Equal pay ......................................................................................... 26
4.2
Access to work, working conditions and dismissal .................................. 33
4.3
Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 36
4.4
4.5
Remaining issues ............................................................................... 36
Work-life balance issues: pregnancy, maternity, family-related leave and 
flexible working arrangements (Directive 92/85, relevant provisions of 
Directives 2006/54, and Directive 2019/1158) ....................................... 38
General (legal) context....................................................................... 38
5.1
Pregnancy and maternity protection .................................................... 39
5.2
Maternity leave ................................................................................. 43
5.3
Paternity leave .................................................................................. 47
5.4
Adoption leave .................................................................................. 49
5.5
Parental leave ................................................................................... 50
5.6
Child-related leave in relation to surrogacy ........................................... 53
5.7
Carers’ leave ..................................................................................... 54
5.8
Time off for force majeure .................................................................. 55
5.9
Flexible working time arrangements (FWAs) ......................................... 57
5.10
Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 59
5.11
5.12
Remaining issues ............................................................................... 60
Occupational social security schemes (Chapter 2 of Directive 2006/54) .. 61
General (legal) context....................................................................... 61
6.1
Direct and indirect discrimination ........................................................ 62
6.2
Personal scope .................................................................................. 62
6.3
Material scope ................................................................................... 62
6.4
Exclusions ........................................................................................ 62
6.5
Laws and case law falling under the examples of sex discrimination 
6.6
mentioned in Article 9 of Directive 2006/54 .......................................... 62
6.7
Actuarial factors ................................................................................ 63
6.8
Difficulties ........................................................................................ 63
6.9
Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 63
Remaining issues ............................................................................... 63
6.10
Statutory schemes of social security (Directive 79/7) ............................. 64
General (legal) context....................................................................... 64
7.1

3 

2

3

4

5

6

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Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

7.2

Implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in 
matters of social security .................................................................... 64
Personal scope .................................................................................. 64
Material scope ................................................................................... 65
Exclusions ........................................................................................ 65
Actuarial factors ................................................................................ 65
Difficulties ........................................................................................ 66
Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 66
Remaining issues ............................................................................... 66

7.3
7.4
7.5
7.6
7.7
7.8
7.9
Self-employed workers (Directive 2010/41/EU and some relevant 
provisions of the Recast Directive) ........................................................... 67
Implementation of Directive 2010/41/EU .............................................. 67
8.1
Personal scope .................................................................................. 67
8.2
Material scope ................................................................................... 69
8.3
Positive action ................................................................................... 70
8.4
Social protection ............................................................................... 70
8.5
Maternity benefits.............................................................................. 70
8.6
Occupational social security ................................................................ 70
8.7
Prohibition of discrimination ................................................................ 71
8.8
Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 71
8.9
8.10
Remaining issues ............................................................................... 71
Goods and services (Directive 2004/113) ................................................ 72
General (legal) context....................................................................... 72
9.1
Prohibition of direct and indirect discrimination ..................................... 72
9.2
Material scope ................................................................................... 73
9.3
Exceptions ........................................................................................ 73
9.4
Justification of differences in treatment ................................................ 73
9.5
Actuarial factors ................................................................................ 73
9.6
Interpretation of exception contained in Article 5(2) of Directive 2004/113 74
9.7
Positive action measures (Article 6 of Directive 2004/113) ...................... 74
9.8
Specific problems related to pregnancy, maternity or parenthood ............ 74
9.9
Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 74
9.10
9.11
Remaining issues ............................................................................... 74
Violence against women and domestic violence in relation to the Istanbul 
Convention and the Violence Against Women Directive (Directive (EU) 
2024/1385) ............................................................................................. 75
General (legal) context with regard to the obligation set out by the Istanbul 
10.1
Convention ....................................................................................... 75
General context with regard to the obligation set out by the Violence Against 
Women Directive ............................................................................... 77
Ratification of the Istanbul Convention ................................................. 78

10.2

8

9

10

11

10.3
Compliance and enforcement aspects (horizontal provisions of all 
directives) ................................................................................................ 79
General (legal) context....................................................................... 79
11.1
Victimisation ..................................................................................... 81
11.2
Access to courts ................................................................................ 81
11.3
Horizontal effect of the applicable law .................................................. 82
11.4
Burden of proof ................................................................................. 83
11.5
Remedies and sanctions ..................................................................... 84
11.6
Equality body .................................................................................... 84
11.7
Social partners .................................................................................. 85
11.8
Other relevant bodies......................................................................... 85
11.9
Evaluation of implementation .............................................................. 85
11.10
11.11
Remaining issues ............................................................................... 85
Overall assessment .................................................................................. 86
12
Bibliography ..................................................................................................... 87

4 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

1 

Introduction 

1.1  Basic structure of the national legal system 

law, 

including  employment  contracts  and  criminal 

The  Finnish  legal  system  is  based  on  statute  law.  Finland  follows  a  dualist  approach  to 
international  law.  The  Government  has  the  right  of  legislative  initiative,  although 
legislative proposals submitted by MPs may be adopted. In addition, a citizens’ initiative, 
allowing citizens to make legislative initiatives to Parliament, has been in use since 2012.1 
Although  legislation  is  generally  introduced  by  a  Government  bill,  the  new  citizens’ 
initiative has been used for gender-related issues.2 Gender equality legislation consists of 
constitutional  and  ordinary  legislative  provisions.  The  relevant  case  law  consists  of 
judgments by the Supreme Court (which has competence concerning civil, commercial and 
law  provisions  on 
criminal 
discrimination),  the  Supreme  Administrative  Court  (which  has  competence  concerning 
administrative law, including the position of public servants), the Labour Court (which has 
an  exclusive  mandate  to  decide  matters  concerning  collective  agreements),  and  other 
special courts. The court system is divided into general courts and administrative courts. 
At the lowest level, 20 district courts, and 5 courts of appeal decide cases in which special 
courts  do  not  have  a  mandate,  mainly  civil  and  criminal  law  cases.  First  instance 
administrative courts have the mandate to decide administrative law  cases. The Market 
Court, the Labour Court and the Insurance Court deal with special fields of law. Decisions 
by the Labour Court and Market Court cannot be appealed. The Insurance Court is a special 
administrative court that decides cases concerning social security and assistance. In the 
great  majority  of  cases,  the  decisions  of  the  Insurance  Court  cannot  be  appealed,  but 
some  accident  and  occupational  disease  cases  can  be  appealed  to  the  Supreme 
Administrative  Court.  The  judicial  system  further  comprises  the  National  Legal  Services 
Authority,  National  Prosecution  Authority,  National  Enforcement  Authority  and  Criminal 
Sanctions Authority.  

The region of Åland has autonomy for many legal issues, with shared competence with the 
Finnish  state  in  a  number  of  areas,  including  discrimination  law.3  Finnish  anti-
discrimination law is implemented in the region in a modified form. 

1.2  List of main legislation transposing and implementing the directives 4 

- 

Act  on  Equality  between  Women  and  Men  (Laki  naisten  ja  miesten  välisestä  tasa-
arvosta), 1986/6095; 

1   The Finnish Constitution 1999/731 was amended in 2011 by adding Section 53(3) on the citizens’ initiative, 
which allows an agenda initiative to be presented to Parliament by 50 000 citizens, in a manner further 
regulated by the Act on the Citizens’ Initiative 12/2012. Where the proposal concerns EU legislation, 
Regulation (EU) No. 211/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the citizens’ initiative, OJ L 
65/1 is to be followed.  

2   A citizens’ initiative on the gender-neutral marriage act was presented to the Parliament and was adopted, 
although the Government then in power had agreed on not bringing a bill on the matter to the Parliament. 
A new citizens’ initiative was started with the aim of overturning the amendment and re-introducing 
marriage as an institution between persons of different sexes. The new initiative, having collected more 
than 97 000 signatures, was presented to the Parliament, but was dismissed. A citizens’ initiative on 
amending the Act on Abortion was presented to the Parliament in 2020 and led to amendments in 2022. A 
citizens’ initiative on prohibiting so-called conversion therapy, meaning therapy aimed at turning a 
homosexual person into a heterosexual, was presented in 2023 and adopted by the Parliament, and 
subsequently brought to the Government for legislative measures.  

3   For an introduction to the Åland autonomy, meant for Finnish officials, see Ahvenanmaan itsehallinto: 

Perehdytys valtioneuvoston virkamiehille (The Åland Autonomy: An introduction for government officials) 
Publications of the Ministry of Justice Reports and guidelines 2023:10, 
https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/164755/OM_2023_10%20SO.pdf?sequence=1&i
sAllowed=y> accessed 14.3.2023. 

4   Finnish national legislation, both the original and updated statutes can be found on the website of the  

public data bank Finlex in the national languages Finnish and Swedish. Translations into foreign languages 
may be available on the website, but these translations are unofficial. 

5   See: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/lainsaadanto/1986/609.  

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Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

- 

- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 

Act  on  the  Non-Discrimination  and  Equality  Board  (Laki  yhdenvertaisuus-  ja  tasa-
arvolautakunnasta) 2014/13276; 
Act on the Equality Ombudsman (Laki tasa-arvovaltuutetusta) 2014/13287; 
Employment Contracts Act (Työsopimuslaki) 2001/558; 
Sickness Insurance Act (Sairausvakuutuslaki) 2004/12249; 
Pensions Act for the private sector (Työntekijän eläkelaki) 395/2006 10; 
Pensions Act for the public sector (Julkisten alojen eläkelaki) 81/201611; 
Entrepreneurs’ Pensions Act (Yrittäjän eläkelaki) 1272/200612; 
Agricultural Entrepreneurs’ Pensions Act (Maatalousyrittäjän eläkelaki) 1280/200613;  
Criminal  Code  (Rikoslaki)  1889/39,  which  contains  provisions  on  work-related 
discrimination and harassment14; and Regional act on implementation of the Act on 
Equality between Women and Men in the  region of Åland (Landskaplag (1989:27) 
om  tillämpning  i  landskapet  Åland  av  lagen  av  jämställdhet  mellan  kvinnor  och 
män.15 

6   See: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/lainsaadanto/2014/1327.  
7   See: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/lainsaadanto/2014/1328.  
8   See: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/lainsaadanto/2001/55.  
9   See: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/lainsaadanto/2004/1224.  
10   See: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/lainsaadanto/2006/395.  
11   See: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/lainsaadanto/2016/81.  
12   See: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/lainsaadanto/2006/1272.  
13   See: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/lainsaadanto/2006/1280.  
14   See: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/lainsaadanto/1889/39.  
15   See: https://www.regeringen.ax/alandsk-lagstiftning/alex/198927.  

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Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

1.3  Sources of law 

The Constitution, ordinary legislation and administrative regulations constitute a hierarchy 
of  sources,  all  of  which  are  important  for  gender  equality.  The  Constitution  and 
parliamentary acts are considered strong primary sources that must be taken into account 
in legal interpretation. Section 6 (on equality) of the Constitution and the Act on Equality 
are thus both obligatory sources. Constitutional review by the courts is limited to cases 
where an ‘application of an Act would be in evident conflict with the Constitution’, in which 
case  the  court  shall  give  primacy  to  the  provision  in  the  Constitution.  The  Parliament’s 
Constitutional Committee previews the constitutionality of legislation to be passed and if 
the Committee has considered that there is no conflict between the Constitution and an 
ordinary  act,  there  is  held  to  be  no  ‘evident’  conflict.  European  Union  laws  on  gender 
equality,  treaties  and  legislation  are  also  considered  obligatory  sources.  International 
treaties  must  be  incorporated  into  Finnish  law  after  ratification.  The  Convention  on  the 
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is an important source 
for  the  Act  on  Equality,  which  was  passed  in  1986  for  the  purpose  of  ratifying  the 
Convention.  EU  law  is  often  used  as  a  source  of  law  in  gender  equality  issues.  Finland 
became a member of the Council of Europe in 1989 and ratified the European Convention 
on  Human  Rights  in  1990.    Finland  has  ratified  the  Istanbul  Convention,  with  relatively 
few  legislative  amendments  made  at  incorporation.  The  Supreme  Court  has  referred 
directly to the Istanbul Convention in its judgments.16 Finland follows a dualist model of 
international law, considering international and national law separate legal systems. The 
assumption is that when a convention has been ratified it has been fully transposed into 
national law.  

Where  two  or  more  laws  contradict  each  other,  the  most  recent  legislation  and  most 
specific  regulation  are  to  be  followed.  Section 23  of  the  Constitution  dictates  that  court 
and  administrative  decisions  must  be  based  in  law.  Where  the  meaning  of  legislation 
requires  interpretation,  preparatory  works  (committee  reports,  working  group  reports, 
Government  bills  and  Parliament  standing  committee  reports)  are  to  be  consulted  for 
guidance. Case law and the decisions of the Supreme Courts (Supreme Court and Supreme 
Administrative Court in particular) are also sources of law that must be consulted. Although 
the opinions of the Equality Ombudsman are not binding, they may be used by courts to 
support reasoning. Legislation in force as well as decisions by the Supreme Court, Supreme 
Administrative Court and Labour Court can be accessed in the electronic data base Finlex. 17  

Other  sources  of  law,  such  as  legal  literature  and  established  custom,  as  well  as 
comparative law and moral and ethical arguments, may be used in legal interpretation. 
The lack of up-to-date literature on equality law limits the use of scholarship in the area. 
The  relevant  legislation  is  relatively  old  and  has  undergone  many  amendments,  which 
makes using preparatory works cumbersome.  

The  legislation  by  the  bodies  of  the  autonomous  region  of  Åland  is  available  from  the 
Ålands författningssamling (ÅFS) database.18  

International agreements are in force in Finland if they have been transposed into national 
legislation.  

16   In Supreme Court cases KKO:2022:73 and KKO:2020:20, the Court referred to the Convention provision on 

aggravating circumstances; in case KKO:2020:88 the Court referred to the Convention provisions that 
stress the specific features of family violence as facts to be considered in assessing the self-defense of a 
victim who has suffered from previous violence by a partner.  

17   See: https://www.finlex.fi/fi/.  
18   See: https://www.regeringen.ax/alandsk-lagstiftning/alands-forfattningssamling. 

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Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

1.4  Main surveys, reports on gender equality and other issues 

Statistics  Finland,  the  national  statistical  institution,  gathers  statistical  information  on 
gender  equality,  consisting  of  figures  by  gender  on  population,  families,  education, 
working life, economy and welfare, health, safety, power and decision-making and use of 
time.  Statistics  Finland  also  provides  a  list  of  publications  that  contain  statistical 
information  on  equality  issues.19  The  Ministry  of  Social  Affairs  and  Health  provides 
information  on  various  aspects  of  gender  equality,  including  promotion  of  equality  and 
equal  decision-making,  violence  and  harassment,  work  and  income,  families  and 
parenthood,  education,  welfare  and  health,  power  and  decision-making,  policy  and 
legislation,  projects,  journals  and  organisations.20  Gender  equality  issues  are  in  the 
domain of the Ministry, which publishes reports, guidelines and plans on its activities in 
the field. 21 The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health also regularly publishes gender equality 
barometers on opinions, attitudes and experiences related to gender equality in various 
areas  of  life.  The  most  recent  barometer,  sixth  to  be  published  to  date,  provided 
information for the year 2017.22 The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare has a site for 
gender  equality,  which  lists  research  on  various  themes  connected  to  gender  equality23 
and also keeps a record of academic dissertations on women’s and gender studies. 

19   Statistics Finland, Basic information on gender equality between women and men, 
https://www.stat.fi/tup/tasaarvo/perustietoja-sukupuolten-tasa-arvosta_en.html. 

20   Unfortunately, the Center for Gender Equality Information, which functioned under the Ministry of Social 

Affairs and Health and acted as a data hub and expert for gender equality projects, was closed down on 1 
August 2024, owing to budget cuts.  

21   The Uusimmat julkaisut asiasanalla tasa-arvo website (the latest publications on the (gender) equality 

descriptor) lists these publications: https://stm.fi/julkaisulista?subject=tasa-arvo.  

22   Attila, H., Pietiläinen, M., Keski-Petäjä, M., Hokka, P. and Nieminen, M. (2018), Tasa-arvobarometri 2017 

(Gender Equality Barometer 2017), Publications of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 8/2018, 
https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/160920/STM_08_2018_Tasa-
arvobarometri%202017_net.pdf. Preparations for Gender Equality Barometer 2024 began in June 2024, 
https://stm.fi/hanke?tunnus=STM107:00/2024.  
23   See: https://thl.fi/aiheet/sukupuolten-tasa-arvo. 

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Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

2 

General legal framework 

2.1  Constitution 

2.1.1  Constitutional ban on sex discrimination 

Section 6 of the Finnish Constitution prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sex, age, 
language, religion, conviction, opinion, health, disability or ‘other reason that concerns his 
or her person’. The list of prohibited grounds is therefore non-exhaustive and even grounds 
not mentioned are protected against discrimination (Section 6(2)).  

2.1.2  Other constitutional protection of equality between men and women  

Section 6(1) of the Constitution contains the principle of equality before the law; however, 
this  provision  does  not  refer  specifically  to  equality  between  men  and  women.  The 
preparatory works for the Constitution state that Section 6 should be interpreted so that 
even  the  general  principle  of  equality  (expressed  in  Section 6(1))  contains  a  duty  to 
promote  equality  in  society.  This  means  that  each  subsection  in  Section 6  may  be 
considered relevant from the point of view of gender equality law, as the general principle 
of  equality  (Section 6(1))  should  not  be  interpreted  narrowly  so  as  to  preclude  positive 
measures.  

Section 6(4) of the Constitution contains a provision on promoting equality of the sexes 
‘in societal activity and working life, especially in the determination of pay and the other 
terms of employment’, as provided by legislation (Section 6(4)). The legislation referred 
to is, according to the preparatory works, the Act on Equality between Women and Men 
and other legislation. In addition, the prohibition of discrimination expressly includes sex 
as a protected ground, but since other grounds are also protected the prohibition against 
discrimination  should  at  least  in  principle  cover  intersectional  discrimination.  Finally,  as 
the equality of children necessarily requires equality between girls and boys, the expressly 
stated duty to promote gender equality is certainly a far-reaching provision.  

Section 22  of  the  Constitution  on  the  protection  of  fundamental  rights  and  liberties 
stipulates that public authorities shall guarantee the observance of fundamental rights and 
liberties and human rights. The provision stresses the responsibility of the authorities to 
act with due diligence on rights such as the right to equality. 

2.2  Equal treatment legislation 

The Act  on Equality (1986/609) between  Women and Men  contains provisions  on  equal 
treatment on the ground of sex and is  complemented by legislation on equality bodies, 
whereas other grounds of discrimination fall under the Non-Discrimination Act. The Non-
Discrimination Act covers all discrimination grounds under the Constitution, except for sex. 
The provisions of the Non-Discrimination Act are justiciable only in relation to the grounds 
recognised under European Union law. 

Section 7  of  the  Act  on  Equality  contains  a  general  prohibition  of  discrimination  on  the 
ground of sex, directed at all parties and persons. The material scope of the Act on Equality 
is quite broad and Section 7 contains a definition of direct and indirect discrimination on 
the basis of sex and prohibits discrimination on the ground of sex. A violation of Section 7 
may have an impact in administrative law, as the prohibition of discrimination also applies 
to public authorities. However, Section 7 does not provide a victim of discrimination with 
a justiciable right to demand compensation for discrimination. There is no justiciable right 
for an individual, but authorities have a duty to act.24 The Act on Equality contains further 

24   This is a general prohibition with no specific addressee, such as employers. In this sense, the prohibition is 

very broad. On the other hand, there is no remedy for the violated person under Section 7, although 

9 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

prohibitions  on  discrimination  in  working  life  (Section 8),  victimisation  (Section 8a), 
discrimination  in  educational  institutions  (Section 8b)  and  labour-market  organisations 
(Section 8c), workplace harassment (Section 8d) and discrimination in the access to and 
supply  of  goods  and  services  (Section 8e).  Authorities  and  actors  that  violate  these 
provisions are required to compensate the victim(s) of discrimination.  

The  Consumer  Protection  Act  (1978/38)  contains  a  prohibition  of  marketing  that  is 
discriminatory, among other grounds, on the ground of gender (Section 2 (1) 2). 

The Regional act on implementation of the Act on Equality between Women and Men in 
the region of Åland (1989:27) stipulates that the Act on Equality is applied in the region 
of Åland with certain modifications concerning the scope and competent authorities. This 
Act contains a prohibition of marketing that offends the dignity of women or men. 

authorities such as the Chancellor of Justice may consider that an authority has misused its powers by 
violating Section 7. 

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Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

3 

Implementation of central concepts25 

3.1  Sex/gender/transgender 

3.1.1  Definition of ‘gender’ and ‘sex’ 

The distinction between gender and sex is not commonly used in the Finnish language, as 
it does not have a linguistic term for gender. Although ‘gender’ was introduced into the 
Finnish language as sosiaalinen sukupuoli (social sex), it is not even used in the context 
of gender studies, which are referred to as sukupuolentutkimus (study of sex). Legislation 
uses  the  terms  sex,  woman  and  man.  Gender-neutral  formulations  are  preferred  in 
legislation. Case descriptions in the Finlex Data Bank do not reveal the sex of the parties 
involved in the cases, who are referred to as ‘A’ and ‘B’. Only when it is necessary for the 
purposes  of  equality  legislation  are  parties  called  ‘female  A’  and  ‘male  B’.  The  Act  on 
Equality does not contain definitions of ‘gender’ and ‘sex’. The aim of the Act on Equality 
is to prevent discrimination on the basis of sex and to promote equality between women 
and men, especially in working life. The aim is also to prevent discrimination on the basis 
of gender identity or expression of gender (the word ‘sukupuoli’ (sex) is used here to refer 
to what is translated as gender).  

Definitions  of  gender  identity  and  gender  expression  are  provided  under  Subsections  5 
and 6 of Section 3 of the Act on Equality, which contains the definitions of the terms used 
in  the  Act.  Gender  identity  is  defined  as  ‘the  person’s  own  experience  of  (his  or  her) 
gender’, and gender expression as ‘articulating one’s gender by clothing, behaviour or in 
some  other  similar  manner’.  To  Section 7,  which  contains  definitions  and  a  general 
prohibition  of  discrimination  on  the  basis  of  sex,  a  new  provision  was  added  to  cover 
discrimination  on  the  basis  of  gender  identity  and  gender  expression.  Differential 
treatment on the grounds of gender identity or gender expression is understood as direct 
discrimination.  The  website  of  the  Ombudsman  for  Gender  Equality  explains  that  these 
prohibitions cover transgender, intersex and non-binary persons. The latest Ombudsman’s 
report  to  the  Parliament  (2022)  refers  to  a  greater  number  of  persons  contacting  the 
Ombudsman concerning differential access to facilities based on a binary divide between 
women and men. The Act on Equality does not contain a provision on differential access 
to  facilities  on  the  ground  of  a  binary  understanding  of  sex.  The  Ombudsman  needs  to 
decide  on  a  case-by-case  basis  whether  such  differentiation  is  acceptable  or  not.26  The 
Ombudsman reports to the Parliament every four years, with the next report thus expected 
in 2026. 

25   See Burri, S. (2018), EU gender equality law – update 2018, European network of legal experts in gender 
equality and non-discrimination, available at https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/4767-eu-gender-
equality-law-update-2018-pdf-444-kb. 

26   See Tasa-arvovaltuutetun kertomus eduskunnalle 2022 (Equality Ombudsman’s report to the Parliament 

2022), Tasa-arvojulkaisuja 2022:1, 14. 

11 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

3.1.2  Protection of transgender, intersex and non-binary persons  

Table 1: Protection of transgender, intersex and non-binary persons 

Are gender identity/transgender 
status/intersex status/sex characteristic etc. 
specific grounds of prohibited discrimination?  

Gender identity and gender expression are specific 
grounds of prohibited discrimination. These specific 
grounds cover transgender, intersex and non-binary 
persons. Gender identity refers to a person’s own 
experience, and gender expression to the way gender 
is expressed through dress, behaviour or in another 
manner. The provisions cover transgender, intersex 
and non-binary persons. 

3.1.3  Specific requirements  

Is discrimination against 
transgender, intersex and 
non-binary persons 
forbidden on the basis of 
the existing prohibition on 
sex discrimination? 
Differential treatment on the 
grounds of gender identity 
and gender expression are 
direct discrimination under 
Section 7 of the Act on 
Equality. 

The  Act  on  Equality  does  not  pose  special  requirements  to  be  fulfilled  by  transgender 
persons for protection under the Act. 

3.2  Direct sex discrimination 

3.2.1  Explicit prohibition  

In Section 7(2) of the Act on Equality, direct discrimination is defined as ‘placing women 
and  men  in  a  different  position  on  the  basis  of  sex’.  The  definition  complies  with  the 
definition under EU law. It does not refer directly to a comparator, nor does it require that 
differential  treatment  is  less  favourable.  However,  avoiding  an  open  reference  to  a 
‘comparable situation’ may be beneficial, as there is less emphasis on the need to present 
a  comparator.  Some  type  of  comparison  is  still  required  to  establish  that  a  person  has 
received  differential  treatment,  and  the  more  specific  provisions  on  various  forms  of 
prohibited  discrimination  may  require  that  a  comparator  is  presented.  Differential 
treatment  on  the  ground  of  gender  identity  and  expression  is  also  direct  discrimination 
under Section 7(2).  

3.2.2  General discrimination 

Finnish legislation prohibits general discrimination, in the  sense that Section 7 prohibits 
direct  and  indirect  discrimination.  The  Equality  Ombudsman  monitors  the  application  of 
the law and should aim to prevent the continuation of discriminatory behaviour, primarily 
by  advising  alleged  discriminators.  The  monitoring  includes  general  discrimination.  The 
main principle of the Act on Equality is that the Act should be obeyed voluntarily.  

The most recent Ombudsman’s report to the Parliament notes that discriminatory practices 
followed  in  access  to  employment  and  the  pricing  of  goods  and  services  were  changed 
voluntarily  after  the  Ombudsman  paid  attention  to  them.  These  cases  did  not  involve 
individual victims. If the discrimination continues despite the advice, the Ombudsman (but 
not  the  victim  of  gender  discrimination  themselves)  may  bring  a  case  to  the  Non-
Discrimination and Equality Tribunal. The Ombudsman may decide not to bring a case to 
the  Tribunal  if  it  is  simultaneously  handled  by  a  trade  union  or  occupational  safety 
authorities. The Ombudsman is not bound by the victim’s consent to bring a case to the 

12 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

Tribunal but, in practice, the victim’s wishes are taken into consideration. Very few cases 
of gender discrimination are brought to the Tribunal.27  

Under Section 20 (1) of the Act on Equality, the Equality Ombudsman may bring a case 
that  concerns  discrimination  prohibited  by  the  Act,  to  the  Tribunal.  The  victim  of 
discrimination does not have an individual right to bring cases to the Tribunal. These cases 
do not have a specified victim and the Tribunal cannot order compensation to the victim. 
The  Tribunal  may  only  prohibit  continuation  or  renewal  of  discrimination  and  order  a 
penalty payment. The Tribunal may find that discrimination has taken place, but has no 
mandate to order compensation.  

The Ombudsman may advise a victim and, in certain cases, assist a victim at court in a 
case  of  compensation.  Only  the  victim  has  the  right  to  demand  compensation  at  court, 
under Section 12 of the Act on Equality. The Equality Ombudsman may assist a victim at 
court  in  cases  ‘with  considerable  importance  for  law  implementation’.  The  Ombudsman 
has  no  independent  mandate  to  bring  compensation  claims  to  district  courts.  In  other 
words,  general  discrimination  may  be  dealt  with  by  the  Ombudsman  in  the  context  of 
legality monitoring, by means of persuading the alleged discriminator, or the Ombudsman 
may take a case of general discrimination to the Tribunal. Complaints against decisions by 
the Tribunal may be made to an administrative court. 

3.2.3  Specific difficulties 

The fact that the definition of direct discrimination was introduced into the Act on Equality 
long after the provisions on specific forms of discrimination, such as pay discrimination, 
had been formulated, may make interpretation of the latter provisions somewhat difficult. 
The definitions of direct and indirect discrimination were inserted under Section 7 of the 
Act, while specific prohibitions of discrimination which give a justiciable claim to the victim 
are placed under other provisions. If the latter are read separately, the personal scope of 
prohibited  discrimination  may  remain  unnoticed  or  incompletely  understood.  In  some 
cases,  justifications  that  may  be  provided  in  the  context  of  indirect  discrimination  are 
referred to in cases of direct discrimination. For example, in a case brought to the Non-
Discrimination  and  Equality  Tribunal,  concerning  gender  quotas  in  access  to  university 
education, the university tried to justify the quota by general educational policy aims. The 
Tribunal  noted  that  the  quota  rule  in  question  constituted  direct  discrimination  which 
cannot be justified by the provisions on indirect discrimination under Section 7 of the Act 
on Equality.28 

3.3  Indirect sex discrimination29 

3.3.1  Explicit prohibition 

In Section 7(3) of the Act on Equality, indirect discrimination on the basis of sex is defined 
as ‘1) placing a person in a different position by means of an apparently neutral provision, 
criterion or practice, if the person may de facto be disadvantaged by this means, and 2) 
placing a person in a different position due to parenthood and childcare responsibilities’. 
Section 7(4)  further  defines  that  the  means  mentioned  under  Section 7(3)  are  not 
considered discriminatory if they are used to achieve an acceptable aim and if the means 
taken are appropriate and necessary to achieve that aim.  

27   Equality Ombudsman (2022), Tasa-arvo- valtuutetun kertomus eduskunnalle 2022 (Report to the 

Parliament 2022), pp. 22-24. According to the latest statistics from the Tribunal, only one case of gender 
discrimination was decided in 2023. 

28   Decision of the Non-Discrimination and Equality Tribunal, 924/2020, 20.12.2021. 
29   See for more information Mulder, J. (2021) Indirect sex discrimination in employment European network of 

legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at: 
https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/5362-indirect-discrimination-in-employment-pdf-1-434-kb. 

13 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

This definition differs from EU law, as it does not require that the person would suffer a 
‘particular  disadvantage’;  it  is  sufficient  that  any  disadvantage  is  or  would  be  suffered. 
Furthermore,  differential  treatment  on  the  basis  of  parenthood  and  childcare  duties  is 
specifically  defined  as  indirect  sex  discrimination.  Unlike  discrimination  on  the  basis  of 
pregnancy, indirect discrimination on the basis of parenthood and childcare may also be 
suffered by men. Finnish law in these respects is more generous than EU law.30 Indirect 
discrimination may be found even in cases where there is some disadvantage, which does 
not  need  to  be  ‘particular’.  The  definition  covers  parenting  duties  as  a  separate 
discrimination  ground.  The  definition  protects  parents  who  are  using  their  right  to  take 
care of their children and is helpful for fathers in particular. 31 

3.3.2  Statistical evidence 

The use of statistical evidence was already adopted to establish indirect sex discrimination 
in the 1990s, for example in case TT:1998-34,32 a judgment of the Labour Court on indirect 
discrimination.  A  collective  agreement  condition  calculated  pay  bonuses  on  the  basis  of 
experience and all ‘lawful absences from work’ not exceeding 30 days were to be counted 
as time to be taken into account in the calculation. Although the condition was apparently 
gender-neutral,  it  disproportionately  disadvantaged  women,  as  women  were  often  on 
maternity leave for more than 30 days and statistically took parental leave significantly 
more  often  than  men.  The  Labour  Court  found  that  both  maternity  leave  and  parental 
leave  were  to  be  counted  as  time  to  be  taken  into  account  for  the  calculation  of  pay 
benefits.  The  statistical fact that women use their  right to parental leave was therefore 
used to establish indirect discrimination. The trade unions that were the claimants in the 
case claimed that the collective agreement in question violated both the national Act on 
Equality  and  EC  law  (Article  119  of  the  EEC  Treaty  and  the  Pregnancy  Directive 
(92/85/EEC)). The Court referred to a number of CJEU indirect discrimination cases and 
did  not  find  European  case  law  that  would  apply  to  the  case.  The  Labour  Court  did  not 
refer  to  case  C-136/95  Thibault,  which  concerned  maternity  leave  and  direct  sex 
discrimination. The Court found a collective agreement was void to the extent it accepted 
only a part of and not the entire maternity and parental leave as time to be taken into 
account in calculating bonuses based on experience, as the condition that excluded family 
related  leaves  from  time  to  be  taken  into  account  in  calculating  bonuses  was  indirectly 
discriminatory under the Act of Equality.  

3.3.3  Application of the objective justification test 

The Supreme Court applied the objective justification test in the much-discussed case KKO 
2004:59,  which  concerned  a  municipality  that  had  made  redundant  only  part  of  its 
employees, justified by the municipality on the basis of economic difficulties. The personnel 
made  redundant  worked  in  departments  (social  and  health)  in  which  the  majority  of 
employees were female (more than 90 %), and not in departments where more than 90 % 
of the employees were male. The Supreme Court found that the disproportionate number 
of  redundancies  of  women  could  not  be  justified  by  mere  budget  restrictions  alone. 

30   It should be noted that prohibition of differential treatment on the basis of parenthood and childcare does 

not give a justiciable right for parents. Section 8 of the Equality Act on discrimination in working life gives a 
right to compensation to a person who has been discriminated against, but the section covers only issues 
that the employer has control over. The system of family-related leave is not among them. Thus, the 
separate prohibition of differential treatment on the basis of parenthood and childcare does not cover a 
father’s right to leave, which was the issue in Case C-104/09 Roca Alvarez. Fathers have a right to 
paternity and parental leave, but the right to parental leave is used less by fathers than mothers. One of 
the reasons behind the disparity is prohibitive attitudes of the employers to fathers using their social 
parenting rights. Section 7(3) of the Equality Act is useful in these situations.  

31   The definition of differential treatment due to parenthood and childcare does not give a justiciable right 
except in the context of the specific prohibitions of discrimination, such as Section 8 on discrimination in 
working life, which covers issues that the employer has control over. The system of family-related leave is 
not among them. A father’s right to family-related leave is sometimes not taken due to the prohibitive 
attitudes of the employer and this is where the provision under Section 7(3) is useful. 

32   The case is available at http://www.finlex.fi/fi/oikeus/tt/1998/19980034. 

14 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

However,  according  to  the  Supreme  Court,  since  the  budget  objectives  were  set  for  all 
departments  without  discrimination,  and  the  expenditure  of  the  female-dominated 
departments had been higher than that of the male-dominated departments, the measure 
had not been discriminatory because there were objective grounds to save expenses.  

The  Supreme  Court,  unlike  the  lower  courts  before  it,  did  not  consider  EU  law  in  its 
judgment and has been criticised in legal literature for failing to apply the EU  objective 
justification test. The Supreme Court should have considered whether budgetary grounds 
were sufficient to justify the measure by comparing them against several EU cases. The 
Supreme  Court  did  not  proceed  to  consider  whether  it  was  necessary  to  dismiss  only 
female employees or whether the economic objective could have been achieved by non-
discriminatory measures.33  

3.3.4  Specific difficulties 

There are no specific difficulties to report. 

3.4  Multiple discrimination and intersectional discrimination34 

3.4.1  Definition and explicit prohibition 

There is no explicit prohibition of multiple and intersectional discrimination under Finnish 
non-discrimination  law.  The  reform  of  non-discrimination  law  that  came  into  force  on  1 
January  2015  was  originally  motivated,  amongst  other  reasons,  by  the  need  to  include 
provisions to help address multiple and intersectional discrimination.  Sex discrimination 
was prohibited by the Act on Equality between Women and Men in 1986 and discrimination 
on any other ground was prohibited by the Non-Discrimination Act in 2004. This latter Act 
was  adopted  hastily  for  the  purpose  of  implementing  Directives 2000/43/EC  and 
2000/78/EC  and  at  the  time  of  passing  it  Parliament  required  that  the  Act  soon  be 
amended, as it was considered to implement the 2000 Directives incorrectly. In the first 
phase of the reform, unification of the two non-discrimination acts was discussed, although 
the idea was abandoned and finally the only outcome was that two equality bodies (the 
Equality Board and Discrimination Tribunal) were merged together to form a new National 
Non-Discrimination  and  Equality  Tribunal  of  Finland.35  The  preparatory  works  for  the 
amended Non-Discrimination Act (135/2014)36 note that the Non-Discrimination Act may 
be applied to cases of multiple discrimination. The solution does not benefit all victims of 
multiple or intersectional discrimination, as the rules concerning access to the new National 
Non-Discrimination and Equality Tribunal remain different for victims of sex discrimination 
and victims of discrimination on other grounds. The Equality Ombudsman’s 2018 report to 
the  Parliament37  noted  Commission  Recommendation  (EU) 2018/951  on  standards  for 

33   Anttila, O. (2013) Kohti tosiasiallista tasa-arvoa? Sukupuolisyrjinnän kiellot oikeudellisen pluralismin aikana 
Suomalainen lakimiesyhdistys, pp. 306-308, and Schiek, D. ‘Indirect discrimination’ (2007) in Schiek, D., 
Waddington, L., Bell, M. (eds) Materials, cases and texts on national, supranational and international non-
discrimination law, Ius Commune Casebooks for international non-discrimination law. pp. 323-475, at pp. 
456-460. 

34   See for more information Fredman, S. (2016), Intersectional discrimination in EU gender equality and non-
discrimination law, European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available 
at https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/3850-intersectional-discrimination-in-eu-gender-equality-and-
non-discrimination-law-pdf-731-kb. 

35   Kantola, J., Nousiainen, K. (2008) ‘Pussauskoppiin? Tasa-arvo- ja yhdenvertaisuuslakien yhdistämisestä’ 

(On the unification of the Act on Equality and the Non-Discrimination Act), Naistutkimus 2008(2), pp. 6-20. 
The Parliament’s Constitutional Committee noted in its statement on the Government Bill for the Non-
Discrimination Act that the reform left victims of multiple discrimination with weak protection. On the 
development in the EU, see Nousiainen, K. (2008)-, ‘Unification (or not) of equality bodies and legislation’, 
EGELR (2008/2), pp. 24-33. 

36   Government Bill HE 19/2014 Hallituksen esitys yhdenvertaisuuslaiksi ja siihen liittyviksi laeiksi (Government 

proposal for Non-Discrimination Act and related acts). 

37   Equality Ombudsman (2018) Tasa-arvovaltuutetun kertomus eduskunnalle (K22/2018) (Report to the 

Parliament).  

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Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

equality  bodies.  The  Non-Discrimination  Ombudsman’s  opinion  on  the  Equality 
Ombudsman’s report noted that the recommendations are not being fully followed.  

In October 2024, the Ministry of Justice appointed a working group to report on how the 
tasks  of  the  Equality  Ombudsman  and  Non-Discrimination  Ombudsman  should  be 
developed, and whether these authorities should be merged, with the aim of boosting their 
effectiveness. The working group shall also report on improving access to low threshold 
remedies. In practice, the Non-Discrimination and Equality Tribunal is such a remedy, and 
an equal access to the Tribunal on all discrimination grounds is under consideration. The 
working group shall present its report in March 2025.38 

3.4.2  Case law and judicial recognition  

The Non-Discrimination and Equality Tribunal has the competence to handle cases under 
both  the  Non-Discrimination  Act  and  the  Act  on  Equality.  However,  a  victim  of  sex 
discrimination (unlike a victim of discrimination based on other prohibited grounds) cannot 
submit a case to the Tribunal; Section 20 of the Act on Equality requires that complaints 
of sex discrimination be submitted only by the Equality Ombudsman and the main social 
partners.  In  this  context,  the  Non-Discrimination  and  Equality  Tribunal  only  has  the 
mandate to prohibit the continuation of a discriminatory act. The mandate of the Tribunal 
in issues concerning gender equality therefore remains unchanged from what it was before 
the former Gender Equality Board was merged with the Non-Discrimination Board to form 
the present Tribunal. The Tribunal has a broader competence over issues covered by the 
Non-Discrimination  Act  (concerning  all  other  discrimination  grounds)  to  confirm 
conciliation  between  the  parties  (Section 20  of  the  Non-Discrimination  Act).  When  the 
Equality  Board  and  Discrimination  Tribunal  were  merged  into  the  new  Tribunal,  the 
mandate of the Equality Ombudsman was extended to cover conciliation between parties 
and the mandate of the Tribunal was extended to confirming agreements between them. 
The Tribunal has a mandate to cover employment-related gender discrimination, but it has 
no  mandate  regarding  employment-related  discrimination  that  is  based  on  other 
discrimination grounds, as these are monitored by the occupational health authorities. The 
disparity in access to the Tribunal between victims of gender discrimination and victims of 
discrimination on other grounds, and the difference in the Tribunal’s mandate to conciliate, 
may complicate the process of handling cases  of intersectional discrimination under the 
new equality legislation. The disparate position of victims of discrimination under the Act 
on  Equality  and  the  Non-Discrimination  Act  is  to  be  considered  by  the  working  group 
appointed in 2024 by the Ministry of Justice (see section 3.4.1 above). 

The amendment gave victims of gender discrimination access to – and introduced access 
to – conciliation by the Tribunal. Rights provided by the Act on equality were thus brought 
on a par with the rights of victims of discrimination on the grounds protected under the 
Non-Discrimination Act.  

No cases explicitly dealing with intersectional discrimination have been brought to Finnish 
courts. While occupational safety directorates have the mandate to monitor legislation on 
discrimination  grounds  other  than  gender,  some  of  the  cases  dealt  with  may  de  facto 
involve  intersectional  or  multiple  discrimination,  without  the  term  being  explicit  in  the 
documents of the  case. Few  studies have focused  on the recognition  and elimination of 
multiple discrimination in general, despite the issue having been discussed for a long time. 
The term remains ambiguous and mainly used by experts on anti-discrimination law.39 

38   See Ministry of Justice project number OM063:00/2024, 

https://oikeusministerio.fi/en/project?tunnus=OM063:00/2024.  

39   Lepola, O. (2018) Koko ajan jännittyneenä: Moniperusteinen syrjintä seksuaali- ja sukupuolivähemmistöjen 
kokemana (Tense all the time: Multiple discrimination experienced by sexual and sex minorities), Ministry 
of Justice reports 51/2018, 26.  

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Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

3.5  Positive action 40 

3.5.1  Definition and explicit prohibition 

Finnish legislation allows for – and even specifically requires – positive action. Section 6(4) 
of  the  Constitution  explicitly  requires  the  promotion  of  equality  of  the  sexes  in  societal 
activities  and  working  life,  especially  in  the  determination  of  pay  and  other  terms  of 
employment, ‘as provided in more detail by an Act’. The reference to secondary legislation 
is explained in the preparatory works to refer to the Act on Equality, but can also include 
other  legislation.  For  example,  amendments  of  the  Criminal  Code  may  be  needed  for 
promoting gender equality, with the aim of reducing violence against women. Preparatory 
works further note that even the principle of (formal) equality under Section 6(1) involves 
the duty to promote equality. 

The Act on Equality between Women and Men (609/1986) uses the terms ‘promotion of 
(gender) equality’ and ‘duty to promote (gender) equality’. For instance, Section 4 refers 
to  ‘authorities’  duty  to  promote  (gender)  equality’;  Section 5(a)  refers  to  ‘measures  for 
promoting  (gender)  equality  in  educational  institutions’;  Section 6  refers  to  ‘employers’ 
duty to promote (gender)  equality’; and Section 6(a) refers to ‘measures  for promoting 
(gender) equality in working life’. Other additional positive action provisions are worded 
differently. For instance, Section 4(a) addresses the composition of administrative bodies 
and  bodies  that  yield  public  power,  and  although  no  reference  is  made  to  promoting 
equality or positive action, the provision is one of the strongest examples of positive action 
under  Finnish  law.  The  provision  requires  that  state  committees,  advisory  boards  and 
municipal non-elected bodies have a minimum of 40 % women and men. The provision 
was extended to the new bodies nominated by the ‘wellbeing services counties’, the new 
bodies that are to take on the responsibilities of municipalities in the provision of health 
and social services. In  addition, Section 6(c) addresses the prevention of discrimination 
on the basis of gender identity or expression of gender, and introduces a positive action 
duty  in  terms  of  preventing  discrimination  rather  than  promoting  equality.  The  word 
‘equality’ in the Act and in other contexts is ‘tasa-arvo’, which denotes ‘equal value’ and 
is  considered  to  refer  specifically  to  gender  equality.  In  other  contexts,  such  as 
discrimination  on  the  grounds  of  ethnicity,  the  term  in  use  is  ‘yhdenvertaisuus’,  which 
contains an element of comparison (vertailu). Positive action is more commonly referred 
to in the context of gender equality rather than in other discrimination contexts. 

3.5.2  Conceptual  distinctions  between  ‘equal  opportunities’  and  ‘positive  action’  in 

national law 

Neither ‘equal opportunities’ nor ‘positive action’ are frequently used terms in Finnish law 
or  everyday  discourse;  it  is  thus  not  possible  to  identify  any  conceptual  differences 
between  the  two.  Equal  opportunities  are  mentioned  more  often  by  right-wing  parties, 
while left-wing parties also stress de facto equality.41 Equal opportunities in education is 
considered  an  important  aim,  but  it  is  also  widely  accepted  that  equal  opportunities  in 
education require equity and systematic needs-based resource allocation.42 Promotion of 
equality is the term used in the Constitution and the Act on Equality. 

40   See for more information McCrudden, C. (2019), Gender-based positive action in employment in Europe. A 
comparative analysis of legal and policy approaches in the EU and EEA, 2019, European network of legal 
experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at: 
https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/5008-gender-based-positive-action-in-employment-in-europe-pdf-
1-9-mb. 

41   See, for example, the conservative National Coalition Party’s Equality Programme which stresses equality of 

opportunity, https://www.kokoomus.fi/tasa-arvo-ja-yhdenvertaisuuspoliittinen-ohjelma/, as does the 
equality statement of the party’s Youth of the National Coalition Party section: 
https://www.kokoomusnuoret.fi/vaikuttaminen/periaateohjelma/mahdollisuuksien-tasa-arvo/. The left-wing 
parties also promote equality of opportunity, but also ‘human equity of outcome’, see the principles of the 
Finnish Social Democratic Party, https://www.fsd.tuni.fi/pohtiva/ohjelmalistat/SDP/1003. 

42   Bernelius, V. and Huilla, H. Koulutuksellinen tasa-arvo, alueellinen ja sosiaalinen eriytyminen ja myönteisen 
erikoiskohtelun mahdollisuudet (Educational equity, social and spatial segregation and opportunities for 

17 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

3.5.3  Specific difficulties  

Although several provisions impose positive action duties upon authorities, employers and 
educational institutions – which is in line with the Constitution – problems arise with their 
relatively weak implementation and monitoring. For example, Sections 6, 6(a) and 6(b) of 
the Act on Equality require employers to implement positive action; all employers have a 
duty to promote equality within the scope of their resources. This requires employers to 
take action to  ensure that both women and men apply for jobs; to  employ women and 
men at various levels and to provide them with equal career paths; to promote equality in 
working  conditions,  pay  in  particular;  to  develop  working  conditions  suitable  for  both 
women and men; to facilitate combining working and family life for both women and men, 
paying attention to working time arrangements in particular; and to prevent gender-based 
discrimination.  

Section 6(a) dictates that employers with 30 employees or more must make an equality 
plan  every  second  year.  The  plan  is  not  submitted  to  an  authority,  but  must  be  made 
public in the workplace. The Equality Ombudsman monitors equality plans. This plan must 
list  positive  action  measures  concerning  pay  and  other  conditions  of  work,  either  as  an 
independent  plan  or  as  incorporated  into  the  personnel,  educational  or  safety  at  work 
plans. The plan is to be drafted in cooperation with an employee representative, who is to 
be  given  appropriate  resources  to  influence  and  participate  in  the  planning.  The  plan 
should  provide  an  analysis  of  gender  equality  in  the  workplace  and  a  pay  audit  that 
addresses the classification, pay and pay differentials of women and men. The plan must 
also list the actions required to ensure equality and equal pay and an assessment of earlier 
action and their effects. Personnel must be informed about the pay audit. 

Section 6(b) details more specific rules on the pay audit process. The audit is to ensure 
there  are  no  groundless  pay  differentials  between  women  and  men  in  the  workplace, 
although Section 6(b) does not stipulate exactly how the pay audit should be conducted 
or  which  jobs  to  compare.  Rather,  the  provision  states  that  if  a  comparison  of  groups 
based on demands of the job or job categories demonstrates ‘clear differences’ between 
the  pay  of  women  and  men,  the  employer  is  obliged  to  analyse  the  reason  for  these 
differences.  If  an  employer  implements  a  remuneration  system  consisting  of  pay 
components, the most important of these components must be analysed. This means that 
if the employer has a bonus system, or offers specific benefits for some employee groups, 
these  pay  components  are  to  be  taken  into  consideration.  If  there  are  no  legitimate 
grounds for salary differentials, the employer must take action to remedy the situation.  

While the Act on Equality contains a number of positive duties for public and private actors, 
their  implementation  is  not  guaranteed  by  remedies  or  sanctions.  The  most  powerful 
positive duty is probably the ‘quota provision’ under Section 4(a). This has been amended 
several  times  and  is  by  now  well-known  in  state  and  municipal  decision-making.  The 
Equality Ombudsman has made several decisions on the bodies to which the provision is 
to  be  applied.  The  Ombudsman  or  a  social  partner  has  no  mandate  to  bring  a  case 
concerning  gender  balance  against  bodies  under  the  quota  provision  to  the  Non-
Discrimination  and  Equality  Tribunal,  as  their  mandates  only  cover  discrimination,  not 
positive measures.43 The wording of the provision refers to bodies that wield public power,  
but  the  Supreme  Administrative  Court  has  decided  that  it  covers  even  municipal 
companies, even when such companies do not have public power. 44 The provision seems 
to have some spill-over effects in areas that traditionally fall outside its material scope, 
for example in organisations. Section 6(c), which was amended in 2014, replaces a less 
stringent  employer  duty  for  ‘pay  mapping’  (see  Section 3.5.1  of  this  report).  If  an 

targeted support), Publications of the Finnish Government 2021:7, 
https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/162857/VN_2021_7.pdf. 

43   Equality Ombudsman’s opinion 18.8.2015, Dnro TAS/211/2015. 
44   Supreme Administrative Court, 5.1.2017, ECLI:FI:KHO:2017:2, 

https://www.kho.fi/fi/index/paatokset/ennakkopaatokset/1483428125770.html.  

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Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

educational institution or employer does not fulfil the equality planning duty required by 
Sections 5(a) or 6(a), the Equality Ombudsman may set a date by which the duty must 
be fulfilled (Section 19 of the Act) or submit a complaint for violation of these provisions 
to the Non-Discrimination and Equality Tribunal (Section 20 of the Act).  

The limits of positive action were tested in August 2017, when a Finnish textile company 
planned  a  marketing  campaign  to  draw  attention  to  the  gender  pay  gap.  The  company 
announced that it would sell products to women for 83 % of the normal price, reflecting 
the fact that on average women only earn 83 % of men’s pay. The company planned to 
donate  the  earnings  from  the  campaign  to  a  women’s  rights  association.  All  customers 
would have been given the reduced price only by asking for it, without proving their sex. 
Several  complaints  were  made  to  the  Equality  Ombudsman,  who  decided  that  the 
campaign would not violate the Act on Equality provided that all customers were clearly 
informed that they were de facto entitled to the reduced price. The Ombudsman referred 
to what may be considered justified differential treatment under Directive 2004/113/EC 
and stated that the aim of prohibiting differential treatment in the provision of goods and 
services  was  not  to  prevent  all  differential  treatment,  but  clearly  unjust  differential 
treatment. When the Act on Equality was amended in 2008 to implement the Directive, 
the Parliament’s Employment and Equality Committee stated that when a measure has an 
acceptable aim and context, giving special offers whose monetary value is small to women 
or men is not prohibited.45 

Positive action policies agreed upon in tripartite programmes between social partners and 
the Government have overshadowed legal measures for promoting equality. A tripartite 
equal  pay  programme,  for  example,  has  run  for  more  than  a  decade  and  gives 
recommendations for both Government and social partner policies. The emphasis in the 
programme has generally focussed  on reducing pay differentials rather than addressing 
pay  discrimination  and  issues  such  as  combining  family  and  working  life  and  gender 
segregation  in  the  labour  market  have  therefore  dominated.  In  practice,  these 
programmes have not been very effective. The programme (2016-2019) was evaluated in 
201846  and  was  found  to  have  had  little  direct  impact  on  pay  differentials.  The  current  
programme (2024-2027) was agreed upon by the Government and the social partners in 
June  2024.47  The  programme  states  that  as  the  main  employers’  association,  the 
Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK), has not had a mandate to negotiate collective 
agreements since 2016, its member associations have the exclusive mandate to negotiate 
on pay policies and pay structures, so these associations need to discuss how they might 
participate  in  the  programme  in  the  future.  There  is  no  similar  difficulty  with  regard  to 
public  sector  employer  representation.  Thus,  the  basis  for  the  tripartite  policies  has 
changed, but positive action duties stipulated under the Act on Equality also rely heavily 
on the monitoring conducted by social partners. 

3.5.4  Measures to improve the gender balance on company boards48 

Section 4(a)(2) of the Act on Equality requires a gender balance  on company boards  of 
directors  ‘unless  there  are  specific  reasons  against  this’.  However,  this  legal  obligation 
covers  only  companies  (of  all  sizes)  that  are  majority  owned  by  public  bodies.  The 
provision does not set out a timeline or deadline by which to achieve this. In November 
2024,  a  new  section  was  added  to  the  Limited  Liability  Companies  Act  (624/2006)  to 

45   Equality Ombudsman’s opinion 29.8.2017, Dnro TAS/225/2017. 
46   Suomaa, L. Samapalkkaisuusohjelman kokonaisarviointi 2016-2019 (Overall evaluation of the equal pay 

programme 2016-2019), Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2018. 

47   Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (2024), Equal Pay Programme 2024-2027: Programme-based 

measures of the Government and central labour market organisations, 
https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/handle/10024/165735.  

48   See for more information Senden, L. and Kruisinga S., (2018) Gender-balanced company boards in Europe. 
A comparative analysis of the regulatory, policy and enforcement approaches in the EU and EEA Member 
States, available at https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/4537-gender-balanced-company-boards-in-
europe-pdf-1-68-mb. 

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Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

implement Directive 2022/2381 on gender balance among directors of listed companies. 
Under Chapter 6, Section 9(a), if a listed company employs more than 250 people, and 
the balance sheet of the company exceeds EUR 43 million, or its turnover exceeds EUR 50 
million,  the  aim  of  the  company  shall  be  to  have  a  board  on  which  members  of  the 
underrepresented  sex  hold  at  least  40 %  of  non-executive  director  positions.  The 
amendment to the Limited Liability Companies Act came into force on 28 December 2024. 
An  annex  to  the  amendment  enumerates  the  number  of  representatives  of  the 
underrepresented sex on company boards of different sizes. The required percentages of 
women  and  men  vary  somewhat,  depending  on  the  number  of  board  members.  For 
example, on boards with only three members, only one member of the underrepresented 
sex  is  required,  in  which  case  the  representation  of  that  sex  is  33.3 %.  On  a  board 
consisting of nine members, the required number is four, in which case the representation 
is 44.4 %.  

The Government bill on the amendment estimated that the requirement under Chapter 6, 
Section  9(a)  of  the  Limited  Liability  Companies  Act  would  apply  to  approximately  35 
companies. According to information received by the Parliament Employment and Equality 
Committee, it would apply to 37 companies. The Finnish Nasdaq Helsinki stock exchange, 
meanwhile, lists 187 companies. 49  

The  percentage  of  women  elected  to  company  boards  in  listed  companies  in  2024  was 
30 %. The percentage of women among newly appointed board members was highest in 
the  biggest  large-cap  companies,  where  it  was  40 %.  In  mid-cap  companies,  the 
percentage of women fell from 32 % in 2023 to 23 % in 2024, and in small-cap companies, 
from 32 % to 26 %.50 The Finnish Chamber of Commerce made an inquiry on the impact 
of  Directive 2022/2381  –  on  improving  the  gender  balance  among  directors  of  listed 
companies  and  related  measures  –  on  the  composition  of  company  boards  that  were 
nominated  in  2023.  According  to  the  inquiry,  66 %  of  the  listed  companies  which  are 
obligated  to  implement  the  Directive  fulfilled  its  requirements,  compared  with  51 %  of 
them  in  2022.  Finnish  listed  companies  were,  according  to  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
preparing to meet the obligations under the Directive. Since 2003, the national Code of 
Conduct  for  listed  companies  has  required  that  both  sexes  must  be  represented  on  the 
boards, but no quota is set in the self-regulatory code. 51 It seems, however, that only the 
biggest companies that are obliged under Directive 2022/2381 and the amendment to the 
Limited  Liability  Companies  Act  to  have  at  least  40 %  women  on  their  boards  have 
appointed  more  women  to  their  boards  than  previously.  The  Chambers  of  Commerce  
responded  to  the  pressure  to  increase  the  numbers  of  women  on  their  boards  by 
introducing a duty to achieving gender-balanced representation through self-regulation, 
thus avoiding government regulation. Listed companies are to have both women and men 
on their boards of directors and must follow the ‘comply or explain’ rule when reporting 
on the national Code of Conduct requirements.  

3.5.5  Positive action measures to improve the gender balance in other areas  

Section 4(a)(1)  of  the  Act  on  Equality  requires  that  state  committees  and  other  similar 
bodies (as well as municipal bodies that are not elected but nominated) must  ensure a 
minimum of 40 % of the under-represented sex. This provision is not required by EU law 
and  has  been  considered  effective  in  its  efforts  to  create  more  gender  balanced  public 
bodies. The provision has had a certain spill-over effect in other areas of life, for example 

49   Report by the Finnish Parliament’s Employment and Equality Committee TyVM 9/2024 on Government Bill 

60/2024 vp, https://www.edilex.fi/mt/tyvm20240009. 

50   Finnish Chambers of Commerce (2024), Naiset pörssi- ja First North -yhtiöiden toimitusjohtajina ja 

johtoryhmissä (Women on company boards and management teams of listed and First North companies), 
https://kauppakamari.fi/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Naisjohtajakatsaus_03-2024.pdf.  

51   Finnish Chambers of Commerce (2022), Naiset pörssiyhtiöiden hallituksissa 2022 (Women on the boards of 

directors of listed companies, https://kauppakamari.fi/wp-
content/uploads/2022/07/Naisjohtajakatsaus_062022.pdf. 

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Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

in  civil  society.  Non-governmental  organisations  that  have  no  legal  duty  to  follow  the 
provision often still do so. 

3.6  Harassment and sexual harassment 

3.6.1  Definition and explicit prohibition of harassment 

Section 7 of the Act on Equality defines discrimination and harassment.  

Harassment on the basis of sex is defined as:  

‘unwanted conduct related to sex, sexual identity or expression of sex which is not 
sexual by nature and which with its purpose or effect violates the mental or physical 
integrity  of  a  person  and  which  creates  an  intimidating,  hostile,  degrading, 
humiliating or offensive environment’ (Subsection 7(8)).  

Directive 2006/54/EC defines harassment as a violation of the dignity of a person, which 
differs to some extent from the wording of the definition under Finnish law. The Finnish 
word koskemattomuus is translated as integrity. The Finnish translation of the Directive 
uses the words henkilön arvo (dignity of the person). Examples of harassment are given 
in  preparatory  works  for  the  Act  on  Equality  and  on  the  website  of  the  Equality 
Ombudsman. Harassment on the basis of sex is described on the Ombudsman’s website 
as derogatory talk about the opposite sex, degrading the opposite sex, or bullying at work 
or in school.52 The practical understanding of the term ‘harassment’ seems not to differ 
much from that under EU law. 

Subsection 7(6) stipulates that harassment based on sex and sexual harassment amount 
to discrimination.  

3.6.2  Scope of the prohibition of harassment 

The  prohibition  under Section 7  of  the  Act  on  Equality  prohibits  harassment  in  general, 
except in private relations, religious communities and acts of Parliament and the President, 
which areas Section 2 of the Act on Equality explicitly excludes from the material scope of 
the Act. The exclusion of Members of Parliament from the scope of the Act prevents the 
use, under the Act on Equality, of sanctions (order to pay compensation) against them for 
discrimination, including harassment based on sex and sexual harassment. According to 
reports  commissioned  by  the  Equality  Board,  while  gender  equality  in  the  Parliament  is 
good in terms of gender balance, women MPs feel they are not treated equally to men and 
they experience more sexual harassment than their male colleagues.53 From time to time, 
the media reports on harassment of assisting personnel by Members of Parliament. A study 
by the Finnish Broadcasting Company in 2017 revealed that 14 % of assisting personnel 
had experienced sexual harassment in the Parliament.54 However, authorities are bound 
by the general prohibition and violation of Section 7 may have administrative legal impact. 
The President and the Members of Parliament are not immune under the Criminal Code, 
which  criminalises  harassment.  The  specific  prohibitions  of  harassment  under  Sections 
8(b) to 8(e) extend the prohibition of harassment, supported by the right of the victim to 
compensation,  education,  labour-market  organisations,  workplaces  and  the  provision  of 
goods and services. 

52   See the Equality Ombudsman’s website, https://tasa-arvo.fi/hairinta. 
53   See Paavola, J.-M., Tiensuu, I., Björk, A. (2022), Tasa-arvo eduskuntatyössä: Seurantatutkimus 2022 
(Gender Equality in Parliament’s Work: Follow-up study 2022). The previous study was made in 2018. 
https://www.riksdagen.fi/FI/naineduskuntatoimii/julkaisut/Documents/ekj_1+2023.pdf.  

54   YLE (Finnish national public service broadcasting company) (2017), ‘Ylen kysely: Ahdistelua eduskunnassa- 
useampi kuin joka kymmenes avustaja kertoo seksuaalisesta häirinnästä’ (Yle study: Harassment in the 
Parliament – more than one in ten assistants report sexual harassment), https://yle.fi/a/3-9972340. 

21 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

3.6.3  Definition and explicit prohibition of sexual harassment 

Sexual harassment is defined as:  

‘verbal,  non-verbal  or  physical  unwanted  conduct  of  a  sexual  nature  by  which  a 
person’s  psychological  or  physical  integrity  is  violated  intentionally  or  factually,  in 
particular  by  creating  an  intimidating,  hostile,  degrading,  humiliating  or  offensive 
atmosphere’ (Subsection 7(7) of Act on Equality). 

Here,  as  well  as  in  the  context  of  harassment,  Finnish  legislation  uses  the  term 
koskemattomuus  (integrity)  rather  than  the  one  used  by  the  Directive  (dignity  of  the 
person). Examples of what is meant by the term koskemattomuus are given both in the 
preparatory works of the Act on Equality and on the Equality Ombudsman’s website. 

3.6.4  Scope of the prohibition of sexual harassment 

The  prohibition  of  sexual  harassment  under  Section 7  of  the  Act  on  Equality  covers  a 
broader  scope  than  EU  law,  while  remedies  for  the  victim  are  available  only  in  cases 
covered by EU law, i.e. those concerning discrimination in working life and in the access 
to and supply of goods and services, prohibited under Sections 8 and 8(e). Section 8(d) 
stipulates that the conduct of an employer is considered discriminatory if they do not take 
available measures to remove harassment when they have been informed of it.  

The Finnish legal definition complies with EU law, although the choice of term (‘integrity’ 
instead  of  ‘dignity  of  the  person’)  differs.  The  practical  examples  given  in  preparatory 
works of the Act on Equality and by the Equality Ombudsman specify what is meant by 
the term chosen. The broad scope of Section 7 has an impact, mostly because authorities 
are required to take the prohibition of sexual harassment into account, even when there 
is  no  justiciable  right  for  the  victim  to  demand  compensation.  In  addition,  Section 8(b) 
prohibits discrimination, including sexual harassment, in educational institutions, and an 
amendment  adopted  in  2016  extended  this  to  institutions  that  provide  basic  education, 
which  until  then  fell  outside  the  material  scope  of  the  provision.  The  prohibition  covers 
harassment and entitles the victim to a right to compensation. This provision has a broader 
scope than what is required under EU law.55  

3.6.5  Understanding of (sexual) harassment as discrimination 

Sexual  harassment  is  defined  as  discrimination.  The  Equality  Ombudsman’s  website 
provides examples of sexual harassment, which can, according to the site, be expressed 
in various ways such as sexually suggestive gestures or expressions, indecent talk, puns 
and comments or questions referring to body parts, clothing or private life, pornographic 
material,  sexually  suggestive  letters,  emails,  texts  messages  or  phone  calls,  physical 
contact, suggestions or demands for sexual intercourse or other kinds of sexual activity, 
rape or attempted rape.  

3.6.6  Specific difficulties  

The scope of the Act on Equality is broad, but all provisions of the Act are not applied to 
Members of Parliament in their official activities or to the activities of the President of the 
Republic, or to religious communities. In all these contexts, discrimination in the workplace 
and  in  the  other  contexts  where  gender  discrimination  is  prohibited  under  Finnish  law 
remains prohibited only by the general prohibition under Section 7 of the Act on Equality, 
and  under  the  Criminal  Code.  The  provisions  on  employer  duty  to  give  a  written 
explanation of their conduct to a victim of alleged discrimination does not apply, nor does 

55   Section 8b of the Act on Equality, which contains the prohibition of discrimination in educational 

institutions, was amended by Act 915/2016. The earlier wording of the section made an exception 
concerning basic education, i.e. mandatory schooling for children aged between 7 and 16. 

22 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

the  provision  on  compensation.  There  have  been  cases  of  MPs  sexually  harassing  their 
assistants that have remained unpunished. 

3.7  Instruction to discriminate 

3.7.1  Explicit prohibition 

Section 7(6)  of  the  Act  on  Equality  explicitly  prohibits  the  instruction  to  discriminate  as 
discrimination:  ‘an  incitement  or  instruction  to  discriminate  is  to  be  considered  as 
discrimination under this Act.’ 

3.7.2  Specific difficulties 

There are no specific difficulties. 

3.8  Other forms of discrimination 

Under  Section 7(7)  of  the  Act  on  Equality,  ‘discrimination  is  prohibited  irrespective  of 
whether it is based on a fact or assumption concerning the person him/herself or someone 
else’, which covers both discrimination by association and assumed discrimination.  

The  Non-Discrimination  Ombudsman  is  considered  to  have  the  mandate  also  for 
monitoring  algorithmic  discrimination,  as  such  discrimination  often  covers  several 
discrimination grounds. A case concerning algorithmic discrimination has been brought to 
the Non-Discrimination  and Equality Tribunal by the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman. A 
credit company accorded loans to applicants on the basis of points based on sex, place of 
residence,  age  and  native  language  of  the  applicant  –  which  are  all  grounds  of 
discrimination under Finnish law – rather than on an individual analysis of the applicant’s 
income and economic position. The Tribunal found discrimination on grounds of sex, native 
language, age and place of residence. 56 

3.9  Evaluation of implementation 

Equality  and  discrimination  are  defined  in  two  ways:  Section 7  of  the  Act  on  Equality 
follows  the  definitions  in  EU  law,  while  the  older  provisions  on  specific  forms  of 
discrimination, such as discrimination in the workplace, use a different vocabulary, which 
may be difficult to relate to the definitions under Section 7. The implementation may be 
correct,  but  the  provisions  are  rather  difficult  to  understand  for  persons  who  are  not 
experts on equality law. 

3.10 Remaining issues 

Section 6(4)  of  the  Constitution  requires  that  equality  between  women  and  men  be 
promoted,  especially  in  the  context  of  pay  and  other  conditions  of  employment,  as 
stipulated in detail by legislation. The provision does not mention formal and substantive 
equality, but it is clear from its wording that substantive equality must be promoted.  

One of the complexities of Finnish equality law is that there are two terms for equality in 
Finnish, yhdenvertaisuus which contains the element of comparison (vertailu) and tasa-
arvo which refers to equal value. At the time when the Act on Equality was passed (1986), 
tasa-arvo  was  more  often  used  to  refer  to  political  and  de  facto  equality,  whereas 
yhdenvertaisuus was typically used to refer to formal equality, for example equality before 
the law. The Non-Discrimination Act was passed for protection against discrimination on 
other grounds than gender and named yhdenvertaisuuslaki. Since then, tasa-arvo usually 
connotes equality between women and men, and yhdenvertaisuus non-discrimination and 

56   Non-Discrimination and Equality Tribunal, decision 216/2017, of 21.3.2018. 

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Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

equality concerning other grounds of discrimination. A further complication is that, as the 
Finnish language does not have linguistic gender, the term gender is rarely used and also 
in the area of equality law, the standard translation of gender into Finnish is sukupuoli, 
which refers to sex.  

24 

 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

4 

Equal  pay  and  equal  treatment  at  work  (Article 157  of  the  Treaty  on  the 
Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Recast Directive 2006/54) 57 

4.1  General (legal) context 

While women and men participate in the labour market equally, the Finnish labour market 
is deeply gender segregated. Although women are on average more highly educated than 
men, education is also segregated along gender lines. The difficulties of implementing the 
equal  pay  principle  are  thus  often  related  to  the  assessment  of  work  of  equal  value. 
According to various statistical sources, women experience more discrimination in working 
life  than  men. 58  Pay  levels  in  the  Finnish  labour  market  are  mainly  set  by  collective 
agreements  that  are  gender-neutral.  The  pay  systems  under  collective  agreements, 
however, are often based on categories that do not allow comparison of concrete jobs for 
an assessment of whether men’s and women’s jobs are equal or of equal value.59 

4.1.1  Political and societal debate and pending legislative proposals 

The issue of equal pay, including pay transparency, was much under debate under Prime 
Minister  Sanna  Marin’s  Government  (December  2019-April  2023).  The  Government’s 
Action  Plan  for  Gender  Equality,  based  on  the  Government  Programme,  contained 
measures concerning working life and economic decision-making, among them promoting 
pay transparency through legislation. Preparatory works for pay transparency legislation 
were started. 

A  proposal  for  a  Government  Bill  on  pay  transparency  legislation  was  prepared  by  a 
working group. Legislative works were interrupted by decision of the Minister responsible 
for equality matters in summer 2022. The matter was later discussed in the Government, 
but no consensus was found. Petteri Orpo’s  Government Programme  mentions that pay 
transparency  is  to  be  promoted  according  to  the  minimum  requirements  of  the  Pay 
Transparency  Directive 2023/970.  A  tripartite  working  group  was  appointed  by  the 
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in May 2024, with its report expected in spring 2025.  

57   See on equal pay Burri, S. (2019), National cases and good practices on equal pay, European network of 

legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at 
https://www.equalitylaw.eu/publications/thematic-reports. 
See also Foubert, P. (2017), The enforcement of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal 
value: A legal analysis of the situation in the EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, 
European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at 
https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/4466-the-enforcement-of-the-principle-of-equal-pay-for-equal-
work-or-work-of-equal-value-pdf-840-kb. 
See on the issue of pay transparency: Veldman, A. (2017), Pay transparency in the EU. A legal analysis of 
the situation in the EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, European network of legal 
experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at 
https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/4073-pay-transparency-in-the-eu-pdf-693-kb. 

58   According to the European Commission’s Eurobarometer 2019 (Discrimination in the European Union), 

40 % of Finnish respondents thought that gender may be a detrimental factor at recruitment, if candidates 
for a job are equally competent. The Finnish Gender Equality Barometer 2017 showed that women clearly 
experience more harassment and discrimination at work and as entrepreneurs than men. According to the 
Working Life Barometer 2020, 6 % of respondents had noticed discrimination against women and 2 % had 
noticed discrimination against men in the workplace. Women were less satisfied with their pay than men, 
see Kanninen, O,. Virkola, T., Lilja, E. and Rask, S. (2022) Tavoitteena syrjimätön Työelämä. Työsyrjinnän 
nykytila ja keinoja tasa-arvon ja yhdenvertaisuuden edistämiseksi (Non-discriminatory working life: The 
state of discrimination in employment and the promotion of equality), Prime Minister’s Office, Publications 
of the Government’s analysis, assessment and research activities 2022:20 
https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/163880/VNTEAS_2022_20.pdf?sequence=1&isAl
lowed=y. 

59   Nousiainen, K, Bruun, N., Kylä-Laaso, M., Liinalaakso, V. (2023), Työehtosopimusten sukupuolivaikutukset 
samapalkkaisuuden näkökulmasta -tutkimushanke (Gender impact of collective agreements on equal pay) 
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, 
https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/165106/STM_2023_35_rap.pdf?sequence=1&is
Allowed=y. 

25 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

The  Government  stressed  the  importance  of  Directive 2023/970  of  the  European 
Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 to strengthen the application of the principle 
of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay 
transparency and enforcement mechanisms. 

4.2  Equal pay 

4.2.1  Implementation in national law 

The  principle  of  equal  pay  is  referred  to  under  Section 6(4)  of  the  Constitution,  as 
described  above  under  2.1.1,  and  also  under  Section 8  of  the  Act  on  Equality. 
Section 8(3)(4)  of  the  Act  on  Equality  prohibits  implementing  conditions  of  pay  or 
employment in a manner that places an employee or employees in a less advantageous 
position than one or several employees who do equal work or work of equal value. 

Issues of equal work or work of equal value are also decided under Chapter 2, Section 2 
of the Employment Contracts Act. The provision requires that an employer treat employees 
equally. The provision refers to equal treatment in fixed-term and part-time work and to 
the  Act  on  Equality  and  the  Non-Discrimination  Act.  The  requirements  of  the  provision 
have been interpreted in case law to allow a reasonable time for the employer to remove 
pay differentials.  

4.2.2  Definition in national law 

The term ‘pay’, including ‘equal pay’, is not defined in national law. ‘Worker’ or employee 
in the sense relevant to equality law is defined under Section 3 (1) of the Act on Equality. 
An employee is here defined as a person who is under contract to work for another person 
under  the  other  person’s  direction  and  supervision  against  receiving  pay  or  other 
remuneration,  or  is  in  a  public  office  or  in  a  comparable  relation  to  the  state,  county, 
municipality or other public authority. The definition also covers mutatis mutandis persons 
who  work  in  other  employment-like  relations.  The  preparatory  works  explain  that  the 
definition  refers  to  forms  of  work  that  take  place  under  circumstances  similar  to  those 
under  employment  contracts.  This  includes  independent  workers  or  entrepreneurs, 
freelancers,  persons  with  their  own  professional  practice  or  persons  who  perform  care 
work in families under an assignment agreement paid by public funds under social welfare 
legislation. Independent workers and entrepreneurs are only covered if they sell their own 
skills,  even  though  they  may  act  as  entrepreneurs  in  the  sense  understood  by 
unemployment  or  pension  legislation.  A  person  cannot  be  considered  similar  to  an 
‘employee’ if they engage in activities that involve a proper entrepreneurial risk or employ 
others. The decisive factor is the actual nature of the activity, not its legal form.60  

4.2.3  Explicit implementation of Article 4 of Recast Directive 2006/54 

Section 7 of the Act  on Equality defines direct  and indirect discrimination and Section 8 
prohibits pay discrimination, in principle using the definitions under Section 7. However, it 
may  still  be  difficult  to  distinguish  direct  and  indirect  pay  discrimination  in  practice,  as 
pointed out above. The preparatory works to the Act on Equality refer to the possibility 
that  the  general  prohibition  of  discrimination  under  Section 7  may  be  applied  to  pay 
discrimination in some  cases that fall  outside the scope  of Section 8,  for instance when 
employees  do  not  do  equal  work  or  work  of  equal  value,  if  an  employee  is  placed  at  a 
disadvantage  on  the  basis  of  sex.  Section 7  does  not  provide  a  victim  of  discrimination 
with the right to obtain compensation under the Act on Equality, but compensation under 
tort law is possible.61  

60   Hallituksen esitys Eduskunnalle laiksi naisten ja miesten välisestä tasa-arvosta annetun lain muuttamisesta 

(Government Bill on amendment of the Act on Equality between Women and Men), HE 195/2004 vp. 

61   Government Bill 57/1985 vp, p. 16. 

26 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

4.2.4  Related case law 

Indirect discrimination in the application of the equal pay principle was the focus in case 
TT:1998-34. In this case, the Labour Court assessed a collective agreement that did not 
accept  maternity  leave  fully  as  a  period  to  be  considered  when  calculating  experience-
based pay additions, even though all permissible periods of absence were defined as time 
to  be  taken  into  account.  The  Labour  Court  held  that  the  condition  of  the  collective 
agreement was indirectly discriminatory. 

The choice of comparator and the burden of proof have also been central in several cases. 
There is legal uncertainty as to when the employee has been able to provide facts from 
which it may be presumed that there has been direct  or indirect discrimination. Finnish 
courts have come to different conclusions in the so-called ‘judge cases’ brought to courts 
when the pay system of judges was changed and judges were redistributed to different 
pay categories. The definition of pay discrimination under Section 8 of the Act on Equality 
requires  that  the  employer  must  have  implemented  conditions  on  pay  so  that  one  or 
several  employees  are  disadvantaged  on  the  ground  of  sex.  The  Labour  Court  in  case 
TT:2002-7-10  accepted  that  the  burden  of  proof  shifted  to  the  employer  when  an 
employee  had  shown  that  their  pay  was  lower  than  the  comparator’s,  who  was  of  the 
opposite sex. The employee was not required to show that the disadvantage was caused 
by  their  sex  in  order  to  shift  the  burden  of  proof.  The  Labour  Court  required  that  the 
employer  must  justify  pay  differentials  in  each  case.  Later,  Supreme  Court  case  KKO 
2009:79  and  Supreme  Administrative  Court  case  2005:51  were  based  on  a  different 
interpretation.  These  courts  held  that  the  employees  had  not  been  able  to  establish  a 
presumption  of  discrimination  to  shift  the  burden  of  proof  onto  the  respondent,  as  the 
courts assumed that sex was not the ground of the disadvantage, as both women and men 
were placed in lower pay categories.  

Pay during compulsory temporary transfer of a pregnant worker because of risk to her and 
her child’s safety and health has caused difficulties. Case C-471/08 Parviainen v. Finnair 
Oyj,  referred  to  the  Court  of  Justice  of  the  EU  by  the  Helsinki  District  Court  (Helsingin 
käräjäoikeus), concerned the calculation of pay, in particular supplementary allowances. 
The  applicant  was  transferred  from  working  as  an  air  hostess  to  ground  duties,  in 
accordance with EU and national law, during  her pregnancy. Supplementary allowances 
represented  approximately  40 %  of  the  pay  of  the  air  hostess,  which  she  was  not  paid 
when performing office work. Finnair contended that the pay the applicant received was 
higher than what a person with similar ground duties received. The question referred to 
the  preliminary  ruling  was  whether  a  pregnant  worker,  temporarily  transferred  due  to 
pregnancy, is entitled to the pay she received on average before the transfer. The Court 
ruled  that  the  transferred  employee  is  not  entitled  to  the  pay  she  received  on  average 
prior to the transfer, but to her basic salary and the pay components or supplementary 
allowances relating to her professional status. 

In Finland pay is not mandatory during maternity leave, but many collective agreements 
provide an entitlement to pay at least during some part of the leave. Maternity, paternity 
and parental leave periods, and after amended family leave legislation came into force in 
2023,  pregnancy  and  parental  leave  periods,  are  covered  by  income-related  benefits. 
These  family-related  leave  periods  may  be  complemented  by  childcare  leave,  which 
entitles the parent to a flat-rate benefit. Childcare leave is available until the child is three 
years old. The childcare leave is often called home-care leave, as the flat-rate benefit is 
only available when the child is cared for at home. Problems have arisen when employers 
have limited the entitlement in cases when new maternity leave begins while the employee 
is still on unpaid parental leave or childcare leave.  

The  District  Court  of  Tampere  referred  a  case  to  the  ECJ  in  which  a  teacher  on  unpaid 
childcare leave wished to have the leave interrupted so that she could start new maternity 
leave. The collective agreement to which she was subject required an unforeseeable and 

27 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

justified  ground  to  permit  alteration  of  the  date  of  childcare  leave  but  did  not  mention 
pregnancy. The employer rejected the request, contending that, in Finnish case law, a new 
pregnancy did not constitute a justified ground for altering the duration of the childcare 
leave. The ECJ ruled in Case C-116/06 Kiiski that Community law precludes decisions that 
prevent a pregnant worker from obtaining an alteration of the home-care leave and thus 
deprives her of the rights inherent in maternity leave.62  

Some later collective agreements explicitly limited the right to pay during maternity leave 
for  those  who  start  maternity  leave  after  having  been  on  home-care  leave.  The  Labour 
Court  referred  two  cases  concerning  the  limitation  of  pay  that  is  paid  according  to  a 
collective agreement to an employee on maternity leave. In both cases the employee had 
started new maternity leave straight from having been on childcare leave. The Court of 
Justice  held  in  joined  cases  C-512/11  (TSN)  and  C-513/11  (YTN)  that  Directive 96/34 
precludes  a  provision  in  collective  agreements  that  prevents  a  pregnant  worker  who 
interrupts  a  period  of  unpaid  parental  leave  from  receiving  the  pay  to  which  she  would 
have been entitled had the maternity leave been preceded by a minimum period of work.63  

Similarly,  in  case  KKO:2017:25,  the  Finnish  Supreme  Court  adjudicated  on  a  situation 
where an employee had returned to work after childcare leave and started a new maternity 
leave  having  worked  for  less  than  six  months  between  leave  periods,  which  was  the 
requirement for paid maternity leave in the applicable collective agreement. The employer 
did not pay the employee during the second maternity leave. The Supreme Court found 
indirect discrimination on the grounds of parenthood and family care duties and violation 
of  the  prohibition  of  discrimination  at  work,  for  which  the  employee  was  to  receive 
compensation. The Court ruled that there was no direct discrimination on the ground of 
pregnancy, as childcare leave is available for both sexes, but found indirect discrimination 
on  the  ground  of  parenthood  and  family  responsibilities,  which  is  prohibited  under 
Section 7(3) of the Act on Equality. The Court’s argument is problematic in the sense that 
the reason why the employee was denied pay during maternity leave was because of her 
new pregnancy.  

4.2.5  Permissibility of pay differences 

Pay  differentials  have  been  considered  permissible  by  preparatory  works  of  the  Act  on 
Equality,  if  there  is  a  labour  shortage  caused  by  demand  in  the  labour  market.  The 
preparatory  works  of  the  Act  on  Equality  also  mention  education,  professional  skills, 
proactivity and suitability for demanding tasks as permissible grounds for pay differences. 
The  Equality  Ombudsman  stresses  that  the  reason  for  pay  differences  must  be 
proportionate.  Pay  differences  must  have  a  legitimate  aim  and  be  appropriate  and 
necessary for the aim in question.64 The Equality Ombudsman has pointed out that two 
jobs  being  under  different  collective  agreement  classifications  or  different  collective 
agreements  altogether  does  not  constitute  a  justification  for  pay  differences,  which 
conforms  to  Enderby  (C-127/92).65  An  employer  cannot  justify  pay  difference  by  citing 
lack of resources. Pay difference has to be corrected within a reasonable time and the Act 
on Equality requires that the pay of the person discriminated against must be levelled up, 
rather than the pay of the comparator being levelled down.66 

4.2.6  Requirement for comparators 

The provision on pay discrimination in Section 8 of the Act on Equality refers explicitly to 
comparison (to apply pay or other conditions of work so that an employee or employees 

62   See Case C-116/06 (Kiiski), Paragraph 57. 
63   See Joined cases C-512/11 (TSN) and C-513/11 (YTN).Paragraph 49. 
64   Equality Ombudsman’s website, Hyväksyttävät syyt palkkaeroille (Permissible grounds for pay differentials, 

https://www.tasa-arvo.fi/hyvaksyttavat-syyt-palkkaeroille. 
65   Equality Ombudsman’s opinion (TAS 93/2013, of 10.6.2014). 
66   Equality Ombudsman’s opinion (TAYS 293/2018, of 26.8. 2019). 

28 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

are placed at a disadvantage on the ground of sex compared to one or several employees) 
and the preparatory works 67 for the provision state that the equal pay principle contains 
the  idea  of  comparison.  When  considering  whether  pay  discrimination  has  occurred,  it 
must  be  judged  whether  the  tasks  are  so  similar  as  to  be  the  same  or  if  they  may  be 
considered  equally  demanding  and  thus  of  equal  value.  A  hypothetical  comparator  is 
allowed,  according  to  the  preparatory  works  of  the  Act  on  Equality.  In  the  context  of 
amendments made in 2004, it was stated that a hypothetical comparator may be used, 
provided  that  there  is  unambiguous  proof  of  how  the  employer  would  treat  such  a 
comparator.68 If it is evident from the wording of a provision or clause that employees are 
put in a different position on the basis of sex, a concrete comparator is not necessary. In 
pay discrimination concerning pregnancy the comparison may be made with the person 
herself (if she had not become pregnant).  

In practice, the comparator requirement may be more flexible. For example, if a neutral 
norm  has  a  differential  impact  on  a  group  of  persons  defined  by  their  having  the  same 
protected  characteristic,  this  establishes  the  assumption  that  the  norm  itself  is 
discriminatory.  Such  collective  considerations  are  not  necessary  in  cases  that  address 
whether or not a norm that is per se neutral has been applied in a discriminatory manner. 
If the application of certain criteria cannot be objectively justified, then it can be assumed 
that pay differentials are caused by gender.  

Anja  Nummijärvi  refers  both  to  Danfoss  and  to  Finnish  case  law  on  pay  discrimination 
when she claims that drawing the line between collective and individual assessments, and 
direct  and  indirect  discrimination,  is  not  always  easy.  As  to  what  evidence  is  to  be 
presented  for  indirect  discrimination,  Nummijärvi  notes  that  statistics  may  be  used  to 
establish  an  assumption  of  indirect  discrimination  and  to  reverse  the  burden  of  proof. 
However,  she  also  indicates  that  statistical  evidence  in  cases  like  Danfoss  can  be  too 
difficult  to  provide;  therefore,  any  suitable  evidence  may  be  used  to  establish  the 
assumption of discrimination.69 The preparatory works for an amendment to the Act on 
Equality also draw attention to the difficulty in distinguishing between direct and indirect 
discrimination in certain cases70 and the Equality Ombudsman has not always made the 
distinction between direct and indirect pay discrimination, but has merely stated that pay 
differentials must be justified.71 

There are also cases where the main issue has been whether a comparison may be made 
if there are both women and men among those receiving lower pay. The Labour Court has 
held that the burden of proof may be shifted onto the respondent employer if the claimant 
can  present  at  least  one  comparator  of  the  opposite  sex  who  has  better  pay  for  equal 
work, irrespective of the fact that there are both women and men in lower and higher pay 
brackets  doing  equal  work. 72  However,  the  Supreme  Court  and  the  Supreme 
Administrative Court have previously decided that in cases concerning the new pay system 
for  judges,  since  both  men  and  women  were  placed  in  lower  bracket  offices,  pay 
discrimination  could  not  exist.  In  these  cases  the  claimants  had  not  even  managed  to 
establish an assumption of discrimination which, according to the Act on Equality, would 
reverse  the  burden  of  proof  onto  the  respondent  employer.73  It  seems  that  both  the 
Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the argumentation in the 
preparatory works referred to above74 and did not proceed to consider whether indirect 

67   Government Bill HE 57/1985 vp. 
68   Government Bill HE 195/2004 vp, p. 30. 
69   Nummijärvi, A. (2004) Palkkasyrjintä: Oikeudellinen tutkimus samapalkkaisuuslainsäädännön sisällöstä ja 

toimivuudesta (Pay Discrimination: A legal study on content and efficacy of legislation on equal pay)tion on 
equal pay , Edita, p. 302. 

70   Government Bill HE 90/1994, 17. 
71   For example, Opinion of the Equality Ombudsman, Dnro 5/53/02. 
72   Labour Court TT:2002-7-10. 
73   Cases of the Supreme Court KKO 2009:78 and the Supreme Administrative Court KHO 2005:51. 
74   Nummijärvi, A. (2004) Palkkasyrjintä: Oikeudellinen tutkimus samapalkkaisuuslainsäädännön sisällöstä ja 

toimivuudesta (Pay Discrimination: A Legal Study on content and efficacy of legislation on equal pay, Edita, 
p. 302. 

29 

 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

discrimination could have been in question. Evidence of indirect discrimination would have 
required  a  comparison  of  how  female  and  male  judges  were  positioned  in  different  pay 
brackets.  

4.2.7  Existence of parameters for establishing the equal value of the work performed 

The preparatory works for the Act on Equality explain that in establishing whether equal 
work  or  work  of  equal  value  is  in  question,  attention  should  be  paid  to  the  quality  and 
content  of  the  job  and  the  conditions  under  which  the  job  is  performed.  In  deciding 
whether equal work or work of equal value is in question, attention shall be paid to the 
differences used in job classifications. However, the preparatory works also state that if 
the system of classification used in a collective agreement de facto discriminates on the 
basis of gender, the social partners shall develop the agreement in question.75 The Equality 
Board has adopted a similar approach in a case on pay discrimination. 76 

The  starting  point  for  job  classifications  is  that  attention  should  be  paid  to  the 
classifications used in collective agreements when deciding whether two jobs include equal 
work  or  whether  the  work  is  of  equal  value,  although  the  preparatory  works  also 
acknowledge the possibility that such classifications are based on discriminatory grounds. 
No  legislative  clarification  concerning  how  classifications  should  be  assessed  has  been 
undertaken. The issue of job assessment has been very much in the hands of the labour 
market’s central organisations, and in 1990 the issue was taken up by a Working Group 
on  Job  Assessment,  established  by  the  social  partners.  The  issue  soon  proved  to  be 
complicated and one that could give rise to conflicting claims. Several working groups have 
been established and numerous studies conducted on job assessment in various branches, 
but so far there has been little real development.  

4.2.8  Other relevant rules or policies 

In 2021, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health started a project on the assessment of 
the equal value of jobs. The project analyses the assessment methods in use in different 
pay  systems  in  order  to  develop  consistent  criteria  for  assessment.  The  project  was 
motivated  by  a  request  by  the  Parliament  that  the  Government  develop  methods  for 
establishing the equal value of work. 77 The report of the project was published in December 
2022. The report described various pay systems in use under 159 collective agreements 
that  are  binding  erga  omnes.  Assessing  the  equal  value  of  jobs  was  found  to  be 
problematic  under  collective  agreements  that  do  not  define  job  requirements.  As 
organisations usually implement several collective agreements, assessment of equal value 
is complicated. The report recommended that a definition of equal work and work of equal 
value  be  stipulated  under  the  Act  on  Equality.  The  collective  agreements  should  enable 
pay systems that cover the whole organisation in which they are implemented.78  

The Act on Mediation in Labour Disputes (420/1962) defines the mandate of the National 
Conciliator  to  act  as  a  mediator  in  disputes  concerning  collective  agreements  between 
labour market organisations that threaten industrial peace. The Act was amended in 2024.  
The  provision  on  how  the  parties  are  to  be  conciliated  (Section  11)  was  amended  by 
inserting a new subsection (2), under which the Conciliator must act so that the ‘overall 
interest’ of the national economy is not threatened. The new subsection does not require 

75   Government Bill HE 57/1985, 19.  
76   Equality Board opinion No. L 2/2005.  
77   Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (2021) Samanarvoinen työ -hanke kehittää työn vaativuuden arviointia 

(Project Equal Work develops assessment of job requirements), 
https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/164497/STM_2022_28_rap.pdf?sequence=1&is
Allowed=y.  

78   Jämsén, S., Hietala, H. and Maaniemi, J. (2022) Samanarvoinen työ -hankkeen loppuraportti (Final report 

of the project on work of equal value), Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2022:28 
https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/164497/STM_2022_28_rap.pdf?sequence=1&is
Allowed=y. 

30 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

that the conciliation proposal the Conciliator makes always be based on the ‘export driven 
labour market model’, meaning that collective-agreement pay rises may not exceed the 
level  agreed  by  export-sector  organisations.  Since  the  1960s,  Finnish  collective 
agreements  have  generally  taken  the  pay  rises  negotiated  for  export-sector  collective 
agreements as the maximum pay rise for all other collective agreements. The preparatory 
works for the amendment refer to this model. The Finnish labour market is heavily gender-
segregated  and  the  gender  pay  gap  is  related  to  the  higher  pay  levels  in  the  fields 
dominated  by  men,  which  are  often  in  the  export  sector.  Many  employee  organisations 
were critical of the amendment, considering it a risk to equal pay.  

4.2.9  Job evaluation and classification systems 

Private pay systems and somewhat later the public pay systems in Finland have gradually 
developed  into  systems  that  are  expected  to  motivate  employees  towards  better 
performance. Typically, pay systems involve components that reflect the requirements of 
the  job  as  well  as  the  personal  performance  of  the  employee,  with  parameters  set  by 
collective  agreements.  The  ‘new’  pay  systems  involve  regular  job  and  performance 
evaluations.  The  move  to  these  ‘new’  pay  systems  was  also  justified  by  their  assumed 
gender  equality  impacts.  A  study  on  the  impact  of  job,  competence  and  performance 
evaluations on gender equality in private and public organisations79 reported in 2012 that 
it cannot be taken for  granted that job  evaluation promotes gender  equality. Structural 
solutions  of  the  ‘new’  pay  systems  allow  the  promotion  of  equal  pay,  but  that  requires 
critical analysis and monitoring. Gender equality was seldom defined as a practical goal of 
the  pay  system  and  therefore  the  equality  of  the  outcome  was  not  monitored.  Existing 
social norms and prejudices restricted development work in the workplace. 

A study on work on equal value found that a considerable percentage of pay systems in 
Finnish collective agreements were based on classifications that did not describe the actual 
tasks of the employees. 24 % of pay systems defined by collective agreements were based 
on analytic work assessment.80 A study on gender impact of collective agreements found 
good practices both under private and public sector collective agreements: for example, 
under  the  collective  agreement  for  the  financial  sector  the  agreement  required  that  an 
employee is entitled to an annual pay discussion with his/her chief and shall have data on 
median  pay  and  pay  development  of  the  company;  a  working  group  on  pay  issues 
consisting  of  employee  and  employer  representatives  follows  pay  developments;  the 
collective agreement of a public authority (National land survey  of Finland) contained a 
pay  system  based  on  ‘type  jobs’  that  reflect  the  concrete  tasks  of  the  personnel  and  a 
working group on pay issues monitored the pay development.81  

4.2.10 Wage transparency82 

The  employer must provide the victim of alleged pay discrimination ‘information on the 
grounds of his/her pay and other information that is necessary for assessing whether there 
has been discrimination’, under Section 10.3 of the Act on Equality. It is not clear on the 

79   Ikävalko, H, Karppinen, V, Kohvakka, R., Koskinen, P. Nylander, M, Wallin, T. (2012) Tasa-arvoa 

palkkaukseen; Havaintoja palkkausjärjestelmien kehittämisestä TAPAS -hankkeessa (Gender equality into 
pay: Findings on development of pay systems in the TAPAS-project), Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, 
http://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/73274/URN%3ANBN%3Afi-
fe201504222858.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. 

80   Jämsén, S., Hietala, H, and Maaniemi, J. (2022) Final report of the project on work of equal value Ministry 

of Social Affairs and Health, 60-61, 
https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/164497/STM_2022_28_rap.pdf?sequence=1&is
Allowed=y. 

81   Nousiainen, K., Bruun, N. Kylä-Laaso, M., Liinalaakso, V. Työehtosopimusten sukupuolivaikutukset 
samapalkkaisuuden näkökulmasta-ttutkimushanke (Research Project Gender Impact of collective 
agreements on equal pay) Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2023, pp. 86-99, 124-139. 

82   See Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council to strengthen the application of 
the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay 
transparency and enforcement mechanisms, COM/2021/93 final. 

31 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

basis of other provisions of the Act, however, whether the employer is obliged to provide 
information on a comparator who refuses the disclosure of their pay details. An employee 
representative  may  receive  information  on  an  individual  employee’s  pay  only  with  their 
consent, but at the request of the alleged victim of pay discrimination the representative 
may request such information from the Equality Ombudsman. The Ombudsman requests 
the  employer  to  supply  the  information  if  there  are  reasonable  grounds  to  suspect 
discrimination (Section 17.3 of the Act on Equality). 

Under Section 6(b) of the Act on Equality, the employer is under a positive obligation to 
conduct  regular  pay  audits  (pay  mapping).  If  pay  differentials  are  found,  the  employer 
must enquire into the causes and reasons for these differentials. 

Pay  audits  required  by  Section 6(b)  of  the  Act  on  Equality  precede  the  Commission’s 
Recommendation; the provision was adopted in 2005 and amended in 2014. Pay audits 
are required for employers with a minimum of 30 employees as part of equality planning 
(Section 6(a) of the Act). The aim of the pay audit is to clarify that there are no groundless 
pay differentials between women and men. The equality plan must involve an analysis of 
job  classifications,  pay  and  pay  differentials  by  gender,  and  if  there  are  clear  pay 
differentials  the  employer  must  analyse  their  reasons  and  grounds.  The  main  pay 
components are to be taken into consideration and employers must conduct the audit in 
cooperation with the employees’ representative. The Equality Ombudsman monitors the 
use of positive measures by employers, but as the resources for monitoring are limited, 
usually  only  one  field  at  a  time  is  taken  into  consideration.  The  monitoring  covers  the 
existence of equality plans, including those for pay audit, rather than the de facto efficacy 
of them. 

The  pay  audit  obligation  applies  to  smaller  organisations  than  required  under 
Directive 2023/970 on pay transparency. The Directive contains many rules that do not 
exist under the Finnish legislation, such as the employer’s duty to inform job candidates 
about pay levels or the procedural provisions that allow a broader legal standing than the 
Finnish rules.  

4.2.11 Implementation of the transparency measures set out by European Commission’s 
Recommendation  of  7  March  2014  on  strengthening  the  principle  of  equal  pay 
between  men  and  women  and/or  Directive  (EU)  2023/970  of  the  European 
Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 to strengthen the application of the 
principle  of  equal  pay  for  equal  work  or  work  of  equal  value  between  men  and 
women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms 

The  Commission’s  Recommendation  was  one  of  motivations  for  nominating  Equality 
Ombudsman  Jukka  Maarianvaara  to  report  on  pay  transparency  in  2018.  The  report, 
published  in  October  2018,83  contained  an  analysis  of  the  legal  prerequisites  of  pay 
transparency and balancing requirements of the equal pay principle, particularly the right 
to  privacy  and  data  protection. 84  The  tripartite  working  group  nominated  by  Ministry  of 
Social Affairs and Health to consider the proposals made by the Equality Ombudsman for 
amending Section 6(b) of the Act on Equality in its report in 2021 proposed a law reform. 
As explained above (Section 4.1.1), the law proposal did not lead to a Government Bill. 
There was a deep controversy over the proposal, the employer organisations being highly 
critical and employee organisations positive about the proposed legal amendments. The 
legal  amendments  required  to  implement  Directive  2023/970  are  being  prepared  by  a 

83   Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and Maarianvaara, J. (2018) ‘Palkka-avoimuuden oikeudelliset 

edellytykset’ (Legal prerequisites of pay transparency), in Selvitys palkka-avoimudesta (Report on pay 
transparency), Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, pp. 17-38, 
http://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/161103/R_41_18_Selvitys_palkka-
avoimuudesta.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. 

84   Nousiainen, K. ‘Palkka-avoimuuden oikeudelliset edellytykset’ (Legal [rerequisites of pay transparency) in 
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and Maarianvaara J., Selvitys palkka-avoimuudesta (Report on pay 
transparency), pp. 17-39. 

32 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

working group appointed by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in May 2024. 85 The 
working group is due to present its report by the end of March 2025. 

4.2.12 Other measures, tools or procedures 

The deep gender segregation of the Finnish labour market is often considered to be the 
main reason for the gender pay differentials. The Equal Pay Programme of the Government 
and  the  central  labour  market  organisations  stress  the  impact  of  segregation.  The 
segregation  maintains  strong  gender  stereotypes  and  is  reflected  in  the  pay  gap  and 
consequently in the pension gap between women and men. In 2021 the Ministry of Social 
Affairs and Health launched a development project ‘Dismantling segregation – tools for a 
more  equal  working  life’  which  is  being  carried  out  regionally  in  cooperation  with  pilot 
workplaces and other working life actors as well as educational institutions. The project, 
which ended in 2023, 86 was carried out by Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). 
The project produced several policy briefs and tools for dismantling gender segregation. 
The proposed policies aim at changing cultural patterns, rather than legal amendments. 87 
The  present  Government’s  Programme  refers  to  the  implementation  of  the  Pay 
Transparency  Directive 2023/970  with  one  sentence:  ‘The  Government  promotes  pay 
transparency by implementing minimum provision under the EU Directive’.88 

4.3  Access to work, working conditions and dismissal 

4.3.1  Definition of the (material) scope (Article 14(1) of Recast Directive 2006/54) 

Gender  discrimination  in  access  to  employment,  employment,  working  conditions  and 
dismissals is prohibited under Section 8 of the Act on Equality, which specifically uses the 
terms ‘employer’ and ‘employee’. The personal scope of the provision depends on how an 
employee is defined under this Act in Section 3(1) (see under 4.2.2 above). In practice, 
even  the  material  scope  of  the  prohibition  against  discrimination  depends  largely  on 
whether a person is considered an employee or not. Protection against discrimination in 
access  to  employment,  vocational  guidance,  training  and  retraining,  and  in  terms  of 
employment  and  working  conditions,  and  membership  of  employee  or  employer 
organisations, depends on whether or not Section 8 of the Act applies. If not, Section 7 of 
the Act on Equality will apply, but the section does not provide for compensation for the 
victim. Even the Employment Contracts Act, Chapter 2, Section 2 requires equal treatment 
of  employees  and  prohibits  discrimination,  and  thus  provides  protection  against 
discrimination, but the provision applies only to employment.   

Section 3(1) of the Act on Equality defines an employee as a person under a contract who 
commits themselves to work under an employer’s direction and monitoring against pay or 
other  remuneration;  or  is  in  an  office  or  similar  service  to  the  state,  a  municipality  or 
another public community (authority). When Directive 2002/73/EC was transposed, 89 the 
definition of ‘employee’ was broadened from one based on labour law criteria by adding 
that the Act’s provisions on employees apply ‘as appropriate, to persons working in other 
legal relationships that are comparable to an employment relationship’. The preparatory 

85   Decision of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, 14.5.2024, VN/778/2024/-STM-1. 
86   Broad-based development project to dismantle segregation in working life. Press release by the Ministry of 
Social Affairs and Health and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), https://valtioneuvosto.fi/-
/1271139/laaja-kehittamishanke-purkaa-tyoelaman-segregaatiota?languageId=en_US. 

87   Dismantling segregation – tools for a more equal working life, THL research and development 

https://thl.fi/en/research-and-development/research-and-projects/dismantling-segregation-tools-for-a-
more-equal-working-life. 

88   Broad-based development project to dismantle segregation in working life. Press release by the Ministry of 
Social Affairs and Health and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), https://valtioneuvosto.fi/-
/1271139/laaja-kehittamishanke-purkaa-tyoelaman-segregaatiota?languageId=en_US. 

89   Directive 2002/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002 amending 
Council Directive 76/207/EEC on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and 
women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions (Text 
with EEA relevance) OJ L 269, 5 October 2002 pp. 15-20.  

33 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

works  explain  that  the  definition  refers  to  forms  of  work  that  take  place  under 
circumstances  similar  to  those  under  employment  contracts.  This  includes  independent 
workers  or  entrepreneurs,  freelancers,  persons  with  their  own  professional  practice  or 
persons who perform care work in families under an assignment agreement paid by public 
funds under social welfare legislation. Independent workers and  entrepreneurs are only 
covered  if  they  sell  their  own  skills,  even  though  they  may  act  as  entrepreneurs  in  the 
sense  understood  by  unemployment  or  pension  legislation.  A  person  similar  to  an 
‘employee’ cannot be someone who engages in activities that involve a proper enterprise 
risk or who employs others. The decisive factor is the actual nature of the activity, not its 
legal form. 90  

Protection against gender discrimination in access to vocational training may be provided 
for  under  Section 8,  when  the  training  in  question  takes  place  in  an  employment 
relationship.  Access  to  vocational  training  is  also  covered  by  Section 8(b)  of  the  Act  on 
Equality,  which  prohibits  discrimination  in  educational  institutions.  The  provision  covers 
discrimination in the election of students, in teaching arrangements, student assessment 
and other activities of an educational institution. 

Section  8(c)  of  the  Act  on  Equality  protects  against  discrimination  in  a  labour  market 
organisation  or  other  organisation  that  promotes  professional  interests,  in  activities  of, 
access  to  or  benefits  offered  by  such  an  organisation,  or  in  any  other  manner  that  is 
prohibited  under  Section  7  of  the  Act,  which  prohibits  various  forms  of  discrimination 
(direct  and  indirect,  sexual  harassment  and  harassment  on  the  basis  of  sex).  The 
preparatory works note that professional ideological organisations that aim to promote the 
position of women in a profession are not to be considered to be within the scope of the 
provision. An example given in the preparatory works is Naisjuristit ry, an association for 
women  lawyers,  which  promotes  national  and  international  networking. The  association 
accepts only women as members, but respects self-definition of sex.      

4.3.2  Implementation of the exception on occupational activities (Article 14(2) of Recast 

Directive 2006/54) 

The  prohibition  of  gender  discrimination  in  access  to  employment  under  Section 8(1) 
contains an exception – Section 8(2) allows a less qualified person of the opposite sex to 
be appointed to a job for a ‘weighty and acceptable reason’.  

There  has  been  no  assessment  of 
Directive 2006/54.  

the 

implementation  of  Article 14(2)  of 

4.3.3  Protection  against  the  non-hiring,  non-renewal  of  a  fixed-term  contract,  non-
continuation  of  a  contract  and  dismissal  of  women  connected  to  their  state  of 
pregnancy and/or maternity 

Protection against the non-hiring, non-renewal of a fixed-term contract and dismissal of 
pregnant women is implemented in national law. Under Section 8(2) of the Act on Equality, 
the conduct of an employer amounts to discrimination if the employer ‘upon employing a 
person, selecting someone for a particular task or training or deciding on the duration or 
continuation of an employment relationship or the pay or other terms of employment, acts 
in  such  a  way  that  the  person  finds  herself/himself  in  a  less  favourable  position  on  the 
basis  of  pregnancy  or  childbirth  or  by  some  other  gender-related  reason’.  Under  the 
Employment  Contracts  Act,  the  employer  is  not  entitled  to  terminate  the  employment 
contract  of  an  employee  who  is  pregnant  or  on  family  leave  on  normal  grounds  of 
termination  (Chapter  7,  Section 9(1)  of  the  Employment  Contracts  Act).  There  are  no 
exceptions to this rule. 

90   Government Bill on amendment of the Act on Equality between Women and Men (Hallituksen esitys 

Eduskunnalle laiksi naisten ja miesten välisestä tasa-arvosta annetun lain muuttamisesta), HE 195/2004 
vp. 

34 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

In  the  event  of  dismissal  due  to  economic  or  production  reasons,  the  employer  must 
explain the grounds of dismissal (Chapter 9, Section 3 of the Employment Contracts Act), 
but there is no explicit requirement for this to be done in writing. If an employer dismisses 
a pregnant employee or an employee on family-related leave, the dismissal is assumed to 
be related to the pregnancy or the use  of family-related leave unless  the employer  can 
show  another  cause  (Chapter  7,  Section 9(2)).  An  employer  may  dismiss  a  pregnant 
employee or an employee on family-related leave using normal grounds of dismissal only 
if the employer has ceased all operations. Under Chapter 12, Section 1, the employer is 
liable for the loss suffered by the employee due to the employer’s intentional or negligent 
breach  of  obligations  arising  from  the  employment  relationship  or  under  the  Act  on 
Employment Contracts. Section 2 of the Chapter stipulates the rules on compensation for 
an unfounded termination of an employment contract (3-24 months’ pay). 

4.3.4  Implementation  of  the  exception  on  the  protection  for  women  in  relation  to 

pregnancy and maternity (Article 28(1) of Recast Directive 2006/54) 

Under Section 9(1) of the Act on Equality, special protection of women due to pregnancy 
and  childbirth  is  not  to  be  considered  gender  discrimination.  The  preparatory  works  for 
amendments to the Act on Equality carried out in 2004 note that the provision needs no 
amendment, as it implements EU law correctly. The preparatory works stress, however, 
that differential treatment due to pregnancy and childbirth is only allowed for the purpose 
of necessary protection.91 The legislation on family-related leave underwent a reform in 
2022 and is written in gender-neutral terms.  The provisions  on pregnancy leave do not 
refer to woman or mother, but to the person giving birth.  

4.3.5  Particular difficulties 

Despite  the  provisions  in  place,  pregnancy-related  discrimination  is  relatively  common 
according  to  reports  by  the  Equality  Ombudsman  –  more  than  half  of  all  persons  who 
contact  the  Ombudsman  allege  pregnancy-related  discrimination.  Even  occupational 
safety  authorities,  the  police  and  trade  unions  are  often  contacted  in  pregnancy 
discrimination  issues.  According  to  the  Equality  Ombudsman,  discrimination  is  common 
when women work under insecure conditions, such as fixed-term work, part-time work, 
lease  work  or  on  so-called  zero-hour  contracts.  Alleged  pregnancy  discrimination  takes 
place  at  recruitment,  continuation  of  fixed-term  contracts,  return  from  family-related 
leave, as well as in relation to pay during maternity and parental leave.92  

The  Equality  Ombudsman  stresses  that  pregnancy  discrimination  remains  common.  In 
2023,  the  Ombudsman  gave  another  opinion  on  pregnancy  discrimination  related  to  a 
fixed-term employment contract. A medical doctor had worked in a replacement role in a 
hospital  under  a  chain  of  fixed-term  employment  contracts,  but  her  latest  contract  had 
been  terminated  at  the  end  of  her  family-related  leave,  and  no  new  contract  had  been 
made with her. Her fixed-term job was not a replacement for any particular person, and 
the hospital had an on-going need for medical doctors. The Ombudsman found that there 
had been pregnancy discrimination.93 Fixed-term work has been prevalent for women of 
child-bearing  age.  The  current  Government  Programme  aims  to  reduce  obstacles  to 
recruitment and considers the legal provisions on fixed-term work to be such an obstacle. 
The  Government  plans  an  amendment  of  the  Employment  Contracts  Act  so  that  a  first 
fixed-term contract would not require a justified reason.94 At present, a valid fixed-term 
employment  contract  must  always  have  a  justified  reason  (Employment  Contracts  Act, 
Section 3(2). Finland chose to require objective reasons for all fixed-term contracts, rather 

91   HE 195/2004 vp, pp. 35-36.  
92   Equality Ombudsman’s website: Mitä on raskaussyrjintä? (What is pregnancy discrimination?), https://tasa-

arvo.fi/mita-on-raskaussyrjinta. 

93   Equality Ombudsman’s opinion TAS/320, 5.7.2023. 
94   Programme of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s Government, 20 June 2023, p. 6, 

https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/165042/Paaministeri-Petteri-Orpon-hallituksen-
ohjelma-20062023.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. 

35 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

than setting a maximum total duration to successive fixed-term contracts or limiting the 
number of such contracts when implementing clause 5 of Directive 1999/70/EC. 

4.3.6  Positive action measures (Article 3 of Recast Directive 2006/54) 

The Act on Equality, at Sections 6, 6a and 6b, contains provisions on the duty of employers 
to  promote  equality  at  work.  Section 6  requires  all  employers,  in  both  the  private  and 
public  sectors  and  irrespective  of  the  number  of  employees,  to  promote  equality  in  a 
‘purposeful and systematic manner’. Employers shall promote the equitable recruitment 
of women and men and shall advertise jobs so as to attract both women and men. Equal 
pay,  suitable  working  conditions  and  reconciliation  of  working  and  family  life  are  to  be 
promoted,  and  discrimination  prevented.  The  Act  on  Equality  does  not  require  gender 
quotas in recruitment, and such quotas are in practice not used in Finland. Employers are 
to  promote  equality  purposefully  and  systematically.  In  practice,  positive  measures  to 
promote the recruitment of women, for example, should be made according to an equality 
plan. 

Under  Section 6a,  employers  of  30  or  more  employees  shall  draw  up  a  gender  equality 
plan at least every two years, in cooperation with the shop steward, the elected employee 
representative, the occupational safety representative or other employee representatives. 
The plan should contain an equality report on the workplace, which should include data on 
women’s  and  men’s  positions,  as  well  as  a  pay  survey  on  women’s  and  men’s  job 
classifications,  pay  and  pay  differentials.  The  equality  plan  shall  set  out  measures  for 
promoting equality, and an assessment of how measures presented in previous plans have 
been put into action. Section 6b obliges employers of 30 or more employees to carry out 
a  pay  survey  every  two  years  or,  if  the  equality  plan  is  made  every  year,  every  three 
years. 

The  positive  measures  have  not  had  much  impact.  There  are  no  sanctions  in  place  for 
ignoring them. The Equality Ombudsman, who monitors the implementation of the Act on 
Equality, does not have sufficient resources to monitor all employers on equality planning, 
and  employers  have  no  duty  to  report  to  the  Ombudsman.  The  Ombudsman  monitors 
certain sectors of the labour market each year. 

Maternity-related  policies  are  not  understood  as  positive  action  measures  under  non-
discrimination law; they are considered social policy measures. As noted in the previous 
section, the reform of the legislation on family-related leave changed the terminology and 
pregnancy is no longer defined with reference to women or mothers, but rather to persons 
giving birth. Measures related to pregnancy (such as free health checks and other services 
for pregnant persons) are common in Finland. 

4.4  Evaluation of implementation 

Legislation  to  protect  women  against  pregnancy-related  discrimination  is  in  principle 
sufficient and the protection afforded through the legal assumptions in the Employment 
Contracts  Act  concerning  the  cause  of  dismissal  exceed  what  EU  law  requires. 
Nevertheless,  de  facto  discrimination  is  widespread.  The  problem  appears  to  lie  in 
implementation, namely lack of information and lack of support. In a gender-segregated 
labour  market, a victim of discrimination often fears not  only retaliation by the present 
employer, but difficulties in finding employment in the same occupation in the future.  

4.5  Remaining issues 

Difficulties related to the deep gender segregation of the labour market and the low pay 
levels in occupational sectors where the majority of employees are women have caused 
severe labour force shortages in such occupations. The healthcare sector is dominated by 
women and already before the Covid -19 pandemic there was a rather broad consensus 

36 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

that nurses’ wages were low, considering the requirements and circumstances of the work. 
This  discussion  became  more  heated  when  the  health  sector  workload  increased.  In 
addition, women in other traditionally female occupations in various service sectors such 
as  primary  school  education  and  social  work  also  claim  that  their  pay  level  does  not 
correspond to the requirements of the job. The availability of labour in the healthcare and 
social work sector will be a challenge in the future, as estimated by an official report in 
2021.95 In 2024, the Government commissioned a study on how personnel needs in health 
and social services should be anticipated. The study made a forecast on the basis of career 
profiles  of  the  relevant  professions  and  professional  immigration,  which  showed  that 
demographic change increases the need for such services and revealed a gap between the 
demand for and supply of professionals in certain groups. 96  

In  May  2022  social  partners  in  the  field  of  municipal  and  county  services  adopted  a 
collective  agreement  that  caused  much  discussion.  The  agreement  included  a  clause 
providing  that  pay  rises  in  2023  would  be  bound  to  the  pay  rises  in  the  (male)  export 
sector,  if  the  cost  of  the  agreements  in  this  comparator  field  rose  more  than  what  was 
agreed among the parties to the agreement for the municipal sector. The agreement was 
an expression of the discontent by the public welfare sector that is female-dominated, in 
comparison with the ‘male’ export sector which is expected to set the standard for other 
sectors.  The  established (but not legally binding) model for pay  rises through collective 
agreements has been that the pay rises gained by export sector agreements should not 
be exceeded by other sectors. The amendments made to the Act on Mediation in Labour 
Disputes intended to prevent the  National Conciliator’s  Office or conciliation board from 
making a strike settlement that would exceed ‘the general level of pay adjustment’ have 
not yet been tested in practice. According to the Equality Ombudsman, the wording of the 
amendments leaves the extent to which the Conciliator may differ from the ‘general level’ 
when  proposing  a  conciliation  unclear.  Authorities  have,  under  the  Act  on  Equality,  the 
duty to promote equality, which applies to the conciliating authorities. The wording allows 
the  Conciliator  to  propose  that  pay  rises  be  targeted  at  jobs  with  specific  need  for  pay 
rises, or changes of pay structures. There is a risk, however, that pay rises based on the 
‘general  level  of  pay  adjustments’  mean  rises  that  are  defined  as  a  certain  percentage 
above the present pay, which broadens the pay differentials.97  

95   Tevameri, T. (2021) Katsaus sote-alan työvoimaan: Toimintaympäristön muutosten ja pidemmän aikavälin 

tarkastelua (Review of labour force in the healthcare and social welfare sector: Examination of the 
operating environment in the light of the current changes and in the longer term), Ministry of Economic 
Affairs and Employment, 2021:2. 

96   Honkatukia, J., Suhonen, T,. Haula, T., Holster, T., Korajoki, M., Laukkonen, M.-L., Idström, A., Karhunen, 

H., Nyyssölä, M., Villanen, J. (2024), Sosiaali- ja terveyspalvelujen henkilöstötarpeen ennakointi 
(Anticipation of personnel needs in health and social services), Prime Minister’s Office, Government Report 
and Research Publication Series 2024:13, https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/handle/10024/165600. 

97   Equality Ombudsman’s opinion to Parliament’s Employment and Equality Committee on Government Bill HE 

146/2024, Dnro TAS/669/2024, 24.10.2024. 

37 

 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

5  Work-life  balance  issues:  pregnancy,  maternity,  family-related  leave  and 
flexible  working  arrangements  (Directive  92/85,  relevant  provisions  of 
Directives 2006/54, and Directive 2019/1158)98 

5.1  General (legal) context 

5.1.1  Overview of national acts on work-life balance issues 

The main provisions on work-life balance issues are under the Employment Contracts Act, 
Chapter  4  (entitled  ‘Family  leaves’)  and  the  Sickness  Insurance  Act  (1224/2004), 
Chapters 9 (‘Parental benefits’, which includes maternity and pregnancy benefits) and 7 
(‘General preconditions for benefits’). The Employment Contracts Act recognises the right 
to family leaves, but the Sickness Insurance Act contains material provisions that define 
the length of the family leaves, as the duration of the leaves is defined in the Employment 
Contracts  Act  by  the  period  during  which  the  employee  is  entitled  to  a  certain  family 
benefit. The Finnish family leave legislation is older than obligations based on EU law. A 
major  reform  of  the  family  leave  legislation  was  made  at  the  time  when  the 
Directive 2019/1158  was  implemented.  The  preparatory  works  for  the  Finnish  reform 
consider the requirements of the Directive, but on the basis of the Finnish legislation then 
in  place  which,  according  to  the  preparatory  works,  fulfilled  the  requirements  of  the 
Directive.99  The  old  Finnish  family  leave  system  consisted  of  maternity  leave,  paternity 
leave  and  parental  leave.  The  new  family  leave  legislation,  which  entered  into  force  on 
1 August 2022, replaced paternity leave with a longer parental leave, and maternity leave 
with pregnancy leave. The new family leave provisions are gender-neutral. 

5.1.2  Political and societal debate and pending legislative proposals 

Finnish family leave legislation does not require pay during family-related leave. The leave 
periods  are  covered  by  benefits  from  social  insurance.  However,  collective  agreements 
often have clauses on pay during family leave, and such clauses have often connected the 
pay  periods  to  the  employee’  right  to  family  leave.  A  typical  clause  on  the  right  to  pay 
during maternity leave specified 72 weekdays, which was the period of the ‘old’ maternity 
leave.  Fathers  were  often  entitled  to  pay  for  six  weekdays.  Different  pay  periods  for 
mothers and fathers were considered non-discriminatory, as maternity leave and paternity 
leave had different purposes.  

The new legislation made a change in this respect. When maternity leave was replaced by 
pregnancy leave of 40 weekdays and paternity leave was removed altogether, collective 
agreements needed to be renegotiated. Practically all social partners negotiated in 2022 
on  how  to  deal  with  the  situation.  Making  the  period  covered  by  payments  shorter  by 
limiting it to the duration of the current period of pregnancy leave (40 weekdays) would 
weaken  women’s  right  to  payment  under  collective  agreements.  On  the  other  hand, 
complementing the period of payment by extending the payment to part of the parental 
leave would risk discriminating against men if fathers (or other parents) were not promised 
a  similar  right  to  payments,  which  would  require  an  increase  in  funding.  For  many 
collective agreements, including all public sector agreements, the outcome adopted was 
to receive payment for 32 weekdays for both mothers and fathers equally during parental 
leave, and payment for the duration of the pregnancy leave for the person giving birth. 

98   See Masselot, A. (2018), Family leave: enforcement of the protection against dismissal and unfavourable 
treatment, European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at 
https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/4808-family-leave-enforcement-of-the-protection-against-
dismissal-and-unfavourable-treatment-pdf-962-kb and De la Corte-Rodríguez, M. (2024), The transposition 
of the Work-Life Balance Directive in EU Members States (II): Considerable work still to be done, available 
at: https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/6048-the-transposition-of-the-work-life-balance-directive-in-eu-
member-states-ii-considerable-work-still-to-be-done. 

99   HE 129/2021 vp Hallituksen esitys eduskunnalle laeiksi sairausvakuutuslain, työsopimuslain ja 

varhaiskasvatuslain muuttamisesta sekä niihin liittyviksi laeiksi (Government Bill on amendment of the 
Social Insurance Act, Employment Contract Act, Act on Preschool Education and related acts), 51-56. 

38 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

This  meant  that  the  period  covered  by  payments  for  fathers  became  longer  than 
previously.  Extra  funding  needed  to  be  found  for  family  leave  payments,  as  under  this 
solution mothers still have the right to receive payments for three months, while fathers 
have a right to a longer period of payments than previously. Solutions based on ‘levelling 
down’ mother’s right to payment at the same level as that of fathers during parental leave 
would  treat  women  and  men  equally,  but    would  shorten  the  duration  of  payments  for 
mothers. Such clauses in collective agreements also applied in 2023.100 The information 
on  all  collective  agreements  is  not  complete.  This  problem  has  received  relatively  little 
public attention. 

5.2  Pregnancy and maternity protection101 

5.2.1  Definition in national law (Article 2 of Directive 92/85) 

The Sickness Insurance Act, Chapter 9, Section 1 (Right to pregnancy benefit) does not 
define pregnancy as such but sets a precondition for the benefit and the leave that the 
pregnancy  must  have  lasted  a  minimum  of  154  days.  The  Employment  Contracts  Act 
merely mentions the right to family-related leave but refers to the more detailed provisions 
under  the  Sickness  Insurance  Act.  Pregnancy  leave  begins  30  weekdays  before  the 
calculated  time  of  delivery,  but  the  employer  and  employee  may  agree  on  it  beginning 
14 weekdays before delivery (Employment Contracts Act, Chapter 4, Section 1 (3)). The 
duration of the pregnancy leave is defined under the Sickness Insurance Act (Chapter 9, 
Section 1).  Thus,  the  right  to  pregnancy  benefit  coincides  with  the  right  to  pregnancy 
leave.  The  provision  on  pregnancy  protection  (Employment  Contracts  Act,  Chapter  4, 
Section 2) does not define pregnancy, nor does the Act on Equality define pregnancy in 
the context  of prohibiting discrimination  on the ground of pregnancy. When a pregnant 
worker  whose  working  environment  may  involve  risks  to  her  or  the  foetus  wishes 
precautions to be taken at the workplace, or to be moved to other tasks, she informs the 
employer by presenting them with a medical certificate.  

5.2.2  Obligation to inform employer (Article 2 of Directive 92/85) 

A worker’s obligation to inform the employer on that she is pregnant, has given birth or is 
breastfeeding  is  connected  with  her  intention  to  use  available  family  leave.  A  pregnant 
worker (or any employee who intend to use their right to family leave) shall inform the 
employer a minimum of two months before the planned start of the leave. For leave of 
12 weekdays or less, the employer shall be informed one month before the beginning of 
the leave. Pregnancy leave begins in accordance with the worker’s request for leave, which 
is 30 days at the earliest and 14 days at the latest before the estimated delivery date. The 
employee  may  begin  pregnancy  leave  earlier  or  change  the  timing  of  the  leave  that  is 
intended to be used simultaneously with the other parent or spouse, if that is necessary 
due to the birth of the child or for the health of the child or parent. The employer must be 
informed of the change as soon as possible, in accordance with the Employment Contracts 
Act Chapter 4, Section 3a and the Sickness Insurance Act, Chapter 9, Section 2. There are 
no provisions on any obligation to inform the employer on breastfeeding.  

100  Nousiainen, K., Bruun, N., Kylä-Laaso, M., Liinalaakso, V. (2023), Työehtosopimusten sukupuolivaikutukset 
samapalkkaisuuden näkökulmasta -tutkimushanke (Research project on the gender impact of collective 
agreements on equal pay), Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. 

101  Directive 92/85/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the 

safety and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are 
breastfeeding (tenth individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC), OJ L 
348, 28.11.1992. 

39 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

5.2.3  Case law on the definition of a pregnant worker, a worker who has recently given 
birth  and/or  a  worker  who  is  breastfeeding  and  the  obligation  to  inform  the 
employer 

The  lack  of  definitions  of  ‘pregnant  worker’,  ‘worker  who  has  recently  given  birth’  and 
‘breastfeeding  worker’  indicates  that,  where  the  worker  has  an  obligation  to  inform  the 
employer about these conditions, or when the employer has a legitimate reason to ask the 
employee about them, pregnancy is established by medical documents. Free health checks 
are arranged at prenatal clinics in each month of pregnancy. These services are popular, 
very  widely  used  and  are  available  on  the  basis  of  residency.  Under  the  Employment 
Contracts  Act  Chapter 4,  Section 8(2),  the  employee  has  the  right  to  make  use  of  the 
services  during  working  hours,  if  necessary.  In  such  cases  the  employee  may  justify 
absence from work, for example by showing that she has an appointment at a maternity 
clinic.102 The use of pre-maternity healthcare is popular also because health-service visits 
are  a  precondition  for  receiving  a  maternity  grant  (money  or  a  ‘maternity  package  of 
goods’)  under  the  Act  on  Maternity  Grants  (447/1993)103.  Pregnancy  is  routinely 
established by medical certificates. Employees have the right to privacy, and they have an 
obligation  to  inform  the  employer  only  when  the  need  to  know  is  justified  by  employer 
obligations.  

5.2.4  Implementation of protective measures (Articles 4-6 of Directive 92/85) 

If  the  tasks  or  working  conditions  of  a  pregnant  employee  endanger  her  or  her  child’s 
health, and the risks involved cannot be removed, the employee is to be assigned other 
tasks  that  are  suited  for  her  work  capacity  and  qualifications,  under  the  Employment 
Contracts Act Chapter 2, Section 3(2). Chapter 9, Section 4 of the Sickness Insurance Act 
contains  provisions  on  special  maternity  benefits  for  employees  in  cases  where  it  is 
impossible for them to complete their normal work tasks due to potential risks incurred 
during  pregnancy  and  no  other  work  can  be  found  by  the  employer.  The  Sickness 
Insurance Act provides special pregnancy benefits for both employees and self-employed 
persons whose tasks or working conditions involve chemical substances, radiation or other 
similar hazards to the pregnant person or the foetus. A condition of the special pregnancy 
benefit  is  that  the  employee  must  be  capable  of  working  and  no  other  work  can  be 
arranged  for  the  person,  as  required  by  the  Employment  Contracts  Act,  Chapter  2, 
Section 3(2). 

Provisions on the employer’s duty to assess the risk of exposure to agents, processes and 
working  conditions  that  pregnant  workers  may  be  exposed  to  are  found  under  the 
Occupational  Safety  Act  (738/2002)  and  under  the  Regulation  on  risks  to  reproductive 
health at work and prevention of risk (603/2015). Under the Act on Occupational Safety, 
the  employer  is  responsible  for  assessing  the  risks  in  employment,  considering  (among 
other factors) the sex of the employee (Section 10) and planning the working environment 
so that the risks are eliminated while considering those employees whose safety at work 
requires  specific  measures  (Section 12).  Risks  to  reproductive  health  must  be  assessed 
(Section 19(1)5). The employee is not to be exposed to  chemical, physical  or biological 
factors that pose risks to his or her reproductive health (Sections 28-40). The Government 
Regulation on risks to actors that endanger reproductive health lists substances that create 
a  risk  and  requires  them  to  be  replaced  with  less  dangerous  substances  if  possible. 

102  Hyvärinen, A., Koskinen, S., Raskautta ja perhesuhteita koskevien tietojen kerääminen työhaastattelussa ja 

työsuhteen aikana (Collecting data on pregnancy and family relations in recruitment and during 
employment), University of Lapland, https://www.ulapland.fi/loader.aspx?id=e2621d08-0413-4fc6-a515-
a46d857c08e0. 

103  The maternity grant is paid by the state to a person who resides in Finland and whose pregnancy has lasted 
a minimum of 154 weekdays, and those who adopt an under-age person. The grant consists of either a 
‘maternity package’ or cash, depending on the recipient’s choice. The maternity package is a Finnish 
innovation. Packages were provided to poor mothers since 1937 and to all mothers since 1949. In 2023, 
the package consisted of 38 products, such as baby clothing. The idea of a ‘baby box’ has since been 
adopted in more than 30 other countries.  

40 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

Section 3 of the Regulation contains further provisions to protect a pregnant employee, by 
removing risks or assigning the employee other tasks. There are no specific provisions on 
night work during pregnancy or after childbirth, although the assessment of the risks to 
the  employee  or  her  child  cover  the  possible  risks  caused  by  night  work.  The  Finnish 
Institute of Occupational Health has published guidelines to assess work-related risks in 
the  context  of  pregnancy,104  and  the  Social  Insurance  Institution  has  updated  the 
information  to  healthcare  professionals  concerning  persons  on  special  pregnancy 
benefit. 105 

Breastfeeding  is  regulated  under  the  Occupational  Health  and  Safety  Act.  Under 
Section 48(2), pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers are entitled, when necessary, 
to rest in a break room or other suitable place. Problems connected to breastfeeding are 
seldom discussed, as the great majority of mothers only return to work when they have 
finished breastfeeding. Mothers who wish to return to work while breastfeeding may find 
that the workplace is badly prepared to provide the conditions required by the Occupational 
Health and Safety Act. The national recommendation for breastfeeding has been six or a 
minimum  of  four  months  of  full  breastfeeding.  The  national  recommendation,  which  is 
based  on  a  WHO  recommendation,  was  included  in  a  2019  publication  by  the  Finnish 
Institute of Health and Welfare.106   

5.2.5  Case law on issues on protective measures 

An employer’s failure to protect the reproductive health of the employee by infringement 
of the provisions in the Occupational Safety Act may be reported by the occupational safety 
authorities to the police as a work safety offence (Chapter 47, Section 1 of the Criminal 
Code (18)), and this may also be punished as negligent homicide, negligent bodily injury 
or  imperilment.  Criminal  law  cases  are  seldom  brought  to  the  Supreme  Court,  as  the 
contested issue often concerns evidence, and the Supreme Court usually does not admit 
leave to appeal in such cases. No case law was found in the electronic collection  of the 
Supreme Court’s rulings on the failure to protect reproductive health.  

5.2.6  Protection against night work (Article 7 of Directive 92/85) 

Night work is not prohibited for pregnant workers and is common in many sectors.  

5.2.7  Case law on protection against night work 

N/A. 

5.2.8  Prohibition of dismissal (Article 10(1) of Directive 92/85) 

Under Section 8(2) of the Act on Equality, the action of an employer amounts to prohibited 
discrimination  if  the  employer  ‘upon  employing  a  person,  selecting  someone  for  a 
particular task or training, or deciding on the duration or continuation of an employment 
relationship or the pay or other terms of employment, acts in such a way that the person 
finds herself/himself in a less favourable position on the basis of pregnancy or childbirth 
or  by  some  other  gender-related  reason’.  Under  the  Employment  Contracts  Act,  the 
employer  is  not  entitled  to  terminate  the  employment  contract  of  an  employee  who  is 

104  Frilander, H., Aitto-oja, L., Huuskonen, P., Santonen, T. (2022), ‘Raskaus ja työn altisteet’ (Pregnancy and 

work-related risks), Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, 
https://www.julkari.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/144002/TTL-978-952-261-949-5.pdf. 

105  Kela (Social Insurance Institution,) Erityisraskausraha: Infopaketti terveydenhoidon ammattilaisille, 

päivitetty 8/2022 (Special pregnancy benefit: Information packet for healthcare professionals, updated 
8/2022), https://www.kela.fi/documents/20124/410372/infopaketti-erityisraskausraha.pdf/bce53644-fe56-
8fa8-32d5-4765d58b1bea?t=1659938594274. 

106  National Institute of Health and Welfare (2019), Syödään yhdessä – ruokasuositukset lapsiperheille (Let’s 

eat together – meal recommendations for families with children), 
https://www.julkari.fi/handle/10024/137459. 

41 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

pregnant or on family leave on normal grounds of termination (Chapter 7, Section 9(1)). 
There are no exceptions to this rule.  

5.2.9  Employer’s  obligation  to  substantiate  a  dismissal  in  writing  (Article 10(2)  of 

Directive 92/85) 

In the event of dismissal due to economic or production reasons, the employer is to explain 
the  grounds  for  dismissal  (Chapter  9,  Section 3  of  the  Employment  Contracts  Act),  but 
there  is  no  explicit  requirement  to  provide  this  explanation  in  writing.  If  an  employer 
dismisses a pregnant employee or an employee on family-related leave, the dismissal is 
assumed  to  be  related  to  the  pregnancy  or  the  use  of  family-related  leave  unless  the 
employer can provide a different credible reason (Chapter 7, Section 9(2)). An employer 
may dismiss a pregnant employee or an employee on family-related leave using normal 
grounds  of dismissal  only if the  employer has  ceased all  operations.  Under  Chapter 12, 
Section 1 of the Employment Contracts Act, the employer is liable for the loss suffered by 
the  employee  because  of  the  employer’s  intentional  or  negligent  breach  of  obligations 
arising  from  the  employment  relationship  or  under  the  Act  on  Employment  Contracts. 
Chapter  12,  Section 2  provides  rules  on  compensation  for  unfounded  termination  of  an 
employment contract (3-24 months’ pay).  

5.2.10 Table on the protection against dismissal during pregnancy and maternity leave 

Table 2: Protection against dismissal during pregnancy and maternity leave 

Yes/no  Protected period 

Exceptions 

Yes. 

Pregnancy and family 
leave. 

If employer has ceased all 
operations. 

Specific 
procedure? 
Assumption of 
being dismissed 
due to pregnancy 
or family leave. 

5.2.11 Maintenance  of  income  and  other  employment  rights  (Article 11(1)  and  (4)  of 

Directive 92/85)  

Under Chapter 4, Section 9 of the Employment Contracts Act, an employee has the right 
to return to their former job from family-related leave as mentioned under the Act. The 
types of leave covered include pregnancy leave (including special pregnancy leave, which 
is available if a pregnant employee is unable to perform normal tasks due to risk to her 
health or the health of the foetus) and parental leave (including partial parental leave), as 
well as childcare leave. If that is not possible, s/he is to be offered equivalent work under 
his or her employment contract, and if that is not possible, alternative work under his or 
her employment contract. The preparatory works accompanying the Act list some criteria 
for defining what is equivalent work: namely, the nature of the employee’s previous work 
and his or her education and work experience.107 Collective agreements often contain more 
detailed guidelines on the matter. Special pregnancy benefit is paid to a pregnant person 
who  is  employed  or  self-employed  if  a  substance,  radiation  or  contagious  sickness  or  a 
similar circumstance endangers her or her foetus’ health. The condition for the benefit is 
that the person in question is capable of working and no other work can be arranged for 
her, as stipulated under the Employments Contracts Act.  

According to the Equality Ombudsman, an employee who has been temporarily transferred 
to other tasks due to pregnancy has the right to monthly basic pay and extras connected 
to  their  professional  status  –  at  least  those  extra  benefits  that  are  connected  to  their 
position as a supervisor, their length of service or their professional competence. However, 

107  HE 157/2000 vp, Hallituksen esitys Eduskunnalle työsopimuslaiksi ja siihen liittyviksi laeiksi (Government 

Bill for Act on Employment Contracs Act and related acts), pp. 22-23. 

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Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

a transferred person cannot demand such extras and compensations that are meant for 
performing special tasks in specific circumstances if she does not actually perform such 
tasks during the time she is transferred due to pregnancy.108 Here, the Ombudsman refers 
to the CJEU case C-471/08 Parviainen.  

5.2.12 Case law on the protection against dismissal and the maintenance of income and 

other employment rights 

In three cases brought before the Labour Court, an employee had become pregnant during 
childcare leave and commenced a new period of maternity leave without returning to work. 
The  employer  had  refused  to  pay  the  employee  during  maternity  leave  based  on  the 
provisions of a collective agreement. The Labour Court requested a preliminary ruling from 
the  CJEU  on  the  issue.  The  CJEU  decided  in  Kiiski  (C-116)  that  the  Parental  Leave 
Directive 96/34/EEC was to be interpreted in such a way as to prohibit national rules that 
prevent an employee who discontinues unpaid parental leave and who commences a new 
period of maternity leave from obtaining benefits, on the basis of Directive 92/85/EEC. In 
joined cases TT:2014-2016, the Labour Court decided that collective agreements to that 
effect are discriminatory.  

5.3  Maternity leave 

5.3.1  Maternity leave in national law (Article 8(1) and (2) of Directive 92/85) 

Under the Employment Contracts Act Chapter 4 Section 1, an employee has the right to 
leave  during  the  periods  during  which  the  person  is  entitled  to  pregnancy  and  parental 
benefit. The benefit is defined under the Sickness Insurance Act, which applies to persons 
who  are  employed  or  entrepreneurs  in  Finland,  or  who  reside  in  Finland  permanently 
(Chapter 1,  Section 2  of  the  Sickness  Insurance  Act).  The  right  to  benefit  covers  even 
persons who are not employed or thus are not entitled to family related leave. Pregnancy 
leave, as well as other types of family leave, is written in gender-neutral terms, and uses 
the term pregnancy instead of maternity. The pregnancy leave begins 30 weekdays (i.e. 
Monday  to  Saturday)  before  the  due  date.  The  employer  and  the  employee  may  agree 
that  the  pregnancy  leave  starts  two  weeks  before  the  estimated  date  of  delivery  and 
continues two weeks after it. The Finnish legislation that entered into force in August 2023 
consists  of  a  relatively  short  pregnancy  leave  (40  weekdays)  and  long  parental  leave 
(320 weekdays, of which 160 weekdays is individual leave for both parents).  

Special pregnancy benefit is paid for the period when the person in question is prevented 
from working, until the right to normal pregnancy benefit begins (Sickness Insurance Act, 
Chapter  9,  Sections  3  and  4).  After  the  pregnancy  benefit  period,  (gender-neutral) 
parental leave is available for either parent.  

 Both the employee and the employer may at any point interrupt the work that is done 
during  pregnancy  leave  (Employment  Contracts  Act  Chapter  4,  Section 2).  Pregnancy 
leave cannot be shared. Under the Sickness Insurance Act Chapter 9, Section 9, which is 
entitled ‘Right to pregnancy benefit under Pregnant Workers Directive’, a pregnant parent 
whose  pregnancy  has  lasted  at  least  154  weekdays  or  a  parent  who  has  given  birth  is 
entitled  to  uninterrupted  pregnancy  and  parental  leave  of  a  minimum  of  105  weekdays 
(corresponding  to  14  weeks,  which  is  required  under  the  Directive).  In  such  cases,  the 
parent who has given birth uses their  right to parental leave to extend their pregnancy 
leave. 

108  Ombudsman for Equality website, Raskaus, perhevapaat ja palkkaus (Pregnancy, parental leave and pay), 

https://www.julkari.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/142675/URN_ISBN_978-952-343-680-
0.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. 

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5.3.2  Paid maternity leave (Article 11(2)(b), (3) and (4) of Directive 92/85)  

As noted above, pregnancy benefit is paid for 40 weekdays, starting 30 weekdays before 
the  estimated  time  of  delivery  at  the  earliest  or  14  weekdays  before  at  the  latest,  on 
application by the insured person. In any case, the period for pregnancy benefit begins at 
the date of delivery (Sickness Insurance Act, Chapter 9, Section 2).  

The  employer has no  obligation to pay during  pregnancy leave  or other types of family 
leave,  but  the  employer  must  compensate  loss  of  pay  caused  by  prenatal  medical 
examinations, if such examination cannot be made outside working hours (Employment 
Contracts  Act,  Chapter  4,  Section 8,  Subsections  1  and  2).  Prenatal  examinations  are 
offered for free by maternity clinics (nine health checks for a woman who is pregnant with 
her first child, eight for later pregnancies). If these services need to be used during working 
hours, the employer shall not reduce pay to compensate for loss of work. Pregnancy leave 
is covered by a benefit paid from state funds, as stipulated under the Sickness Insurance 
Act.  Benefits  under  pregnancy  leave  and  under  parental  leave  are  calculated  as 
percentages of the former income of the beneficiary. Persons whose former income is less 
than the legal minimum are entitled to a minimum benefit, and all benefits are capped. 
Yearly income is calculated by rules under Chapter 11 of the Sickness Insurance Act.  

The daily pregnancy benefit paid under the Sickness Insurance Act is 90 % of the insured 
person’s  annual  income  divided  by  300.  The  same  applies  for  the  first  16  weekdays  of 
parental leave (Chapter 11, Section 1(4)). For later periods of parental leave, the parental 
benefit is 70 %  of yearly income divided by 300. During the period when the benefit is 
90 % of the annual benefit, this percentage is applied to annual income up to EUR 50 606, 
above which the percentage is 32.5 % of annual income. Otherwise, the benefit is 70 % 
of annual income up to EUR 32 892, 40 % of income between EUR 32 892 and EUR 50 606 
and when income exceeds the upper threshold, the benefit is reduced to 25 % of income.  

Employees  cannot  receive both pay and family leave benefit  simultaneously. Employers 
have  the  right  to  receive  the  employee’s  state-funded  family  leave  benefit  while  the 
employee  receives pay  from the  employer. By  this arrangement, a  considerable part of 
the employer’s costs for pay during employee’s family leave is borne by the state. Higher 
benefit levels during pregnancy leave and at the beginning of parental leave are expected 
to  motivate  employers  to  pay  wages  to  employees  during  their  family  leave.  The 
entitlement to pay during family leave may be due to a collective agreement or individual 
employment contract (as noted above, employers have no obligation based on law to pay 
employees  during  pregnancy  or  parental  leave).  Under  many  collective  agreements,  an 
employee  is  entitled  to  a  certain  period  of  paid  pregnancy  leave.  Traditionally,  many 
collective  agreements  have  contained  clauses  on  pay  during  three  months  of  the  ‘old’ 
maternity leave, and six days during the old paternity leave. Collective agreement clauses 
on pay during family leave have been renegotiated after the family leave reform, and most 
agreements  now  provide  pay  during  pregnancy  leave  and  during  some  part  of  parental 
leave.  

During the period when the employee receives pay under the collective agreement, the 
employer is thus entitled to his/her daily state benefits under the Sickness Insurance Act. 
Further,  the  employer  is  entitled  to  state  compensation  for  costs  caused  by  a  female 
worker’s parenthood in case the employer pays her wages. The compensation, lump sum 
of EUR 2 500 is  conditional on pay during the  family leave period, and the employment 
contract  must  last  a  minimum  of  three  months  before  the  beginning  of  the  mother’s 
pregnancy, adoption or parental leave period.  

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Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

5.3.3  Maintenance of employment rights (Article 11(2)(a) of Directive 92/85) 

Under the Act on Annual Leave (162/2005), Chapter 2, Section 7, the maximum 160 days 
for which an employee has been on pregnancy or parental leave are to be counted as time 
that entitles the employee to annual leave.  

Pay during pregnancy and parental leave is not mandatory. Employers often continue to 
pay during the whole or part of the family leave period, however, usually due to a collective 
agreement clause. In such cases, the employer receives the family leave benefit that the 
employee is entitled to. The person entitled to pregnancy leave is entitled to benefits under 
the Sickness Insurance Aft. Under Chapter 9, Section 1, a person whose pregnancy has 
lasted for 154 days is entitled to pregnancy benefit. The benefit is paid for an uninterrupted 
period of 40 weekdays, starting 30 weekdays before delivery at the earliest or on the first 
weekday after delivery at the latest (Chapter 9, Section 2).  

5.3.4  Right to return to the same or an equivalent job (Article 15 of Directive 2006/54) 

Under Chapter 4, Section 9 of the Employment Contracts Act, an employee has the right 
to return to their former job from family-related leave as mentioned under the Act. This 
includes pregnancy leave (including special pregnancy leave) and parental leave (including 
partial  parental  leave)  as  well  as  childcare  leave.  If  that  is  not  possible,  s/he  is  to  be 
offered equivalent work under his or her employment contract, and if that is not possible, 
alternative work under his or her employment contract. The preparatory works to the Act 
list  some  criteria  for  defining  what  equivalent  work  is:  namely,  the  nature  of  the 
employee’s  previous  work  and  his  or  her  education  and  work  experience.  Collective 
agreements often contain more detailed guidelines on the matter. 

5.3.5  Case law on maternity leave 

The Equality Ombudsman has given many opinions on cases concerning maternity leave, 
related, for example, to alleged dismissal on the ground of pregnancy, right to return to 
work and pay. Several  opinions deal with alleged discrimination in the context of fixed-
term work. Pregnancy-related discrimination is, according to the Ombudsman, one of the 
most common grounds on which the Ombudsman’s opinion is sought. The cases often do 
not specify the nature of the family leave (pregnancy/parental leave), as many aspects of 
this leave are covered by the same legal rules. Only some of these opinions can be covered 
here. 

In case TAS 509/2018, a female employee A had been promoted to a managerial position 
before  she  had  taken  maternity  leave,  and  a  replacement  had  been  hired.  When  she 
returned  to  work  after  family  leave,  she  found  that  the  replacement  had  been  given 
permanency with a job that consisted of her previous tasks. The employer had offered A 
tasks  that  were  less  demanding  than  her  previous  tasks.  The  Equality  Ombudsman 
referred to a lack of competence to interpret legislation  other than the Act on Equality, 
and  the  case  involved  interpretation  of  the  Employment  Contracts  Act,  Chapter  4, 
Section 9. As it was impossible to assess discrimination without considering the provisions 
of the Employment Contracts Act, the Equality Ombudsman stated that A had the right to 
return  to  her  previous  job.  Her  not  having  been  able  to  return  to  her  previous  tasks 
established an assumption of discrimination. The employer could justify the measure by 
showing that the previous tasks no longer existed. The employer is entitled to rearrange 
work,  provided  that  this  is  not  done  on  a  discriminatory  ground.  This  means  that  the 
employer cannot negate the employee’s right to return to work by creating a new job with 
a new title but with tasks that are the same as those of the employee on family leave. The 
employer had claimed that A’s tasks were agreed to be temporary. If the employer could 
substantiate the claim, there would be a justified ground for not offering A her previous 
tasks. As the Equality Ombudsman does not have the mandate to decide cases or receive 

45 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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evidence, all  cases  on  which the  Ombudsman  has given an opinion must be brought to 
court for a decision. 

In case TAS 238/2019, an employee (A) had been on family leave from the job of human 
resources manager, and a replacement had been hired. After A had returned to work, the 
replacement’s  job  had  been  made  permanent  with  the  title  ‘employment  contracts 
manager’, and A had been nominated ‘welfare at work manager’. Three months later, A 
was dismissed. The Equality Ombudsman held that the employer had de facto hired a new 
employee when the replacement had become a permanent employee. When a new person 
has been hired before  or after an  employee returns from  family leave, and the latter is 
dismissed, the employer should prove that circumstances have changed during the period 
between employing the new person and dismissing the person returning from family leave. 

In case TAS 11/2020,  a person (A) had applied for a job that s/he had previously held 
under a fixed-term employment contract, and which was now advertised as a permanent 
job. A was on maternity leave and could not begin at the job at once. She was not invited 
for interview or selected to the job. The employer justified the choice by the other applicant 
being able to start the job at once. The employer did not refer to the better competence 
or  suitability  of  the  other  applicant.  Therefore,  the  Equality  Ombudsman  found 
discrimination on the ground of family leave, but noted that the assessment of evidence 
must be done by a court.  

In case TAS 108/2022, a bonus to which the employee would have been otherwise entitled 
was not paid as the employee had been on family leave at the time it was paid. According 
to  the  employer,  bonuses  were  only  paid  to  persons  who  were  at  work  on  the  day  the 
bonus was paid. The Equality Ombudsman found that bonuses, on the basis of what the 
parties had presented, were paid as pay for the previous year. Not paying a bonus to a 
person on family leave on pay day established an assumption of indirect discrimination. 
The employer justified the measure by explaining that all persons on unpaid leave were 
treated alike. The Equality Ombudsman held that A, as an employee on family leave, was 
disadvantaged by the measure in comparison with persons at work, and thus the measure 
violated the Act on Equality. If a bonus based  on previous work is lost due to a person 
being on family leave, the willingness of employees to use family leave may be reduced, 
which would violate the effective impact of the Parental Leave Directive. The Ombudsman’s 
opinion follows the principles laid down in Lewen (C-333/97). The Equality Ombudsman 
has  given  an  opinion  on  several  cases  that  concern  the  right  of  an  employee  on  family 
leave to bonuses (for example, cases TAS 518/2020, TAS 642/2022 and TAS 301/2023).  

In  case  TAS/12/2024,  employee  A  had  allegedly  been  promised  a  permanent  job  after 
working  in  several  fixed-term  jobs  for  two  years.  After  A  had  taken  family  leave,  their 
fixed-term contract had not been  renewed and they had not been  offered a permanent 
job.  Several  new  employees  had  been  hired  while  A  was  on  leave.  Later  in  the  case 
description it is mentioned that the employer had known that A had been on pregnancy 
leave and thus it was for the employer to show that the non-renewal of the employment 
contract  was  not  because  of  the  family  leave  but  for  another,  acceptable  reason.  The 
employer, who had hired several new employees to fill roles that A was capable of filling, 
referred to the fact that A had not applied for these roles. A’s fixed-term contract had been 
previously renewed without a separate recruitment process. Thus, the employer had not 
presented  sufficiently  acceptable  reasons  that  would  overturn  the  presumption  of 
discrimination.  

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5.3.6  Table on maternity leave 

Table 3 Maternity leave: 

Duration 

Obligatory 
period 

Possibility to 
share 
maternity 
leave? 

Payment or 
allowance 

40 weekdays 
(pregnancy 
leave). 

No. 

Two weeks 
before and two 
weeks after 
delivery. 

Allowance, but in 
many cases pay 
under collective 
agreement. 

5.4  Paternity leave 

Right to 
return after 
the end of 
maternity 
leave 
Yes. 

5.4.1  Paternity  leave  in  national  law  (recital  26  Directive of  2006/54  and  Articles  3(a) 

and 4 of Directive 2019/1158)  

New provisions introduced by the family leave reform replaced paternity leave by parental 
leave. The Employment Contracts Act, Chapter 4, enumerates the types of family-related 
leave, and Chapter 9 of the Sickness Insurance Act contains provisions on the benefits and 
benefit periods, which define the length of leave. Each parent is entitled to 160 weekdays 
of parental leave and benefit. Article 20(6) of Directive 2019/1158 allows Member States 
to take any national family-related leave and compensation exceeding the EU minimum 
standards (in Directive 92/85 and Directive 2019/1158) into account to comply with the 
provisions  of  Directive 2019/1158  on  paternity  leave.  The  individual’s  right  to  parental 
leave under Finnish legislation is to be taken into account in assessing compliance  with 
the  requirements  under  the  Directive.  The  duration  of  individual  parental  leave  under 
Finnish law exceeds the duration of combined paternity and individual parental leave. As 
noted above, the level of the state parental benefit is higher for the first 16 weekdays than 
for the rest of the leave. Even for the rest of the leave, the level is higher than that of the 
sickness benefit. 

5.4.2  Paid paternity leave (Article 8(1) and (2) of Directive 2019/1158) 

Since  the  right  to  paternity  leave  was  replaced  by  right  to  parental  leave,  the  relevant 
provisions  concerning  paid  paternity  leave  are  those  on  parental  leave.  Eligibility  for 
parental  leave  is  defined  under  Chapter  9,  Section 5  of  the  Sickness  Insurance  Act. 
Custodians  of  a  child  are  entitled  to  parental  benefit.  Parents  are  legal  custodians  of  a 
child.  The  Act  on  Parenthood  (775/2022)  contains  the  provisions  on  recognition  of 
maternity  and  paternity,  and  the  Act  on  Custodians  of  Children  (amended)  (190/2019) 
defines custodianship. A person who is recognised as a father and custodian is entitled to 
parental  leave  and  benefit  during  a  period  he  takes  care  of  his  child.  Persons  who  are 
employed or entrepreneurs in Finland or who reside in Finland permanently are covered 
by the Sickness Insurance Act.  

Fatherhood is established through marriage, or by decision of an authority on the basis of 
insemination, or in relation to a person who has agreed to fertility treatment on the basis 
of which a child has been born. If fertility treatment has been given to a couple of women 
or one women, the father is the person whose semen has been used in the treatment, if 
he has agreed that his  fatherhood may be  established (Sections 3 and 4  of the Act). A 
woman who has agreed to fertility treatment with a woman who gives birth to a child due 
to  fertility  treatment  may  be  established  as  the  mother  of  the  child,  together  with  the 
woman  who  gave  birth  to  the  child,  unless  the  child  already  has  two  parents,  or  the 
fatherhood of the child can be established under the Act on Parenthood (Section 5 of the 
Act).  

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Adoptive parents are entitled to parental benefit, as explained above.  

Parental benefit is paid for 320 weekdays altogether. In case of several children being born 
or adopted simultaneously, benefit is paid for an extra 84 weekdays for each additional 
child. Each parent is entitled to half of the parental leave benefit days, or 160 weekdays.  

In families with only one insured or otherwise eligible parent, the parent entitled to the 
benefit may receive all the benefit days (Chapter 9, Section 6 of Sickness Insurance Act).  

Transferability of parental leave is limited to 63 parental benefit days (Chapter 9, Section 7 
of the Act). The benefit may be transferred to the other parent, to the child’s custodian or 
to  the  spouse  of  the  other  parent  or  the  person  who  transfers  the  benefit.  The  extra 
parental benefit days when more than one child is born or adopted are fully transferable.  

Parental benefit is paid for while the insured person actually takes care of the child. The 
benefit  may  be  paid  immediately  after  the  birth  of  the  child  to  a  person  who  receives 
pregnancy benefit only after the right to that benefit is finished. In practice, the provision 
means that the father may be on parental leave after the birth of the child and receive 
parental benefit, but that the mother can receive parental benefit first after she has used 
her right to pregnancy leave and benefit. The parental benefit is available until the child is 
two years old or, in the case of adoption, for two years after the child has been in the care 
of the adoptive parent. Two insured persons may receive parental benefit simultaneously 
for 18 weekdays (Chapter 9, Section 8 of the Act).  

Parental benefit under the Sickness Insurance Act is 90 % of the insured person’s yearly 
income  divided  by  300  for  the  first  16  weekdays  of  parental  leave,  for  income  up  to 
EUR 50 606.  For  income  above  that  threshold,  the  percentage  is  32.5 %  (Chapter  11, 
Section 1(4)). Otherwise, the parental benefit is 70 % of annual income divided by 300, 
for income up to EUR 32 892. Between this level and EUR 50 606 it is 40 %, and above 
the upper threshold it is 25 %. 

Before the family leave reform, many collective agreements entitled fathers to receive pay 
during at least a part of their paternity leave. Collective agreements made since the reform 
often have clauses on pay during parental leave. For example, the collective agreement 
for  the  commercial  sector  states  that,  from  the  beginning  of  March  2023,  an  employee 
who is eligible for parental benefit is entitled to payment for the 36 first days of parental 
leave.109 During the period that the employee receives full pay, the employer is entitled to 
the parental benefit. 

5.4.3  Legal  protection  of  the  right  to  paternity  leave  (Articles  10,  11  and  12  of 

Directive 2019/1158) 

- 

- 

- 
- 

to 

maintenance  of  rights  acquired  or  in  the  process  of  being  acquired  by  the  worker 
(Article 10(1) of Directive 2019/1158); 
right 
to 
Directive 2019/1158); 
prohibition of discrimination (Article 11 of Directive 2019/1158); and 
protection from dismissal and burden of proof (Article 12 of Directive 2019/1158). 

the  same  or  an  equivalent 

job  (Article 10(2)  of 

return 

The employee on any family leave (including parental leave) is entitled to return to their 
former job. If that is impossible, the employee must be offered work that corresponds to 
their employment contract and their former job, and if that is not possible, other work that 
corresponds  to  their  employment  contract  (Employment  Contracts  Act  Chapter  4, 
Section 9). 

109  Service Union United PAM, Briefing on commercial sector collective agreement of 1 March 2023, 

https://www.pam.fi/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Kaupan-ala-perhevapaan-palkka-ohjeistus-1.3.2023.pdf. 

48 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Differential treatment on the ground of parenthood or parenting duties constitutes indirect 
discrimination  under  the  Act  on  Equality,  Section 7(3)(2).  The  protection  against 
discrimination on this ground is general and not bound to family leave periods. 

If an employer dismisses a pregnant employee or an employee on family-related leave, 
the dismissal is assumed to be related to the pregnancy or the use of family-related leave 
unless the  employer  can provide a different credible  reason (Chapter  7, Section 9(2) of 
the Employment Contracts Act). 

An employer may dismiss a pregnant employee or an employee on family-related leave 
using normal grounds of dismissal only if the employer has ceased all operations (Chapter 
9, Section 3 of the Act). Under Chapter 12, Section 1 of the Employment Contracts Act, 
the  employer  is  liable  for  the  loss  suffered  by  the  employee  because  of  the  employer’s 
intentional or negligent breach of obligations arising from the employment relationship or 
under  the  Act  on  Employment  Contracts.  Chapter  12,  Section 2  provides  rules  on 
compensation for unfounded termination of an employment contract (3-24 months’ pay).  

5.4.4  Case law on paternity leave 

The cases in which the Equality Ombudsman has given an opinion on discrimination on the 
ground of family-related leave often do not specify which type of family leave is in question 
(i.e. maternity/pregnancy leave, paternity leave or parental leave), as most provisions are 
similar concerning all these types of leave. The parties in a case are named as A, B, etc., 
and as there is no gender distinction in the Finnish language, it is not possible in all cases 
to know which of the cases relate to maternity/pregnancy leave or paternity leave, and 
which concern parental leave. In some cases, it is mentioned that the person on family 
leave was pregnant, which may have relevance, owing to pregnancy discrimination being 
direct  discrimination.  While  it  is  difficult  to  differentiate  between  paternity  leave  and 
parental  leave,  under  the  new  legislation  on  family  leave,  this  distinction  has  become 
obsolete. Some examples of cases are described in section 5.3.5.  

5.4.5  Table on paternity leave 

Table 4 Paternity leave: 

Who is entitled? 

Parent who is a custodian of the child, a person who 
has acknowledged the child as his or her adoptive 
parent.  

5.5  Adoption leave 

Duration 

160 
weekdays. 

Payment or 
allowance 
Allowance. 

5.5.1  Adoption leave in national law (recital 27 of Directive 2006/54)110 

Under Chapter 9, Section 5 (1), a parent who is a custodian of a child is entitled to parental 
benefit, and thus also to parental leave. Adoptive parents are custodians of a child, but 
the  right  to  parental  benefit  begins  even  before  the  adoption  is  fully  completed.  Under 
Chapter 9, Section 5(3) of the Sickness Insurance Act, an insured adoptive parent has the 
right  to  parental  benefit,  after  she  or  he  has  taken  a  child  in  his  or  her  care  and  has 
received permission to adoption in cases where such a permission is required. Both parents 
are entitled to 160 weekdays of parental leave. Adoptive and other parents are entitled to 

110  Adoption leave is defined at EU level as an individual and non-transferable right to leave of men and 

women subsequent to the adoption of a child. While in the case of birth there are two distinct rights to 
create an early bonding with the child, i.e. maternity leave for the delivering mother and paternity leave for 
the other parent, in the case of adoption there is an only right to leave (adoption leave), which under the 
EU definition should be the same for each adoptive parent. 

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Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

the same number  of benefit days, and the level of the benefit is similar for all parents. 
However, if the right to parental benefit begins when a child moves to Finland after the 
age of one, the parental benefit is paid for only half of the normal duration of the leave 
(Sickness Insurance Act, Chapter 9, Section 6). Both parents are equally entitled to leave 
and benefit. The level of the benefit is determined in the same manner as described under 
5.4.2. 

5.5.2  Legal protection of the right to adoption leave (Article 16 of Directive 2006/54) 

Adoptive parents are protected under the same rules as other parents, as parenthood is 
defined under the Act on Parenthood. An employee who uses his or her right to any family-
related leave under the Employment Contracts Act is protected under Chapter 7, Section 9 
of that Act, which stipulates that the employer may not dismiss an employee who uses the 
right to family-related leave, and if this occurs, the legal presumption is that the employer 
has dismissed the employee because he or she exercised their right to take leave. 

An employer may dismiss an employee on family-related leave only if the employer has 
ceased  all  business  activities.  The  provision  on  the  right  to  return  to  work  after  family 
leave (Employment Contracts Act, Chapter 4, Section 9) applies to all persons returning 
to work after family leave, including adoptive parents. 

5.5.3  Case law on adoption leave 

There is no case law concerning adoption leave.  

5.6  Parental leave 

5.6.1  Parental leave in national law (Article 5 (1), (2) and (4) of Directive 2019/1158) 

As noted above, right to family leaves (including parental leave) are regulated under the 
Employment Contracts Act, but the leave periods and the level of benefits paid are defined 
under the Sickness Insurance Act.  The Employment Contracts Act is applied to persons 
who work under an employment contract, including persons who work in the public sector, 
but the right to family benefits under the Sickness Insurance Act has a broader personal 
scope,  covering  not  only  employees  but  entrepreneurs  (including  agricultural 
entrepreneurs) and even persons residing in Finland (Chapter 1, Section 2 of the Act). The 
Employment  Contracts  Act,  Chapter  4,  enumerates  the  various  types  of  family-related 
leave, among them parental leave.  

Chapter 9 of the Sickness Insurance Act contains provisions on the benefits and benefit 
periods, which define the length of the leave. Parental benefit is paid during a period when 
a parent cares for the baby, and it is available up till the child is two years old. Parental 
benefit  cannot  be  paid  to  a  person  simultaneously  when  they  are  actively  occupied  by 
employment or self-employed, or being a full-time student, or while a parent is in prison 
(Chapter 9, Section 10 of the Act). 

The overall duration of parental leave is 320 weekdays, but if several children are born or 
adopted,  84  days  are  added  for  each  child  (Sickness  Insurance  Act,  Chapter  9, 
Section 6(1) and (2)). Each parent is entitled to half of the overall parental leave, or 160 
weekdays of parental leave and benefit. If the child has only one insured parent, benefits 
for all 320 weekdays are paid to the parent who is entitled to parental leave. If one of the 
parents  is  incapable  of  taking  care  of  the  child  due  to  illness  or  disability,  all  parental 
benefits  may  be  paid  to  the  other  parent  (Sickness  Insurance  Act,  Chapter  9, 
Section 6(4)). 

A  maximum  63  weekdays  of  a  parent’s  individual  160  weekdays  of  parental  leave  are 
transferable to the  other parent or  custodian of the child, or partner  of the parent who 

50 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

transfers  a  part  of  their  parental  leave  period  (Sickness  Insurance  Act,  Chapter  9, 
Section 7). 

Further, employees are entitled to unpaid leave for care of their child or a child that lives 
in their household (Employment Contracts Act, Chapter 4, Section 3). Such leave may be 
taken until the child is three years old. This leave is usually called ‘home-care leave’, as 
parents are entitled to a flat-rate benefit while on such care leave, provided the child does 
not receive municipal pre-school education.  

5.6.2  Period of notice (Article 5(3) of Directive 2019/1158) 

The  employer shall be  notified two months before the beginning of the leave, but for  a 
block of leave of 12 weekdays, the notification period is one month.  

The notification period is the same for adoptive parents, ‘if possible’. If it is impossible to 
follow  the  two  month  notification  rule  because  of  the  partner’s  starting  to  work  and 
because  of  ensuing  difficulties  in  arranging  the  care  of  the  child,  the  notification  period 
may be one month, unless that would cause severe harm at the workplace. An employee 
may,  for  a  justified  reason,  change  the  time  and  duration  of  parental  leave  with  one 
month’s notice.  

A period of parental leave that the employee is entitled to have simultaneously with the 
other parent may be taken earlier than stated in the notification if required because of the 
birth of the child or the health of the other parent (Employment Contracts Act, Chapter 4, 
Section 3a). 

5.6.3  Postponement of parental leave (Article 5(5) of Directive 2019/1158) 

There are no circumstances in which the employer is allowed to postpone the granting of 
parental leave. 

5.6.4  Flexible take-up of parental leave (Article 5(6) of Directive 2019/1158) 

Parental leave may be taken over a maximum of four periods, each of which must be at 
least  12  weekdays  (Employment  Contracts  Act,  Chapter  4,  Section 1).  Partial  parental 
leave (Employment Contracts Act, Chapter 4, Section 2 a) is meant for parents who wish 
to work part-time during parental leave. An employee making use of partial parental leave 
may  compensate  loss  of  income  through  partial  parental  benefit.  Partial  parental  leave 
requires  agreement  with  the  employer.  If  the  employer  refuses  the  arrangement,  the 
decision must be given in writing.  

Part-time care leave (here referred to as ‘partial care leave’) can be taken on agreement 
between  the  employer  and  the  employee  (Employment  Contracts  Act,  Chapter  4, 
Section 4). Partial care leave is meant for caring for a child up to the end of the child’s 
second  school  year.  Employees  who  have  worked  for  the  present  employer  at  least 
6 months during previous 12 months are eligible for such leave. Partial care leave is agreed 
between the employer and the employee, and the employer may refuse such leave only if 
it would cause serious harm to the service or production of the organisation. Agreement 
is  also  necessary  when  the  employee  wishes  to  interrupt  an  agreed  period  of  partial 
parental  leave  and  return  either  to  full-time  work  or  to  full-time  parental  leave.  If  no 
agreement can be reached on return to work, the employee has the right to return for a 
justified reason (Employment Contracts Act, Chapter 4, Section 2 a).  

‘Home-care leave’ may also be taken in a flexible manner. It may be taken in two periods 
of minimum one month, unless the employer and the employee agree on more than two 
periods. While the other parent is on pregnancy or parental leave, the other parent may 

51 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

have  one  period  of  ‘home-care  leave’.  Otherwise,  parents  may  not  take  such  leave 
simultaneously (Employment Contracts Act, Chapter 4, Section 3 (2). 

5.6.5  Special rules for adoptive parents, parents with a disability and parents of children 

with a disability or a long-term illness (Article 5(8) Directive 2019/1158) 

Adoptive parents are entitled to parental leave and benefit, as explained under 5.5.1.  

The right to partial parental leave (Employment Contracts Act, Chapter 4, Section 4) may 
be longer if the child has specific needs, up to the age of 18.  

5.6.6  Paid parental leave (Article 8(1) and (3) of Directive 2019/1158) 

As explained under 5.4.2, custodians  of a child are  entitled to parental benefit. Parents 
are legal custodians of a child. The Act on Parenthood (775/2022) defines parents such 
that the definition covers birth mothers, natural fathers and persons who have agreed to 
a partner’s fertility treatment. Both parents are equally entitled to leave and benefit. The 
right to parental leave and benefit does not require previous employment in the service of 
the  present  employer,  but  it  does  require  a  person  to  be  covered  by  social  insurance 
through  work,  entrepreneurship  or  residence  (Sickness  Insurance  Act,  Chapter  1, 
Section 1).  The  social  insurance  covers  all  employees.  As  social  insurance  covers  even 
non-employees, persons who are not employed may receive parental benefit, even though 
they are not on leave from a job. Pay during the parental leave period is discussed under 
5.3.3 and 5.4.2. 

5.6.7  Legal  protection  of  the  right  to  parental  leave  (Articles  10,  11  and  12  of 

Directive 2019/1158) 

The employee on family leave (including parental leave) is entitled to return to their former 
job. If that is impossible, the  employee must  be  offered  work that  corresponds to their 
employment  contract  and  their  former  job,  and  if  that  is  not  possible,  they  should  be 
offered other work that corresponds to their employment contract (Employment Contracts 
Act Chapter 4, Section 9). The employee returning to work after family leave is entitled to 
their former conditions of work, such as pay and working hours. Changes that involve all 
employees at the workplace should include the returning person. 

Differential treatment of a person on the ground of parenthood or family responsibilities is 
defined  as  indirect  gender  discrimination  under  the  Act  on  Equality,  Section 7(2).  The 
provision is general and not restricted to persons on family leave. 

An  employee  who  uses  his  or  her  right  to  any  type  of  family-related  leave  under  the 
Employment  Contracts  Act  is  protected  by  Chapter  7,  Section 9  of  the  Employment 
Contracts Act. This stipulates that the employer may not dismiss an employee who uses 
the  right  to  family-related  leave,  and  if  this  occurs  the  legal  presumption  is  that  the 
employer  has  dismissed  the  employee  because  he  or  she  exercised  their  right  to  take 
leave. An employer may dismiss an employee on family-related leave only if the employer 
has ceased all business activities.  

5.6.8  Case law on parental leave 

The CJEU decided in the Finnish case Parviainen (C- 471/08), which concerned pay during 
the  time  a  pregnant  worker  had  been  temporarily  transferred  to  another  job,  that  the 
employee was entitled to maintain her basic salary, or average pay before the transfer, as 
well as pay components or supplementary allowances relating to her professional status. 
Pay  components  that  depend  on  specific  functions  to  compensate  for  disadvantage  in 
performing 
involved 
Directive 92/85/EEC, it could also have relevance in the context of Directive 2019/1158. 

them  need  not  be  compensated.  Although 

the  case 

52 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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The provisions concerning the right to return to previous tasks after family leave are similar 
for all forms of family leave (pregnancy leave and parental leave). 

Labour  Court  case  TT  2018:67  concerned  a  collective  agreement  which  repeated  the 
provisions  of the Employment Contracts Act  on the right to  return to  a former job. The 
Labour Court found that an employee cannot be replaced by another employee on return 
from parental leave even when the tasks of the job have changed and another employee 
could perform the renewed tasks better than the person returning from family leave. The 
employer has an obligation to provide a briefing for the returning person on the changed 
tasks.  

5.6.9  Table on parental leave 

Table 5: Table on parental leave 

Right to leave 
individual and 
non-
transferable? 
63 of the 160 
weekdays of a 
parent are 
transferable. 

Paid 
period 

Allowance 
for the full 
period for 
each 
parent.  

Duration 
of leave 

320 
weekdays 
overall, of 
which 160 
weekdays 
for each 
parent. 

Right to payment 
or allowance 
individual and non-
transferable? 
Right to allowance 
during the period for 
which the parent uses 
the right to leave. 63 
weekdays of the 160 
weekdays allotted to 
each parent are 
individual and non-
transferable.  

Payment or 
allowance 

Allowance 
under law, pay 
for a period 
agreed upon 
under myriad 
collective 
agreements. 

5.7  Child-related leave in relation to surrogacy 

5.7.1  Prohibition of surrogacy 

Surrogacy is prohibited in Finland. 

5.7.2  Child-related leave in relation to surrogacy 

Finnish legislation prohibits fertility treatments aimed at surrogacy. It may be that fertility 
treatments are given abroad, even when the parties to the surrogacy arrangements live 
in Finland. It is also possible that children born by surrogacy in countries where it is legal 
are adopted in Finland.111 In such cases the parents must be assumed to be entitled to 
leave under the rules for adoptive parents.  

5.7.3  Case law on child-related leave in relation to surrogacy 

N/A. 

111  There are websites that promote surrogacy abroad, or refer to the possibility. See Seta – LGBTI Rights in 
Finland, ‘Sijaissynnytys purkaa lapsiperheellistymisen esteitä’ (Surrogacy removes obstacles to becoming 
child family), 21 March 2023, https://seta.fi/2023/03/21/sijaissynnytys-purkaa-lapsiperheellistymisen-
esteita/. 

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5.8  Carers’ leave 

5.8.1  Carers’  leave  in  national  law  (Articles  3(1)(c),  (d)  and  (e)  and  6  of 

Directive 2019/1158) 

The employees are entitled to several types of leave that have the function of carer’s leave 
under  Directive 2019/1158.  Legislation  on  these  family  leaves  was  in  place  before 
Directive 2019/1158 came into force. 

Home-care leave may be considered a form of carers’ leave, although it is aimed only at 
care of the carer’s own child or a child who lives permanently in his or her household. The 
leave may be taken until the child is three years old. Adoptive parents may take home-
care leave up to two years after adoption, but not after the child begins school.  Home-
care leave may be divided into two periods of at least one month’s duration. Only one of 
the parents may take home-care leave at  one  time, but one period of home-care leave 
may  be  taken  while  the  other  parent  or  custodian  is  on  pregnancy  or  parental  leave 
(Employment Contracts Act, Chapter 4, Section 3). Unlike pregnancy and parental leave, 
home-care  leave  is  not  covered  by  an  income-related  benefit.  During  home-care  leave, 
the  carer  is  entitled  to  a  flat-rate  benefit  under  the  Sickness  Insurance  Act.  Many 
municipalities  pay  a  flat-rate  benefit  for  parents  who  do  not  make  use  of  their  right  to 
municipal child-care services in addition to the flat-rate benefit paid under the Sickness 
insurance Act, which makes the choice of caring for a child at home attractive for many 
parents.  

A  provision  on  absence  for  taking  care  of  a  family  member  or  someone  close  to  the 
employee (Chapter 4, Section 7a of the Employment Contracts Act) was added to the Act 
when  the  force  majeure-based  family  leave  provisions  were  already  in  place.  The 
preparatory works for the amendment that led to the adoption of Section 7a note that the 
right to absence for compelling family reasons, or force majeure family leave (Section 7) 
is applied under tight conditions only. There is no limit on the number of days for which 
an employee may be absent, but only a short, temporary absence can be taken. The ability 
of employees to care for family members who require constant assistance in their everyday 
life under Section 7 was therefore also limited. An employee on any of the forms of carer’s 
leave is not entitled to payment, nor is any benefit granted during such leave. 

Section 7a of the Act, on absence for care of a family member or other person close to the 
employee, was adopted to oblige the employer to investigate possible arrangements for 
an  employee’s  longer  temporary  absence.  Time  off  under  Section 7a  may  cover  longer 
periods  but  is  only  provided  if  agreed  by  the  employee  and  employer.112  The  provision 
obliges the employer to act so as to allow such a period of absence, with an obligation to 
explain to the employee if such a period of absence is considered impossible. The personal 
scope  of  family  members  refers  to  persons  living  in  the  same  household,  children  and 
grandchildren, parents and grandparents of the employee and his/her spouse or partner, 
including  same-sex  partners.  The  personal  scope  of  the  provision  is  the  same  as  for 
Section 7  (absence  due  to  compelling  family  reasons).  As  the  leave  must  always  be 
negotiated with the employer, it cannot be shared with the other parent. 

Under Chapter 4, Section 7b of the Employment Contracts Act, an employee has the right 
to  take  leave  of  their  work  for  a  maximum  of  five  working  days  to  provide  personal 
assistance or support to a relative (which refers to a child, parent, spouse or living partner 
or  a  person  who  lives  in  registered  partnership  with  the  employee)  or  to a  person  who 
lives  in  the  same  household,  if  the  relative  or  other  similar  person  needs  significant 
assistance or support due to an illness or serious disability that has weakened that person’s 
ability  to  act  to  a  considerable  degree.  The  employee  is  also  entitled  to  such  leave  for 
assisting with the palliative care of the person. 

112  HE 263/2010 vp, Hallituksen esitys Eduskunnalle laiksi työsopimuslain muuttamisesta (Government Bill for 

an Amendment of the Employment Contracts Act), pp. 2-3. 

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5.8.2  Legal  protection  of  the  right  to  carers’  leave  (Articles  10,  11  and  12  of 

Directive 2019/1158) 

The employee’s right to carers’ leave is protected under the same provisions as the right 
to  all  types  of  family  leave  (return  to  the  same  job  under  Chapter  4,  Section 9  of  the 
Employment  Contracts  Act  and  protection  against  discrimination  under  Section 7  of  the 
Act on Equality). 

5.8.3  Case law on carers’ leave 

Collective  agreements  often  have  clauses  on  different  forms  of  family  leave,  including 
carer’s leave. The Labour Court, which decides cases concerning  collective agreements, 
decided a case in 2023 that involved carers’ leave (TT 2023:46).  

In the case, the number of days in which an employee was absent from work due to illness 
were taken into account when calculating pay for overtime. The Court was asked to declare 
that even days when an employee has been absent for childcare reasons should be taken 
into account as time entitling them to overtime pay. The Court held that the wording of 
the  collective  agreement  clause  showed  it  was  meant  to  cover  only  time  when  the 
employee had be absent from work due to illness. However, when interpreted in this way, 
the  clause  put  an  employee  absent  due  to  the  sickness  of  a  child  at  a  disadvantage 
compared with an employee who was absent due to their own illness, which establishes 
an  assumption  of  discrimination  on  the  ground  of  family  care  responsibilities.  Under 
Section 7(3) of the Act on Equality, discrimination on the ground of parenthood or family 
care obligations is considered as indirect gender discrimination. The preparatory works for 
the provision state that parenthood or the use of the right related to parenthood or family 
obligations are not to be considered as grounds for differential treatment. As the employer 
in the case had provided no justification, the collective agreement clause was considered 
discriminatory under the Act on Equality, Section 8.  

5.8.4  Table on carers’ leave 

Table 6: Table on carers’ leave 

National leave and 
duration 
Home-care leave up 
until child turns 2. 
Short-term leave for 
care of family member 
for compelling 
reasons. 
Maximum 5 days for 
providing personal 
assistance to a 
relative. 

Type of entitlement  Beneficiaries  Situations 

Unpaid entitlements; 
flat-rate benefit for 
home-care leave. 

Parent. 

Family 
member. 

Family 
member. 

covered 
Extended leave for 
child-care after 
parental leave. 

Compelling family 
reasons. 

Need for personal 
support. 

5.9  Time off for force majeure 

5.9.1  Time off for force majeure (Article 7 of Directive 2019/1158) 

The Employment Contracts Act, Chapter 4, Section 7, allows an employee time off for force 
majeure reasons; the employee has a right to leave if his or her presence is required due 
to  an  unforeseeable  and  compelling  reason  caused  by  illness  or  accident  in  his  or  her 
family. ‘Family’ in this context refers to persons living in the same household under family-
like circumstances. The preparatory works for the Act indicate that this includes parents 
and children.  

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Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

There is no limit to the number of times force majeure leave may be taken. The employee 
is not entitled to pay during absence but, under some collective agreements, the employee 
may be entitled to pay in relation to certain absences covered by the provision.  

The death or funeral of a relative, fire or water damage at home, or an accident requiring 
the  presence  of  an  employee  in  hospital  are  examples  of  unforeseen  and  compelling 
reasons.  

The right to time off under Section 7 covers short absences only, but the provision does 
not specify an exact duration of the absence allowed by the provision. The right to force 
majeure  absence  is  an  individual  right.  Conditions  such  as  need  to  provide  medical 
certificates may vary by workplace and collective agreement. 

5.9.2  Legal protection  of the  right to time off  for  force majeure (Articles 10 and 11  of 

Directive 2019/1158) 

Differential treatment of a person on the ground of parenthood or family responsibilities is 
defined as indirect gender discrimination under the Act on Equality, Section 7(2). The legal 
protection of a person on time off for a force majeure reason is similar to that for all other 
types of family leave under Chapter 4 of the Employment Contracts Act. The protection 
includes the right to pay and the right to return to former tasks. 

An  employee  who  uses  his  or  her  right  to  any  of  the  family-related  leave  under  the 
Employment  Contracts  Act  is  protected  by  Chapter  7,  Section 9  of  the  Employment 
Contracts Act. This stipulates that the employer may not dismiss an employee who uses 
the  right  to  family-related  leave,  and  if  this  occurs  the  legal  presumption  is  that  the 
employer  has  dismissed  the  employee  because  he  or  she  exercised  their  right  to  take 
leave. An employer may dismiss an employee on family-related leave only if the employer 
has ceased all business activities. The provision exceeds the obligations for legal protection 
required under Directive 2019/1158. Provisions on force majeure absence are contained 
in Chapter 4 of the Employment Contracts Act, which enumerates the different types of 
family leave. This type of absence is covered by similar protection as for other types of 
family leave.  

5.9.3  Case law on force majeure 

There is no case law on the use of time off for force majeure as such, probably as the right 
to time off is not covered by pay. Collective agreements often have clauses on pay during 
family-related leave, including time off for force majeure. Labour Court case TT 2004:131 
concerned a collective agreement under which there should be no pay reduction for use of 
such time off. The Labour Court stated that a cohabitant partner is to be considered as a 
person  whose  illness  entitles  an  employee  to  time  off.  Although  the  case  discusses 
interpretation of a collective agreement, it may have relevance for the legal interpretation 
of the provision of the Employment Contracts Act concerning the persons covered by the 
right to time off for force majeure.  

5.9.4  Table on time-off for force majeure 

Table 7: Table on time-off for force majeure  

National measure and duration  Type of 

Situations covered 

Short-term leave to care for family 
member for compelling reasons. 

entitlement 
No pay. 

Force majeure event 
(sickness, accident) in the 
family. 

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Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

5.10 Flexible working time arrangements (FWAs) 

5.10.1 Right to FWAs (Article 3(1)(d) and (f) and 9 of Directive 2019/1158) 

The preparatory works for the Finnish family leave legislation refers to many existing legal 
arrangements as provisions that allow flexible working time arrangements, required under 
Directive 2019/1158. The preparatory works refer to work during maternity leave, partial 
parental leave, force majeure-care leave for care of a child, possibility to remote work and 
flexible working time arrangements under the Working Hours Act.  

Partial or part-time parental leave and partial or part-time care leave are available for the 
purpose of care of a child. Partial parental leave may be agreed on between an employer 
and employee (Employment Contracts Act, Chapter 4, Section 2 a). A parent may receive 
partial parental benefit during such leave. An employer and an employee who has worked 
for the same employer for at least 6 months during previous 12 months may agree on the 
employee’s partial care leave for care of their own child or a child who lives permanently 
in  the  employee’s  household  up  until  the  second  year  of  the  child’s  basic  education 
(children generally begin school at the age of 7).  

For the care of a disabled child, the partial leave may continue until the child is 18 (Chapter 
4,  Section 4  of  the  Employment  Contracts  Act).  The  employer  and  employee  shall 
negotiate  on  partial  leave  and  its  arrangements  in  detail.  If  an  agreement  on  how  the 
leave is to be arranged cannot be reached, the legal provision contains standard conditions 
for the arrangement. The employer may refuse to grant the leave only if it causes serious 
damage  to  productivity  and  service  at  the  workplace,  which  cannot  be  avoided  by  the 
reasonable rearrangement of work (Subsection 2 of the provision).  

The duration of the partial care leave is agreed between the employer and the employee, 
and any changes to the duration of the leave are also to be agreed upon. If no agreement 
is reached, the employee may, for good reason, interrupt the leave by giving notice one 
month ahead of returning to their former working hours. Chapter 4, Section 9 stipulates 
that  employees  have  the  right  to  return  to  their  former  work  at  the  end  of  a  period  of 
family-related leave. 

Partial parental benefit is paid for parents eligible for parental benefit who work part-time, 
provided  that  the  parent  has  agreed  on  part-time  work  and  that  the  working  time  is  a 
maximum of five hours. Even entrepreneurs who care for a child part-time may receive 
part-time  parental  benefit,  provided  they  work  a  maximum  of  five  hours  daily.  Both 
parents may receive partial parental benefit simultaneously, in which case the benefit is 
equivalent to half of the total benefit (Sickness Insurance Act, Chapter 9, Section 11). 

Partial parental leave and partial care leave are available only for care of children, and are 
not available for flexible working time arrangements for carers who provide care or support 
to other relatives or persons living in the same household. General provisions on flexible 
working times are available for the latter type of care relations. The Working Hours Act 
(872/2019) covers both private and public work and all employees. Sections 12-14 of the 
Act allow the employer and employee to agree on flexible working hours, departing from 
the regular hours defined under the Act, or from the working time terms of valid collective 
agreements.  The  employee  may  then,  within  the  limits  agreed  upon,  decide  when  and 
where he  or she will work,  or  save hours to be used as  free time later. The agreement 
contains  mandatory  conditions,  however.  Such  an  agreement  must  include  certain 
standard  conditions  concerning  issues  such  as  days  of  weekly  rest,  and  the  agreement 
must be made in writing.  

Even before the provisions on flexible working hours under the Working Hours Act came 
into  force,  flexible  working  times  were  common  in  Finnish  workplaces.  Local  collective 
agreements often contain clauses on flexible work, usually in the form of flexible times for 

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starting and stopping daily work. When both parents may use this option, they can arrange 
their work so that the child needs shorter hours of care to be provided. The right to agree 
on  flexible  working  time  only  concerns  the  individual  employee.  An  amendment  to  the 
Employment Contracts Act made in 2018 allows variable working times based on a working 
contract which defines either the maximum hours, the minimum and maximum hours or 
no regular hours at all (a so-called zero-hours agreement), on the employee’s initiative, 
or at the initiative of the employer, provided that the employer does not have a continuous 
need  of  a  regular  labour  force  (Employment  Contracts  Act  Chapter  1,  Section 11). 
Flexibility of this type may be problematic for employees with family responsibilities. 

Section 13 of the Working Hours Act covers provisions on flexible working hours and the 
right to work remotely. The employer and employee may make an agreement on flexible 
hours  and  place  of  work  that  cover  half  of  the  working  hours  defined  under  the  valid 
collective  agreement,  but  the  agreement  must  include  certain  mandatory  clauses  on 
weekly  rest  and  similar  issues.  The  agreement  must  be  made  in  writing.  The  provision 
covers  all  employees.  During  the  COVID-19  pandemic,  remote  working  (telework) 
increased considerably, and even after the most severe phase of the pandemic had passed, 
almost  80 %  of  those  who  had  worked  remotely  for  the  first  time  wanted  to  continue. 
Women wanted to be able to do remote work more often than men. A hybrid combination 
of telework and traditional work at the workplace is expected to remain common. Remote 
work has become somewhat less common than it was during the pandemic. In 2022, 55 % 
of employees did not work remotely at all, 11 % worked only remotely and the rest worked 
both remotely and at the workplace. Before the pandemic, women worked remotely less 
often than men, but after it, women worked remotely  somewhat more often than men. 
Women found it easier to combine work and family when working remotely.113  

The regular working time patterns provided by the Working Hours Act may be adjusted by 
national collective agreements by introducing exceptions from the mandatory working time 
provisions. It is also possible to agree through a national collective agreement on flexible 
working times as stipulated under Sections 13 and 14 of the Act. An employer that is not 
party to a collective agreement but is bound by an erga omnes collective agreement may 
also make use of the exceptions to the legal provisions (Section 35). It is possible to allow 
local parties to make a local collective agreement via a clause inserted in an erga omnes 
collective  agreement making exceptions to the working time provisions in Section 36  of 
the  Act.  Such  a  local  collective  agreement  is  adopted  between  the  employer  and  the 
representatives of the employees. 

It is also possible to make exceptions to the regular working times through agreements 
between  an  employer  and  an  employee,  or  an  employer  and  a  group  of  employees. 
Section 13 of the Working Hours Act defines the parameters within which it is possible to 
form  an  agreement  between  the  employer  and  the  employee  on  regular  working  times 
that  differ  from  up  to  half  of  the  clauses  of  the  valid  collective  agreement.  Such  an 
agreement  must  contain  certain  mandatory  clauses,  and  the  number  of  working  hours 
must be balanced to a maximum of 40 hours per week during a period of four months. 
The agreement must be made in writing, and it may be cancelled without specific reasons 
at the end of the balancing period that follows the ongoing balancing period.  

Section 14 of the Working Hours Act contains provisions on a ‘working time bank’, which 
is  an  agreement  made  between  an  employee  representative  or  a  group  of  employees 
together with the employer on saving working time (a minimum of two weeks per year, a 
maximum of 180 hours of saved working time per year, or total saved working time not 
in  excess  of  an  amount  equivalent  to  six  months’  working  time)  to  be  used  later.  The 
arrangement  makes  it  possible  to  ‘save’  and  combine  working  time,  leave  and 

113  Statistics Finland (2023), ‘Korona hellitti, mutta etätyötä tekevien määrä ei juuri vähentynyt’ (The 
pandemic eased, but the number of employees working remotely did not decrease significantly), 
https://stat.fi/tietotrendit/artikkelit/2023/korona-hellitti-mutta-etatyota-tekevien-maara-ei-juuri-
vahentynyt. 

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compensation that is provided instead of leave. The agreement must include clauses on 
the items that may be saved to the bank, limits to saving, how the bank can be dissolved 
and the earned items compensated for, and the principles on how leave is to be spent. 
The right is an individual right, but the agreement that established the right is made on a 
group basis. 

5.10.2 Duration of FWAs (recital 35 and Article 9(1) and (3) of Directive 2019/1158)  

The right to partial care leave lasts until the end of the child’s second school year. Children 
start school in August in the year they reach the age of seven. The school year ends at 
the end of May. The children are nine years old on average when they finish their second 
school year. In the case of disabled children, the right may be extended until the child is 
18  years  old.  The  duration  of  the  time  is  not  otherwise  limited.  It  is  determined  by 
agreement between employer and employee. 

The duration of flexible working hours under the Working Hours Act is determined by the 
agreement between the employer and the employee.  

5.10.3 Legal protection of the right to FWAs (Articles 11 and 12 of Directive 2019/1158) 

An  employee  who  uses  his  or  her  right  to  any  of  the  family-related  leave  under  the 
Employment  Contracts  Act  is  protected  by  Chapter  7,  Section 9  of  the  Employment 
Contracts Act. This stipulates that the employer may not dismiss an employee who uses 
the  right  to  family-related  leave,  and  if  this  occurs  the  legal  presumption  is  that  the 
employer  has  dismissed  the  employee  because  he  or  she  exercised  their  right  to  take 
leave. An employer may dismiss an employee on family-related leave only if the employer 
has ceased all business activities. Provisions on partial care leave are contained in Chapter 
4 of the Employment Contracts Act. This type of leave is covered by similar protection as 
other types of family leave. 

When  flexible  working  hours  are  based  on  the  right  to  family  leave,  less  favourable 
treatment  of  a  worker  using  their  right  to  flexible  working  hours  is  considered  indirect 
discrimination  on  the  ground  of  parenthood  or  family  care  obligations  (Act  on  Equality, 
Section 7(3)(2)). 

5.10.4 Case law on FWAs and the legal protection of the right to FWAs 

There is no case law on the issue. 

5.10.5 Table on FWAs 

Table 8: Table on FWAs  

National 
system/s 
Partial parental 
leave. 
Flexible working 
hours. 

Absolute or relative 
right 
Relative right. 

Relative right. 

5.11 Evaluation of implementation 

FWAs covered and workers entitled 

Parent entitled to parental leave.  
Parent of a disabled child and who 
works part-time. 
Employee. 

Finnish law implements EU law provisions on family leave correctly. The model on which 
family leave is based differs from EU legislation. The Finnish legislative reform carried out 
simultaneously with the implementation of Directive 2019/1158 aimed at better sharing 
of  family  leave,  as  well  as  at  gender-neutrality  and  neutrality  concerning  family  form 
(heterosexual families, same-sex families, adoptive families).  

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The  model  that  was  adopted  consists  of  a  shorter  pregnancy  leave  and  longer  parental 
leave than the previous legislation and  replaces paternity leave with individual parental 
leave that is available to fathers and other ‘second parents’ equally.  

Collective agreements which traditionally provided pay for employees on maternity leave 
needed to be renegotiated, with a risk that women could lose a part of their paid leave 
when pregnancy leave became shorter. 

Employees  on  family  leave  receive  a  state  benefit.  Pay  during  family  leaves  is  not 
mandatory, but many new collective agreements provide pay during pregnancy leave and 
an equal period of pay for both parents on parental leave. In such cases, the employer 
receives  the  family  benefit  that  the  employee  is  entitled  to.  The  right  to  leave  due  to 
pregnancy is relatively short, but the person giving birth is entitled to have the duration 
(105  weekdays)  prescribed  under  Directive 92/85  by  combining  pregnancy  leave  with 
parental leave, if desired. 

5.12 Remaining issues 

The reform had certain unintended consequences. In its report to Parliament in 2022, 114 
the Equality Ombudsman criticised the reform for not recognising the need to pregnancy 
and maternity protection. Gender-neutral language used in the new legislation is in itself 
justified, but more attention should have been paid to the international law responsibility 
to  maternity  protection.  The  mandatory  post-partum  leave  under  the  ILO  Maternity 
Protection Convention of 2000 (No. 183) is six weeks. The new legislation does not pay 
sufficient attention to the mother’s recovery from delivery and breastfeeding. 

114  Tasa-arvovaltuutetun kertomus eduskunnalle 2022 (Equality Ombudsman’s report to the Parliament 2022), 

Tasa-arvojulkaisuja 2022:1. 

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6 

Occupational social security schemes (Chapter 2 of Directive 2006/54) 

6.1  General (legal) context 

6.1.1  Issues related to gender equality and social security 

The distinction between mandatory and occupational social security is difficult to draw in 
the Finnish context. The social insurance that covers  old age, sickness and disability as 
well  as  maternity,  paternity  and  parental  benefits  is  both  occupational  and  mandatory. 
Purely occupational social security, or social security that is based entirely on contractual 
arrangements  between  the  employer  and  employee,  are  very  rare,  as  mandatory 
occupational pensions and benefits are the main form. The mandatory social insurance in 
the private sector is managed by private insurance companies. Mandatory, statutory social 
insurance  covers  not  only  employees  but  also  entrepreneurs,  including  agricultural 
entrepreneurs. The social insurance that covers old age, sickness and disability, as well as 
maternity, paternity and parental benefits, is both occupational and mandatory. For those 
who do not earn a minimum pension through work, pensions are complemented through 
a  statutory  scheme.  Sex-disaggregated  statistics  are  conducted  by  several  bodies,  and 
they indicate that pensions related to previously earned income are higher for men, and 
women  more  often  than  men  receive  a  complement  to  their  pensions  from  the  state 
pension scheme.115 Women’s lower income from work and entrepreneurship leads to lower 
benefits and pensions. 

6.1.2  Political and societal debate and pending legislative proposals 

The current Government has carried through with several changes to social security, with 
the aim of reducing public spending. One of these changes consists of freezing the index 
increments  of  social  benefits,  which  will  undermine  their  purchasing  power.  An  act  that 
came into force in April 2024 cut index rises of certain benefits until 2027.116 Cuts were 
made to sickness insurance benefits, benefits for persons in rehabilitation, unemployment 
benefit, child home-care benefit and subsidised housing benefits. Changes to the Act on 
Unemployment  (1290/2002)  weakened  the  right  to  unemployment  benefits.  An 
amendment to the Act  on Social Assistance (1412/1997) came into force in April 2024, 
cutting  acceptable  housing  costs  for  persons  receiving  social  assistance  benefit.  The 
acceptable housing costs are defined as maximum costs to be paid for families of different 
size in different municipalities.   The impact  of these changes  on different groups of the 
population  has  been  debated,  as  the  Government  bills  brought  to  the  Parliament  have 
been  based  on  insufficient  impact  assessments  in  this  respect.  The  Government’s 
assessment of the combined impact of the cuts to social security and assistance117 found 
that the cuts would have the biggest impact among persons in the lowest income groups. 
Young people and single parents were population groups that suffered as a result of the 
changes.  A  study  on  the  impact  of  all  planned  changes  found  little  gender  impact,  but 
considerable  impact  on  the  unemployed  and  students.  The  changes  are  estimated  to 
weaken social-insurance-based social security.118  

115  Statistics Finland provides statistical data on a wide range of issues under the theme ’Health and social 

protection’, including statistics on social insurance – for example, on persons insured for earnings-related 
pensions in Finland. These statistics are gender-disaggregated – see stat.fi/en/topic/health-and-social-
protection. That women’s social security benefits are lower than men’s, despite formal equality legislation, 
has been the case for decades – see, for example, Nousiainen, K. (1985), ’Naisen sosiaaliturva – miehen 
kautta tai miehen mitoilla?’ (Women’s social security – due to a man, or according to male rules?), 
Sosiaaliviesti 1985:2, pp. 13-19. 

116  Laki eräiden kansaneläkeindeksiin ja elinkustannusindeksiin sidottujen etuuksien ja rahamäärien 

indeksitarkistuksista vuosina 2024-2027 (Act on index adjustments of certain benefits and monetary sums 
that are tied to the pension index and cost of living index) (1296/2023).  

117  Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (2024), Vuoden 2024 sosiaaliturvamuutosten yhteisvaikutusten 

arviointi (Overall impact assessment of the social welfare changes of 2024), 
https://www.eduskunta.fi/FI/vaski/JulkaisuMetatieto/Documents/EDK-2024-AK-9676.pdf. 

118  Hiilamo, H., Kivipelto, M., Moisio, P., Mukkila, S., Nykänen, E., Ollonqvist, J., Peltoniemi, J., Saikku, P-, 

Tervola, J., Tuovinen, A.-K., Virrankari, L., Hallitusohjelman mukaisten sosiaaliturvan leikkausten 

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6.2  Direct and indirect discrimination 

Section 7  of  the  Act  on  Equality  contains  a  general  prohibition  of  discrimination  on  the 
grounds  of  sex  and  social  security  schemes  fall  within  the  material  scope  of  the  Act. 
However, there is no remedy or compensation for a victim of discrimination in the Act on 
Equality. The general principles of administrative law under Chapter 2, Section 6 the Act 
on Administration (434/2003) include the principle of equal treatment.  

6.3  Personal scope 

The  Finnish  sickness,  disability,  maternity  and  parental  benefits  as  well  as  pension 
schemes  are  statutory  and  mandatory  and  cover  all  fields  in  which  people  earn  as 
employees  or  entrepreneurs.  They  also  cover  self-employed  persons  and  agricultural 
entrepreneurs. The scope of the national law is broader than what EU law requires, as it 
even covers entrepreneurs, not merely self-employed persons. 

6.4  Material scope 

The material scope covers the scope of Article 7 of Directive 2006/54 (protection against 
sickness,  disability,  old  age,  industrial  accidents  and  occupational  diseases  and 
unemployment). 

6.5  Exclusions 

There are no exclusions. 

6.6  Laws  and  case  law  falling  under  the  examples  of  sex  discrimination 

mentioned in Article 9 of Directive 2006/54 

Article 9(h)  of  the  Act  on  Equality  addresses  setting  different  levels  of  benefit  ‘except 
insofar as may be necessary to take account of actuarial calculation factors which differ 
according to sex’ in certain cases. 

In  the  Finnish  Employment  Accidents  Act  (608/1948),  Section 14(1)  (192/1987), 
Section 18b(1), and Section 18b(3) (1642/1992) allowed a lump sum compensation  for 
an accident in certain cases, and the lump sum was calculated using sex as an actuarial 
factor. The Supreme Administrative Court referred a case (KHO 2013:105) concerning this 
type of lump-sum compensation to the CJEU. In Case C-318/13, 119 the CJEU interpreted 
Directive 79/7/EEC  Article 4(1)  to  preclude  national  regulation  of  employment  accident 
insurance that uses sex-segregated life expectancy calculations as an actuarial factor, if 
this  results  in  a  lower  lump  sum  compensation  for  a  man  than  for  a  similarly  situated 
woman. It was  for the  Finnish Supreme Administrative Court to decide whether Finnish 
legislation  violated  EU  law,  in  which  case  the  applicant,  X,  would  be  entitled  to 
compensation by the state. The Finnish Supreme Administrative Court in case KHO:2015:8 
found  that  the  use  of  sex-segregated  life  expectancy  in  calculating  lump  sum 
compensation  under  the  Employment  Accidents  Act  breached  EU  law  and  that  X  had 
suffered a loss due to the provisions of the Act. The breach was not sufficiently evident to 
warrant  reparation  by  the  state,  as  the  CJEU’s  ruling  in  Case  C-236/09  (Test-Achats) 
occurred after relevant decisions concerning X’s right to benefit by Finnish courts and no 
infringement procedure had taken place. 

vaikutukset vuoteen 2027 (The impact of cuts to social security as outlined by the Government programme 
until 2027), Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, working paper 45/2023, 
https://www.julkari.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/147877/URN_ISBN_978-952-408-229-
7.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. 

119  Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 3 September 2014, (request for a preliminary ruling from the 

Korkein hallinto-oikeus (Supreme Administrative Court of Finland)), lodged on 11 June 2014, 
ECLI:EU:C:2014:2133. 

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The Act on Occupational Accidents and Diseases (459/2015) does not contain a provision 
which  would  use  sex  as  an  actuarial  factor,  unlike  the  former  legislation  that  the  Act 
replaced.  

6.7  Actuarial factors 

Sex is not used as actuarial factor under Finnish social security legislation now in force. 
The  Finnish  occupational  pension  schemes  are  mandatory,  as  mentioned  above.  Some 
employers may complement the mandatory schemes of some of their key employees with 
private schemes previously offered to directors. The author has not been able to find out 
whether sex is used as an actuarial factor in such private schemes. 

6.8  Difficulties 

The Finnish occupational security schemes are not easily comparable to either statutory 
or occupational social security schemes. They are mandatory and based on statute, but 
the benefits paid under the schemes are related to occupational income (including income 
from acting as an entrepreneur, as well as persons on stipends). The classification problem 
does not involve special problems of equality, although the broad coverage is a bonus. 

Section 7  of  the  Act  on  Equality  contains  a  general  prohibition  of  discrimination  on  the 
grounds  of  sex,  and  social  security  schemes  fall  under  the  material  scope  of  the  Act. 
However, there is no remedy or compensation for a victim of discrimination in the Act on 
Equality. The general principles of administrative law under Chapter 2, Section 6 of the 
Act on Administration (434/2003) include the principle of equal treatment.  

6.9  Evaluation of implementation 

Implementation  of  the  requirement  of  non-discriminatory  occupational  social  security 
schemes  is  broader  than  what  is  required  under  EU  law,  as  such  schemes  cover  even 
entrepreneurs. It may be considered problematic, however, that while Section 7 of the Act 
on  Equality  prohibits  both  direct  and  indirect  discrimination  on  the  grounds  of  sex,  and 
occupational social security is within the scope of the Act on Equality, there is no remedy 
under  the  Act  for  a  victim  of  discrimination.  Administrative  law  remedies  and  legality 
supervision are available. 

6.10 Remaining issues 

There are no remaining issues to report. 

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7 

Statutory schemes of social security (Directive 79/7) 

7.1  General (legal) context 

7.1.1  Overview of national acts 

The Sickness Insurance Act covers sickness and family-related benefits. The Employees’ 
Pensions Act (945/2006) covers pension schemes for the private sector, and the Pensions 
Act for Public Occupations (81/2016) covers state and municipal officials’ pensions, as well 
as  pensions  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  The  Sailors’  Pensions  Act  (1290/2006)  contains 
pension schemes for sailors. These pension acts cover old-age pensions, pensions for the 
disabled, as well as rehabilitation pensions. The National Pensions Act (568/2007) provides 
basic  pensions  for  persons  whose  pensions  under  work-related  pension  schemes  are 
inadequate.  Under  the  Unemployment  Security  Act  (1290/2002),  unemployed  persons 
receive either basic or earnings-related unemployment allowance. This legislation covers 
both occupational and statutory social security schemes in the sense that persons whose 
social  security  is  based  on  earnings  remains  too  low.  The  occupational  and  statutory 
schemes  are  co-ordinated  by  legislative  provisions  so  that,  for  example,  when  one’s 
occupational,  earnings-based  pension  is  lower  than  the  legal  minimum,  the  national 
pension under the National Pensions Act complements the occupational pension. Pensions, 
as well as social benefits, are adjusted according to changes in purchasing power through 
indexes calculated by Statistics Finland. Pensions are adjusted on the basis of the cost of 
living index and the pay index. 

7.1.2  Political and societal debate and pending legislative proposals 

Finnish  statutory  schemes  against  the  risk  of  sickness,  invalidity,  old  age,  occupational 
accidents and diseases and unemployment are related to the beneficiary’s income through 
work or entrepreneurship. The schemes are complemented by basic social security, which 
provides a basic benefit for all, mainly on the basis of residence, and by social assistance. 
The current Government aims to cut the level of basic social security, justifying the cuts 
by the need to cut sovereign debt, but also by the alleged rise in employment. The impact 
and desirability of the cuts has been under considerable debate.  

7.2  Implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in 

matters of social security 

The prohibition of discrimination under Section 7 of the Act on Equality applies to social 
security. However, there is no remedy or compensation for a victim of discrimination in 
the Act on Equality. The general principles of administrative law under Chapter 2, Section 6 
of the Act on Administration (434/2003) include the principle of equal treatment.  

Social security benefits are proportionally related to past income. As women have a lower 
wage  accumulation  than  men,  their  social  security  benefits  are  lower  in  proportion,  but 
there are no provisions that could be considered indirectly discriminatory. 

7.3  Personal scope 

Both basic and earnings-related allowance requires that the applicant lives permanently in 
Finland,  has  registered  as  an  unemployed  jobseeker  and,  in  the  case  of  unemployment 
allowance,  is  seeking  full-time  work,  is  able  to  work,  and  has  either  been  in  paid 
employment or self-employed for a required time. The requirements relating to ability and 
willingness to work full-time are assumedly more often fulfilled by men than women. The 
provision  implies  indirect  discrimination,  as  women  tend  to  work  part-time  more  often 
than men. Although women in Finland work part-time less often than women in most other 
EU countries, 23 % of employed women and 11.3 % of employed men still worked part-
time  in  2022.  Even  though  the  gender  gap  in  part-time  work  has  not  been  substantial, 

64 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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historically it has been constant. Women’s employment rate is higher than men’s, and has 
been growing in recent years. 120 The right to earnings-related allowance further requires 
that  the  jobseeker  has  been  insured  for  a  minimum  of  26  weeks  in  an  unemployment 
insurance  fund.  The  duration  of  the  unemployment  allowance  depends  on  the  person’s 
employment history. 

7.4  Material scope 

The material scope of the Finnish mandatory social security, both basic and income-based, 
covers the risks which Directive 79/7 mentions (sickness, disability, old age, occupational 
accidents and diseases and unemployment).  

7.5  Exclusions 

There  are  no  exclusions  concerning  equal  treatment  for  men  and  women  in  mandatory 
social security. The family pensions scheme under the Employees Pensions Act is gender-
neutral and involves both widows’ and widowers’ rights to a pension. There are no gender-
based differences concerning pension age. 

7.6  Actuarial factors 

Sex is not used as an actuarial factor in social security legislation. 

As explained under 6.6, one exception to this rule existed in the former Act on Accident 
Insurance,  under  which  compensation  for  long-term  health-related  injury  (disability 
allowance)  could  be  either  a  lump  sum  or  a  continuous  benefit.  The  lump  sum 
compensation calculation took into account the employee’s age according to criteria set 
by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. The criteria included separate mortality rates 
for men and women. The criteria were contested by a man (X) who was entitled to a lump 
sum compensation. He claimed that the lump sum for men should be calculated on the 
basis  of  the  same  criteria  as  those  laid  out  for  women.  X  brought  an  action  before  the 
Administrative  Court  and  appealed  the  decision  of  that  court  to  the  Supreme 
Administrative Court. X also claimed compensation from the state due to infringement of 
EU law. The Administrative Court referred the case to the CJEU, asking whether the use 
of different life expectancies for men and women as a criterion for statutory social security 
is  precluded  by  Article 4(1)  of  Directive (79/7)  (Supreme  Administrative  Court  decision 
KHO:2013:105). The Finnish Government pointed out that the accident in question had 
occurred in 1991, before Finnish accession to the EU, and claimed that not using different 
life expectancy rates for men and women would place women at disadvantage. There was 
no earlier EU case law on the matter.  

The CJEU held that a derogation from the principle of equal treatment cannot be made on 
the  basis  of  a  generalisation  concerning  men’s  and  women’s  life  expectancy.  The 
Directive precludes  national  legislation  that  uses  such  criteria  (case  C-318/13).121  The 
Supreme  Administrative  Court  then  found  that  EU  law  precluded  the  use  of  gender-
segregated  life  expectancy  criteria  but  found  that  the  infringement  of  EU  law  was  not 
sufficiently  evident  to  establish  state  responsibility  for  compensation  (Supreme 
Administrative Court decision KHO:2015:8). The new Act on Occupational Accidents and 
Diseases  (459/2015)  does  not  use  gender-segregated  life  expectancy  as  a  criterion  for 

120  Sutela, H. (2023), ’Viime vuosien työllisyyskasvu on ollut naisten ja ikääntyvien miesten varassa’ (The 

growth of the employment rate in recent years has been driven by women, young people and older men), 
Statistics Finland, https://stat.fi/tietotrendit/blogit/2023/viime-vuosien-tyollisyyskasvu-on-ollut-naisten-
seka-nuorten-ja-ikaantyvien-miesten-varassa. See also Statistics Finland, Erilaiset työsuhteet ja työnteon 
tavat: Osa-aikatyö (Different employment contracts and ways of working: part-time work), 
https://guides.stat.fi/tyoelama-tilastoina/tyosuhteet-ja-tyonteon-tavat. 

121 Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 3 September 2014, (request for a preliminary ruling from the 

Korkein hallinto-oikeus (Supreme Administrative Court of Finland)), lodged on 11 June 2014, 
ECLI:EU:C:2014:2133. 

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Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

calculating  compensation  under  the  Act.  The  Government  bill  proposing  new  legislation 
refers to the CJEU decision.122 

7.7  Difficulties 

There are no specific difficulties. 

7.8  Evaluation of implementation 

It is difficult to compare the Finnish social security system to what is legislated at the EU 
level,  as  the  Finnish  occupational  and  statutory  social  security  are  both  based  on 
mandatory provisions and the occupational security extends to groups not protected under 
EU law, such as entrepreneurs, agricultural entrepreneurs and persons receiving a grant. 
The occupational social security is complemented by mandatory social security not related 
to income from employment or entrepreneurial activities, providing basic benefits based 
on residence. The provisions are not discriminatory on the ground of sex. The requirements 
for receiving unemployment allowance involve criteria that are met somewhat more easily 
by men than women (for example, the person must be seeking full-time work), which may 
indicate indirect discrimination. A person allegedly discriminated against is not entitled to 
a remedy through gender equality law.  

The Act on Equality provides the victim of discrimination the right to demand compensation 
for discrimination in working life (Section 8), in an educational institution (8b), in a labour 
market organisation (8c), or in the provision of goods or services. Section 8 does not cover 
mandatory social security. Direct and indirect discrimination is prohibited under Section 7 
of the Act, and the Equality Ombudsman who monitors the Act should intervene in gender 
discrimination.  Complaints  may  be  filed  with  the  Chancellor  of  Justice  and  the 
Parliamentary Ombudsman, who make decisions on the legality of the acts of authorities. 
These  are  not  remedies  in  the  sense  that  they  do  not  involve  a  justiciable  right  and 
compensation for the victim. Administrative law remedies also must consider prohibitions 
of discrimination in the Constitution and in the Act on Equality. For example, a municipal 
decision may be overturned if it violates legislation by being discriminatory. 

The Finnish mandatory social security that covers the scope of Directive 79/7 are gender-
neutral, and do not discriminate directly on the ground of sex, concerning the scope of the 
schemes  and  conditions,  the  obligation  to  contribute  and  the  calculation  of  the 
contributions.  A  possible  exception  is  unemployment  benefit,  which  requires  that  the 
recipient be seeking full-time work. Finnish women work part-time more often than Finnish 
men. The gender gap when it comes to part-time work is 11.7 %, which may possibly be 
enough for an assumption of indirect discrimination. There is no  case  law on the issue. 
Finnish  mandatory  social  security  is  based  on  individual  benefits  and  does  not  include 
increasing benefits due to a spouse and dependants, the only exception being the right to 
family pensions under the pensions acts. The pensions acts reform started with the reform 
of the Employees’ Pensions Act and a gender impact analysis was then carried out. With 
the reform, time spent on maternity, special maternity, paternity and parental leave was 
added to the calculation of the right to benefit. The pension benefit for this unpaid time is 
calculated as a percentage of the income that was the basis for the family-related benefit 
under the Sickness Insurance Act.  

7.9  Remaining issues 

There are no remaining issues. 

122  Government Bill to the Parliament for an Act on Occupational Accidents and Diseases (Hallituksen esitys 
eduskunnalle työtapaturma- ja ammattitautilaiiksi ja eräiksi siihen liittyviksi laeiksi), HE 277/2014 vp. 

66 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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8 

Self-employed  workers  (Directive 2010/41/EU  and  some 
provisions of the Recast Directive) 

relevant 

8.1  Implementation of Directive 2010/41/EU 

The Act on Equality is the main legal instrument to implement Directive 2010/41/EU. There 
was no specific implementation of the Directive. The Act on Equality was amended in 2014, 
but  the  amendment  did  not  involve  considerations  concerning  self-employed  workers, 
related to Directive 2010/41/EU.  

8.2  Personal scope 

8.2.1  Scope 

The prohibition of discrimination under Section 7 of the Act is general and can be applied 
to self-employed persons, but the Section 8 guarantees of justiciable rights and access to 
remedies  against  discrimination  in  working  life  are  not  fully  applicable  to  the  self-
employed. Section 3(1) of the Act’s definition of an ‘employee’ applies ‘as appropriate, to 
persons  working  in  other  legal  relationships  that  are  comparable  to  an  employment 
relationship’. The preparatory works explain that the definition refers to forms of work that 
take  place  under  circumstances  similar  to  those  under  employment  contracts,  such  as 
independent workers  or entrepreneurs, freelancers, persons with their own professional 
practice  or  persons  who  are  engaged  in  care  work  in  families  under  an  assignment 
agreement  that  is  paid  by  public  funds  under  social  welfare  legislation.  Independent 
workers and entrepreneurs are only covered if they sell their own skills, even though they 
may act as entrepreneurs in the sense meant by unemployment or pension legislation. A 
person similar to an ‘employee’ cannot engage in activities that involve a proper enterprise 
risk or employ others. The definition of an employee thus covers self-employed persons in 
work-like  situations  and  in  these  cases  offers  remedies  and  sanctions.  The  definition, 
however, does not provide protection against discrimination when establishing a business 
and in other business-related situations. 

The legal distinction between workers and self-employed persons is not very clear under 
Finnish legislation. For example, persons who provide food delivery services were defined 
as employees by the Occupational Health Authority and Labour Council (an independent 
expert  body  under  the  Ministry  of  Economic  Affairs  and  Employment)  and,  thus,  the 
Working  Hours  Act  was  to  be  applied  to  them.123  In  2021,  however,  the  Administrative 
Court  of  Helsinki  considered  persons  engaged  in  platform-economy  food  delivery  as 
entrepreneurs.124 The Occupational Health Authority of the Regional State Administrative 
Agency  for  Southern  Finland  found  that  food  delivery  couriers  were  employees,  after 
asking  for  the  opinion  of  the  Labour  Council  on  labour  law  interpretation.  The 
Administrative Court of Häme overturned the decision of the Occupational Health Authority 
in  February  2024.  The  following  day,  the  Occupational  Health  Authority  announced  its 
intention to appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court, explaining that a precedent was 
needed  in  the  matter. 125  The  Labour  Council  has  also  found  that  freelance  interpreters 
may  be  considered  as  either  entrepreneurs  or  employees,  depending  on  the 
circumstances. The criteria for being an employee under the Employment Contracts Act 
Chapter 1, Section 1 include an agreement between employer and employee, under which 
the employee is bound to work personally under the direction of the employer for pay or 
other remuneration. The distinction between freelancer entrepreneurs and employees is 
typically drawn by considering whether the client de facto decides on the time and place 

123  Labour Council opinion TN1482-20, 5.10.2020. 
124  Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE 13.8.2021. 
125  Suomenmaa (2024),’Työsuojeluviranomainen hakee KHO:sta valituslupaa Woltin ruokalähettejä koskevaan 
päätökseen’ (The Occupational Health Authority appeals to the Supreme Administrative Court in the case 
concerning decision on food delivery couriers), https://www.suomenmaa.fi/uutiset/tyosuojeluviranomainen-
hakee-khosta-valituslupaa-ruokalahettijutussa/. 

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of  when  the  work  is  done,  whether  the  freelancer  plans  and  arranges  the  work,  and 
whether  the  freelancer  is  free  to  choose  the  work  him-  or  herself.  The  Labour  Council 
considered food service delivery workers to be employees from the point of view of working 
hours legislation in 2020.  

The definition of ‘employee’ under the Employment Contracts Act was amended in 2023. 
The  amendment  was  motivated  by  a  need  to  remove  uncertainly  in  working  life  by 
preventing work done under the guise of entrepreneurship. According to the preparatory 
works to the Act, 126 the legal nature of the work in problematic cases had been decided 
on the basis of ‘overall consideration’, taking into account the conditions of the contract 
between the parties, the aim of the parties and the real circumstances in which work was 
done.  

The amendment added an overall assessment of the relationship between the parties to 
the definition. 

The preparatory works also stressed the need to protect the weaker party. If all facts show 
that a person performing work is in a non-independent and subordinate position vis-à-vis 
the person who commissioned the work, the contract is one of employment. An addition 
to  the  provision  on  personal  scope  in  the  Employment  Contracts  Act  stipulates  that,  in 
ambiguous situations, an overall assessment shall be made (Act 329/2023). 

8.2.2  Definitions 

It is not entirely clear what the term ‘self-employed’ refers to under Finnish legislation and 
especially  what  the  term  ‘spouse  of  a  self-employed  person’  refers  to.  A  person  may 
establish an  enterprise, but the obligation to  register  only  exists if the  enterprise has a 
business  location  or  employs  persons  other  than  the  spouse  or  under-age  child  of  the 
entrepreneur.  No  documents  are  needed  to  establish  an  enterprise,  unless  the 
entrepreneur wishes to run it in a company form, although the entrepreneur is still obliged 
to  submit  a  tax  declaration  and  follow  any  special  regulations  relating  to  their  line  of 
activity.  There  is  no  specific  legislation  on  self-employed  persons  who  are  considered 
entrepreneurs. The scope of the Employment Contracts Act is defined by a rather strict 
definition  of  employment  contract.  Agricultural  entrepreneurs  are  not  considered 
entrepreneurs, as there is specific legislation concerning the occupation. In general, the 
self-employed are not a specific category. Statistics Finland considers the self-employed 
to be persons who are not in employment and who have no employees, while they may 
have partners.127 For example, persons working on a scholarship are considered to be self-
employed  entrepreneurs.  The  Employment  Contracts  Act  definition  of  ‘employee’  was 
amended in 2023 (see under 8.2.1) to help define who may be considered ‘self-employed’.  

8.2.3  Categorisation and coverage 

Entrepreneurs,  including  agricultural  entrepreneurs,  are  covered  by  social  security 
legislation, as well as the Act on Equality. Certain provisions, such as how the income is 
to be divided between spouses and a right to a replacement during family-related leave, 
only cover agricultural entrepreneurs. As the information based on surveys shows, while 
there  is  no  de  jure  categorisation  between  entrepreneurs  and  the  self-employed,  there 
exist  considerable  de  facto  differences  in  the  circumstances  of  different  types  of 
entrepreneurs. 

126  HE 215/2022 vp., Government Bill on amendments to the Employment Contracts Act, Chapter 1, Section 1, 
and Sea Employment Act, Chapter 13, Section 15 (Hallituksen esitys eduskunnalle laeiksi työsopimuslain 1 
luvun 1 §:n ja merityösopimuslain 13 luvun 15 §:n muuttamisesta). 

127  Sutela, H. Pärnänen A. (2018) Yrittäjät Suomessa 2017 (Entrepreneurs in Finland 2017). Statistics Finland 

2018, 
https://www.doria.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/184210/ytym_201700_2018_21465_net_p2.pdf?sequence=1
&isAllowed=y. 

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8.2.4  Recognition of life partners 

Life partners128 are considered family members and if they participate in their partner’s 
enterprise they are covered independently. There is no regulation as to how spouses or 
life partners who run an enterprise together are to divide the income from the enterprise 
between  themselves  for  purposes  of  the  entrepreneurs’  pension  scheme.  The  Act  on 
Agricultural Entrepreneurs’ Pensions (1280/2006) provides pensions similar to those in the 
Entrepreneurs’ Pension Act. An agricultural entrepreneur is defined under Section 3 as a 
person who alone or together with others runs an agricultural business on a minimum of 
five  hectares  of  agricultural  land,  is  a  professional  fisher  without  being  in  employment, 
runs reindeer husbandry, performs these activities as a family member of the entrepreneur 
or is in a life partnership with the entrepreneur. The provisions on agricultural enterprises 
in company form are similar to those for other enterprises and the annual income from 
agriculture is calculated per hectare of land or forest (or the number of reindeer herders). 
Unlike  in  other  entrepreneurs’  pension  schemes,  the  income  cannot  be  divided  freely 
between the spouses or life partners for pension purposes. Under Section 18 of the Act, 
the agricultural income is to be shared so that one third is calculated for each spouse and 
only one third may be divided between them as they agree. 

8.3  Material scope 

8.3.1  Implementation of Article 4 of Directive 2010/41/EU 

There is no explicit implementation of the principle of equal treatment concerning the self-
employed  in  Finland.  Becoming  a  private  entrepreneur  happens  by  filing  an  online 
notification  to  the  Trade  Register,  and  filing  notifications  with  the  Finnish  Tax 
Administration. The provisions on establishing or launching an extension to activities as 
an entrepreneur are gender-neutral. A new full-time entrepreneur may apply for a startup 
support grant from public employment and business services. The conditions for a grant 
are gender-neutral, but there are no studies available on whether indirect discrimination 
occurs when the conditions are applied. Statistically, it is known, however, that part-time 
entrepreneurship  is  more  common  than  part-time  work,  and  that  women  are  part-time 
entrepreneurs more often than men (32.1 % of women versus 23.7 % of men were part-
time entrepreneurs in 2021). The gender gap (8.5 %) is not substantial, but it does raise 
the  question  of  indirect  discrimination.    The  increase in  remote  working  among  women 
after the pandemic may reduce the motivation to pursue part-time self-employment, but 
so far there have been no studies on the issue. A person who wishes to finish acting as 
self-employed  and  become  a  jobseeker  may  find  difficulties  in  showing  that  self-
employment has come to an end. For example, persons working on a scholarship need to 
show  a  clear  termination  of  the  activity.  While  these  difficulties  have  been  discussed  in 
public debate, there is no information on indirect sex discrimination being involved. The 
social  insurance  of  entrepreneurs  is  arranged  under  the  Entrepreneurs’  Pensions  Act 
(1272/2006). The provisions of the Act are gender-neutral.  

8.3.2  Material scope 

The material scope of the Act on Equality is broad, as the Act is applied to all fields of life, 
excluding  the  religious  activities  of  religious  communities  and  personal  relations  within 
families. Members of Parliament and the President are not liable to give an explanation on 
their acts or pay compensation, as stipulated by the Act. The material scope of the Act is 
limited similarly to its personal scope by the lack of remedy for a person who has been 
discriminated  against.  Administrative  remedies  and  compensation  may  be  available  in 
these cases. 

128  ‘Life partner’ in these provisions is a very open term referring to persons living together under 

circumstances that resemble marriage. 

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8.4  Positive action 

The  Act  on  Equality  requires  many  positive  action  measures  for  the  employed,  but  no 
positive action measures are stipulated concerning the self-employed.  

8.5  Social protection 

Entrepreneurs  and  agricultural  entrepreneurs  are  covered  by  social  insurance,  as 
explained  below,  under  8.7.  The  self-employed  person  has  access  to  statutory 
unemployment services and benefits, but they need to show that their activities as self-
employed have come to an end.  

8.6  Maternity benefits 

The  self-employed  are  covered  under  health  and  social  welfare  legislation,  including 
maternity benefits under the Sickness Insurance Act, Chapter 9, Sections 2-5. Maternity 
benefits, as well as  other family-related benefits, are defined under Chapter 9, and the 
level of benefits under Chapter 11 of the Sickness Insurance Act. The level of the benefit 
is related to an entrepreneur’s income during the previous year (Chapter 11, Section 2). 
The income brackets used as the basis of the benefit for the self-employed are the same 
as for the employed. 

8.7  Occupational social security 

8.7.1  Implementation of provisions regarding occupational social security 

The  self-employed  are  covered  by  occupational  security.  Statutory  social  insurance 
through  the  Entrepreneurs’  Pensions  Act  includes  old  age,  disability,  rehabilitation  and 
family  pensions.  Persons  working  on  a  scholarship  are  insured  under  the  Agricultural 
Entrepreneurs’  Pensions  Act  (1280/2006),  Section 8a.  An  entrepreneur  under  the 
Entrepreneurs’ Pensions Act is a person who is in gainful activity without being under an 
employment  relationship  or  in  public  office  (Section 3).  Income  under  EUR 5 504  is 
excluded, as well as entrepreneurship of persons under 18 and over 68 years (Section 4). 
Because the income of self-employed persons is on average lower than that of persons in 
employment,  their  social  security  benefits  are  lower.  Directive 2010/41  applies  to  self-
employed  workers.  Irrespective  of  the  interpretation  given  to  the  term  (employed  or 
entrepreneur),  Finnish  social  insurance  covers  the  self-employed,  either  as  employed 
persons, entrepreneurs or agricultural entrepreneurs. 

In practice, it is often difficult to differentiate between employment and entrepreneurship. 
The self-employed, often referred to as ‘light entrepreneurs’, often use billing services but 
do not necessarily insure themselves as the Entrepreneurs’ Pensions Act requires.  

A proposal to amend the Entrepreneurs’ Pensions Act was made to the Parliament in 2022. 
It was proposed that the  occupational  social security  of all  entrepreneurs, including the 
self-employed, would be enhanced by more effective monitoring of the de facto income of 
the  entrepreneurs.  The  entrepreneurs  in  practice  self-report  their  income  and  tend  to 
report lower income than they de facto receive, which leads to low pension levels. Such 
low pensions need to be supplemented from statutory minimum pension funding.129 The 
amendment was adopted in December 2022 (Act 1157/2022).  

129  HE 102/2022 vp, Government Bill to the Parliament on amendment of the Entrepreneurs’ Pensions Act and 

related acts (Hallituksen esitys eduskunnalle laeiksi yrittäjän eläkelain ja eräiden muiden lakien 
muuttamisesta). 

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8.7.2  Application  of  exceptions  for  self-employed  persons  regarding  matters  of 

occupational social security (Article 11 of Recast Directive 2006/54) 

There are no further remarks. 

8.8  Prohibition of discrimination 

Section 7 of the Act on Equality, which defines and prohibits direct and indirect gender-
based  discrimination,  applies  to  gender-based  discrimination  of  self-employed  persons. 
The prohibition under Section 7 is not a justiciable provision and a victim of discrimination 
has no right to compensation for violation of the Section. The prohibition of discrimination 
in working life extends to the self-employed only in cases explained under section 8.2.  

8.9  Evaluation of implementation 

In certain matters, Finnish legislation exceeds the requirements of EU law. For example, 
pregnancy  and  parental  leave  benefits  are  extended  to  self-employed  persons.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  distinction  between  an  employee  and  a  self-employed  person  remains 
difficult  even  after  the  amendment  of  the  definition  of  ‘employee’  in  the  Employment 
Contracts Act. 

8.10 Remaining issues 

There are no remaining issues. 

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9 

Goods and services (Directive 2004/113) 130 

9.1  General (legal) context 

9.1.1  Specific  problems  of  discrimination 

in 

the  online  environment/digital 

market/collaborative economy 

The expansion of the collaborative economy has been noted in Finland, but so far there 
are no legal responses to problems arising in that context. Problems of discrimination in 
the  online  environment  are  not  yet  reported,  except  for  online  gender-based  violence 
against  women.  There  are  currently  no  public  reports  of  problems  in  the  collaborative 
economy.  

The impact of the digitalisation of public services has been debated and studies have 
been conducted, such as a follow-up study on users’ experience with digital social and 
healthcare services. 131 Gender has not been considered a crucial factor in this context, 
however. Age and a low level of education have been pointed out as factors that may 
hamper a person’s access to digital services. A recent study by Statistics Finland shows 
that collaborative economy work is not very common (3.9 % of the population had done 
such work in 2022), and that it was the main occupation only for 27 % of those who did 
it. Of those performing such work, 55 % were men, 45 % women. Platform work was 
relatively more popular among immigrants. The majority of them considered themselves 
entrepreneurs, but one fifth thought themselves employees, and 24 % could not say 
whether they were entrepreneurs or employees.132  

9.1.2  Political and societal debate 

There is much debate about the desirability of digital public sphere services. Mostly, the 
Finnish attitude to digital services has been quite positive – perhaps because there is 
good access to internet and because such services make sense in a country marked by 
long geographical distances. The vulnerability of digital social and health services has 
been under debate, especially since a private company that provided mental health 
services underwent digital breaches in 2018 and 2019, leading to 22 000 patients 
reporting to the police that their medical data had been stolen. Yet the gendered aspects 
of issues related to this development have not been in focus. Digital health and social 
services have become common, in particular when there is a need to cut the costs of 
public services. Replacing traditional doctor’s appointments or certain personal social 
services with digital services has provoked a debate. 

9.2  Prohibition of direct and indirect discrimination 

Section 8(e)  of  the  Act  on  Equality  defines  the  offering  of  goods  and  services  as 
discriminatory if it falls under the definition of discrimination (including direct and indirect 
discrimination) under Section 7 of the Act. 

130  See e.g. Caracciolo di Torella, E. (2021), Directive 2004/113EC on Gender equality in goods and services – 
In search of the potential of a forgotten Directive, European network of legal experts in gender equality and 
non-discrimination, available at: https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/5614-directive-2004-113-ec-on-
gender-equality-in-goods-and-services-in-search-of-the-potential-of-a-forgotten-directive-1-38-mb and 
www.julkari.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/142675/URN_ISBN_978-952-343-680-0.pdf?sequ. 

131  Kyytsönen, M., Aalto, A-M., Vehko, T. (2021), Sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollon sähköinen asiointi 2020-2021: 

Väestön kokemukset (Social and healthcare online service use in 2020-2021: Experiences of the 
population) Finnish institute for Health and Welfare (THO) Report 7/2021. 
https://www.julkari.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/142675/URN_ISBN_978-952-343-680-
0.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. 

132  Pärnänen, A. (2023), ’Alustatyö on yhä vähäistä mutta ulkomaalaisten keskuudessa suosittua’ (Platform 

work is still rare, but it is popular among immigrants), Statistics Finland, 29 June 2023, 
https://www.stat.fi/tietotrendit/artikkelit/2023/alustatyo-on-yha-vahaista-mutta-ulkomaalaistaustaisten-
keskuudessa-suosittua/. 

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9.3  Material scope 

The material scope of the provision mirrors the material scope of the Directive. 

9.4  Exceptions 

Section 8(e)(3) contains the exceptions provided for by Article 3(3) of the Directive: the 
prohibition of discrimination in access to goods and services is not applied to the content 
of media or advertising, or to education.  

9.5  Justification of differences in treatment  

Section 8(e)(2)  allows  the  provision  of  goods  or  services  exclusively  or  primarily  to 
members of one sex if it is justified by a legitimate aim and if the means of achieving that 
aim are appropriate and necessary. The Equality Ombudsman has considered that offers 
to one sex only are justified if their value in money is small; e.g., when special offers are 
made in relation to the annual mother’s, father’s or women’s day celebrations. Some public 
baths and swimming pools offer some time slots for men and women separately and public 
saunas are offered for men and women separately. 

The opinions of the Equality Ombudsman concern different types of services to one sex 
only. One opinion concerns an island on which an enterprise established a resort for women 
only  (SuperShe  Island),  with  the  aim  of  providing  businesswomen  the  possibility  of 
networking together. The Ombudsman found that the size of the island was small and the 
premises such that it would be difficult to divide them for men and women. Provision of 
services  for  women  served  a  legitimate  aim  and  offering  them  for  women  only  was 
appropriate  and  necessary  for  reasons  of  privacy  and  decency  and  the  limited  space 
available.  Provision  of  services  to  women  only  on  the  island  did  not  breach  the  Act  on 
Equality.133  

Another  opinion  considered  the  right  of  a  Muslim  beauty  care  entrepreneur  to  provide 
services  to  women  only.  The  entrepreneur  justified  this  by  invoking  her  religion.  The 
Equality Ombudsman noted that belief, religion or cultural reasons do not automatically 
justify  a  violation  of  the  principle  of  equality.  The  Ombudsman  held,  however,  that  an 
understanding of decency that does not approve of touching a person of the other sex may 
be considered a justification for providing private services to women only. In the provision 
of public services, the interpretation of what is justified could be narrower.134 The Equality 
Ombudsman’s website provides examples of justified provision of services to one sex only. 
These  are,  for  example,  services  to  victims  of  gender-based  violence,  services  where 
privacy is important and sports activities.  

Another  type  of  case  on  which  the  Equality  Ombudsman  has  given  opinions  concerns 
discounts offered only for one sex. A restaurant offering two drinks for persons wearing 
(women’s)  dresses  once  a  month  was  found  to  be  indirectly  discriminatory,  as  wearing 
(women’s) dress was more common among women, and an offer given each month could 
not be considered a rare consideration.135 The Ombudsman has found that special offers 
to women around Mother’s Day are such rare considerations, and are not discriminatory.  

9.6  Actuarial factors 

Section 10, Chapter 31 of the Act on Insurance Companies (521/2008) prohibits the use 
of  sex  as  an  actuarial  factor  in  the  calculation  of  premiums  and  benefits  in  consumer 
insurance. Sex may be used as an actuarial factor in other types of insurance policies than 
those marketed to consumers and, in that case, on the condition that sex is a factor that 

133  TAS 75/2018, 4.6.2018. 
134  TAS 37/2020, 27.11.2020. 
135  TAS 357/2020, 23.10.2020. 

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affects risk calculation, assessed on the basis of actuarial facts and statistics. Insurance 
not  marketed  to  consumers  includes,  for  example,  tailored  insurance  offered  to 
entrepreneurs against risks to property. 

9.7  Interpretation of exception contained in Article 5(2) of Directive 2004/113 

The provisions that allowed the use of sex as actuarial factor were repealed and the new 
provision described above adopted in 2012.  This means that the  exception is no longer 
relevant  concerning  consumer  insurance.  Employers  have  started  to  provide  pension 
schemes for some of their employees (typically for directors or high-level executives) that 
are not considered as consumer insurance and, as they are not consumer schemes, sex 
may then be used as actuarial factor under the Finnish Act on Insurance Companies. There 
is no readily available information about the possible use of sex as actuarial factor in these 
insurance schemes, perhaps because of their minimal role in the overall pension insurance 
system. It is estimated that 95 % of the overall pension system consists of the statutory 
employment-related  pensions  and  the  national  basic  pension,  with  the  remaining  5 % 
being  either  voluntary  employment-related  and  individual  voluntary  pensions. 136 
Individual  pension  insurance  that  is  paid  by  the  employer  is  considered  pay  for  tax 
purposes. Tax authorities do not specify whether collective pension insurance paid by the 
employer  or  through  collective  agreements  is  pay.  There  has  been  no  discussion  on 
whether such insurance is within the scope of Directive 2004/113.   

9.8  Positive action measures (Article 6 of Directive 2004/113) 

There are no positive action measures for provision of goods and services. 

9.9  Specific problems related to pregnancy, maternity or parenthood 

There are no specific problems related to pregnancy, maternity or parenthood. The Finnish 
air  carrier  Finnair  restricts  flying  during  pregnancy,  but  that  has  not  been  under 
debate. 137There is little information on whether sex is used as actuarial factor in pension 
schemes that supplement the mandatory work-related pensions, whether these are paid 
by the employer or through collective agreements. 

9.10 Evaluation of implementation 

EU  gender  equality  law  is  applied  correctly  at  the  level  of  legislation.  Differently  priced 
services at hairdressers remain common, but no effective measures have been taken to 
prevent the usage. It is the opinion of the writer that marketing goods and services in a 
gender-differentiated  manner  irritates  many,  but  that  there  is  little  in-depth  analysis  of 
whether  indirect  discrimination  may  occur,  as  there  are  few  studies  or  gender-impact 
assessments on the issue. 

9.11 Remaining issues 

There are no remaining issues. 

136  Finnish Centre for Pensions, ‘Supplementary pensions’, https://www.etk.fi/en/finnish-pension-

system/pensions/earnings-related-pension-benefits/supplementary-pensions/.  

137  Finnair, ‘Travelling while pregnant’, https://www.finnair.com/en/special-assistance-and-health/travelling-

while-pregnant.  

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10  Violence  against  women  and domestic violence  in  relation to  the Istanbul 
Convention  and  the  Violence  Against  Women  Directive  (Directive  (EU) 
2024/1385)138 

10.1 General (legal) context with regard to the obligation set out by the Istanbul 

Convention 

10.1.1 Surveys and reports on issues of violence against women and domestic violence 

Surveys  and  statistics  on  violence  against  women  have  been  available  for  decades.  An 
important official attempt to gather information on the issue was made by the Council for 
Gender  Equality  in  1990,  which  established  a  committee  to  undertake  a  fact-finding 
mission on violence against women in Finland. Today, information is collected from crime 
statistics, national victim surveys and special studies on violence against women and men. 
These sources provide information on different aspects of violence against women. Interim 
results  of  the  Eurostat  EU  survey  on  gender-based  violence  against  women  and  other 
forms of interpersonal violence (EU-GVB) are also available.139 The latest statistics show 
a rise in the number of incidents of family violence140 and registered sexual violence. The 
increase in sexual violence may reflect the amendment to the Criminal Code. Rape and 
related  crimes  under  Chapter  20  of  the  Code  became  defined  by  the  victim’s  lack  of 
consent,  which  is  assumed  to  have  led  to  higher  reporting  of  crimes.  The  number  of 
registered violence in intimate relations has risen in recent years, but the rise cannot be 
explained by law amendments.  141 

10.1.2 Overview of national acts on violence against women, domestic violence and issues 

related to the Istanbul Convention 

Finnish legislation on violence, including both criminal law and victim services, is strictly 
gender-neutral.  In  the  Criminal  Code  (39/1889),  for  example,  several  provisions  in 
Chapter 20 on sexual crimes, Chapter 21 on crimes against life and health and Chapter 25 
on  crimes  against  freedom  have  been  amended.  Earlier  amendments  of  Chapter  20 
involved  a  gender-neutral  definition  of  rape.  In  the  past  ten  years,  most  sexual  crimes 
have been brought under public prosecution, physical harassment has been criminalised 
and  the  definitions  of  several  sexual  crimes  have  been  changed.  Physical  sexual 
harassment was criminalised in 2014. As to crimes against life and death (Chapter 21), 
the  crime  of  petty  assault  against  the  offender’s  spouse,  former  spouse  or  partner  was 
brought under public prosecution in 2011. Until then, the prosecutor could not act unless 
the  victim  required  the  perpetrator  to  be  punished.  Stalking  was  criminalised  under 
Chapter 25 of the Criminal Code in 2013.  

A reform of Chapter 20 on sexual crimes of the Criminal Code was carried out in 2022 (Act 
723/2022). The amendment came into force in early 2023. After the reform, sexual crimes 

138  See for more information: Nousiainen, K. and Chinkin, C. (2015), Legal implications of EU accession to the 

Istanbul Convention, European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, 
available at https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/3794-legal-implications-of-eu-accession-to-the-
istanbul-convention; and De Vido, S., Sosa, L. (2021) Criminalisation of gender-based violence against 
women in European States, including ICT-facilitated violence, European Commission, available at: 
https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/5535-criminalisation-of-gender-based-violence-against-women-in-
european-states-including-ict-facilitated-violence-1-97-mb. 

139  Eurostat overview of gender-based violence, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/gender-based-

violence/overview. 

140  In 2023, the number of victims of violence committed by a spouse increased by 10.7 % from the previous 
year, while that of victims of violence in intimate relationships increased by 5 %. Violence by a parent 
against a child also increased by 10 %. Of the adult victims of these crimes, 75 % were women and 75 % 
of the suspected perpetrators were men. The data is based on cases that have been registered by 
authorities – see Statistics Finland (2024), ’Domestic and intimate partner violence reported to the 
authorities increased by 5 % in 2023’, https://stat.fi/en/publication/cln32gnj49hev0cutpmcsm4ko. 
141  Amendments to the Criminal Code concerning sexual crimes came into force in 2023. See also Statistics 

Finland (2024), ’Number of reported sexual offences grew by 22 % in January-March 2024’, 
https://stat.fi/en/publication/cln31qvd198z70cut67ucn78e. 

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are  defined  in  terms  of  lack  of  consent  and  no  longer  in  terms  of  violence  or  threat  of 
violence as before. The reform reinforced sanctions for sexual crimes against children and 
criminalised  verbal  sexual  harassment.  The  Act  on  Protection  Orders  (898/1998)  was 
adopted in 1998 and amended in 2022. The reform enhanced the authorities’ duty to act 
in officio to have protection orders in place and included a new duty to direct victims of 
violence  in  protection  order  issues  to  services  dedicated  to  victims.  The  state  provides 
funding  for  shelters  for  victims  of  violence  in  intimate  relations  under  the  Act  on  State 
Subsidies for Providers of Shelters (1354/2014).  

One of the legislative changes caused by the Istanbul Convention was that the state was 
made responsible for supporting shelters for victims of violence against women by an act 
adopted in 2014 (Act 2014/1354). Before this legislative reform, shelters were supported 
by municipalities and non-governmental organisations. State support led to a considerable 
increase in the provision of victim services, as well as better regional coverage. The current 
Government’s  Equality  Programme  for  the  period  2024-2027  notes  that  the  number  of 
shelters  for  victims  of  family  violence  and  violence  in  intimate  relationships  should  be 
increased, as it is not sufficient in all regions. For example, in the Sami homeland area, 
which  consists  of  the  northernmost  municipalities  of  Finland,  there  are  currently  no 
shelters  at  all.  The  Equality  Programme  also  aims  to  end  conciliation  of  cases  of  family 
violence and violence in intimate relationships. 142 

Action plans on implementation of the Istanbul Convention have been made since 2018. 143 
Increasing  coordination  among  authorities  and  other  stakeholders  involved  in  the 
prevention of violence against women, as well as further improvements to the provision 
of victim services, have been stressed in the action plans.144  

10.1.3 Political and societal debate 

Societal debate on the legal sanctions for sexual crimes has been active for a long time. 
Sanctions for sexual crimes have been considered unduly lenient in the public debate and 
now  the  impact  of  the  reform  of  the  Criminal  Code  chapter  on  sexual  crimes  is  being 
monitored.  

The  previous  Government  carried  out  an  Action  Plan  for  Combating  Violence  against 
Women, prepared by an intersectoral working group. Recommendations made by GREVIO 
(the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence) 
were taken into account in the Plan. The Action Plan included measures aimed at better 
coordination  among  various  actors  for  better  violence  prevention,  at  improving  the 
competence  of  judicial  and  criminal  investigation  officials,  and  at  raising  awareness  of 
honour-related and online violence. The Ministry of Justice considered that the Action Plan 
had been implemented successfully.145 

142  Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (2025), Hallituksen tasa-arvo-ohjelma 2024-2027 (Government 
Equality Programme 2024-2027) – see chapter 5, ‘Naisiin kohdistuva, lähisuhde- ja muu väkivalta’ 
(Violence against women, violence in intimate relations and other violence), 
https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/165995/STM_2025_1_J.pdf. 

143  Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (2017), Istanbullin sopimuksen toimeenpanosuunnitelma 2018-2021 

(Action plan for implementing the Istanbul Convention), publication 2017:16. 

144  Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (2022), Istanbulin sopimuksen toimeenpanosuunnitelma vuosille 2022-

2025 (Action plan for implementing the Istanbul Convention), publication 2022:7, 
https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/163902/STM_22_7_J.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowe
d=y. 

145  Ministry of Justice (2023), ‘Naisiin kohdistuvan väkivallan torjuntaohjelma toteutui hyvin’ (The Action Plan 
for Combating Violence against Women was Successful), 27.3.2023, https://oikeusministerio.fi/-/naisiin-
kohdistuvan-vakivallan-torjuntaohjelma-toteutui-hyvin. 

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10.2 General context with regard to the obligation set out by the Violence Against 

Women Directive 

10.2.1 Preparatory transposition work  

The Ministry of Justice, which is responsible for criminal law matters, intends to appoint a 
working group to prepare the transposition of the Directive. The Criminal Code has been 
amended in recent years to better implement the Istanbul Convention but also to prepare 
for  transposing  the  Violence  Against  Women  Directive.  The  Criminal  Code  provision  on 
aggravating  circumstances  in  sentencing  was  amended  in  2022  to  include  sex  as  a 
motivational  factor  for  a  crime  (Chapter  6,  Section 5(1)(4).  The  amendment  to  the 
Criminal Code mentioned above was made with the aim of combating hate speech against 
female politicians and journalists, but during the preparation  of the law, the solution of 
amending the provision on hate speech was abandoned. 

Chapter 21 of the Criminal Code was amended in 2024 (Act 92/2024) by adding two new 
provisions on female genital mutilation, namely Section 6(b), which criminalises feminine 
genital mutilation, and Section 6(c), which prohibits preparations for such mutilation. The 
latter  crime  is  when  a  person  knows  about  a  planned  mutilation  and  does  not  inform 
authorities, takes a woman or a girl abroad for such mutilation, or forces or persuades a 
woman or a girl to submit to such mutilation. The preparatory works of the amendment 
refer  to  the  Istanbul  Convention  and  the  Violence  Against  Women  Directive.  Genital 
mutilation  was  previously  treated  as  assault.  Under  the  Act  on  the  Amendment  of  the 
Marriage Act (Act 484/2023), forced marriage may be annulled under Chapter 6, Section 
27(a),  with  a  legal  effect  similar  to  that  of  divorce  (Section  27(b)).  A  memorandum  on 
opinions  on  criminalising  the  forcing  of  a  person  into  marriage  was  published  by  the 
Ministry  of  Justice  in  2023.146  Most  stakeholders  considered  it  necessary  to  amend  the 
Criminal  Code  so  as  to  criminalise  forced  marriage.  The  current  Government’s  Equality 
Programme  promised  to  clarify  the  need  to  criminalise  the  forcing  of  a  person  into 
marriage,147  and  the  Criminal  Code  was  amended  in  December  2024  by  adding  forced 
marriage to the acts criminalised as trafficing in human beings under Chapter 25, Section 
3 of the Code.148   

10.2.2 National provisions on cyber violence  

Violation of peace of communication was criminalised in 2013 by Chapter 24, Section 1(a) 
of  the  Criminal  Code.  The  crime  consists  of  harassing  another  person  by  repeatedly 
sending  messages  that  cause  disturbance  or  harm.  However,  the  provision  does  not 
explicitly cover all forms of violence and harassment online, but may be applied to online 
sexual  harassment.  Stalking  (Chapter  25,  Section 7(a))  covers  repeatedly  threatening, 
observing,  contacting  and  otherwise  stalking  a  person,  and  thus  some  forms  of  online 
harassment. The crime of wrongful distribution of a sexual image (Section 7) is a crime 
against sexual self-determination. The crime is often committed online. 

Chapter  20  of  the  new  Criminal  Code  on  sexual  crimes,  adopted  in  2022,  includes  the 
crime of wrongful distribution of a sexual image (Section 7). The Criminal Code provision 
on  aggravating  circumstances  in  sentencing  was  amended  in  2022  to  include  sex  as  a 
motivational  factor  for  crime  (Chapter  6,  Section  5  (1)4).  The  amendment  covers 
centencing  in  general,  but  was  considered  also  as  a  means  of  combating  hate  speech 
against female politicians and journalists.  

146  Ministry of Justice (2023), ‘Memorandum on the punishability of forcing a person to enter into marriage: 

summary of opinions’, Memorandums 2023:10. 

147  Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (2025), Hallituksen tasa-arvo-ohjelma 2024-2027 (Government 

Equality Programme 2024-2027), 
https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/165995/STM_2025_1_J.pdf. 

148  Laki rikoslain 25 luvun 3 §:n muuttamisesta (Act on amendment of Chapter 25, Section 3 of the Criminal 

Code). The amendment came into force on 1 January 2025. 

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10.3 Ratification of the Istanbul Convention 

Finland has ratified the Istanbul Convention, which came into force on 1 August 2015. The 
Criminal  Code  was  amended  before  the  ratification  (introducing  stalking  and  physical 
sexual harassment as crimes) and an Act on compensation for shelter providers from state 
funds  was  introduced  at  ratification.  This  latter  Act  was  introduced  to  provide 
compensation  for  the  municipalities  and  (a  few)  private  providers  of  shelters.  When 
Parliament  accepted  the  Government  Bill  on  ratification  (HE  155/2014)  in  2014,  it 
requested  that  the  shelter  provision  be  improved,  that  special  services  to  victims  be 
provided  and  that  the  NGOs  that  are  active  in  the  area  receive  appropriate  funding 
(Response of Parliament EV 307/2014 vp – HE 155/2014 vp). There was notable expert 
criticism  of  the  failure  of  Finnish  law  to  fulfil  the  substantive  law  requirements  of  the 
Convention;  Parliament’s  Employment  and  Equality  Committee  noted  this  criticism  and 
called for follow-up measures (Report of the Committee TyVM 15/2014 vp).  

The  Ministry  of  Social  Affairs  and  Health  coordinates  the  implementation  across  all 
ministries  involved.  It  provided  the  second  Action  Plan  for  the  Istanbul  Convention  for 
2022-2025 following the first Plan for 2018-2021. The second Action Plan’s objectives are 
largely  based  on  the  recommendations  issued  by  GREVIO. 149  A  coordinating  committee 
(NAPE) monitors the work in the relevant ministries and takes measures such as setting 
up funding for the national helpline. GREVIO’s first baseline Evaluation Report on Finland 150 
identified a number of priority issues requiring state action. GREVIO strongly encouraged 
several  measures  and  also  urged  certain  other  measures  to  be  taken:  mandatory  and 
systematic  training  for  law-enforcement  officers  and  prosecutors;  consideration  of  all 
issues related to violence against women when determining custody and visitation rights; 
introduction of clear protocols and guidelines on mediation in domestic violence cases to 
enhance the response of law-enforcement authorities to violence against women, as well 
as taking measures regarding abused foreign women in fear of deportation.  

The statistical monitoring of violence against women has become regular since the Ministry 
of  Justice’s  Action  Plan  Combating  Violence  against  Women  for  2020-2023  has  been 
running.151  

149  Ministry of Social Affairs and Health Action Plan for the Istanbul Convention for 2022-2025, 08.03.2022. 
150  GREVIO’s (Baseline) EvaluationReport on legislative and other measures giving effect to the provisions of 
the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic 
Violence (Istanbul Convention) FINLAND, GREVIO/Inf/(2019)9., https://rm.coe.int/grevio-report-on-
finland/168097129d. 

151  Ministry of Justice Action Plan on Combating Violence against Women for 2020-2023, 22.10.2020. 

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11  Compliance  and  enforcement  aspects  (horizontal  provisions  of  all 

directives)  

Non-discrimination and equality law may be enforced through a quasi-judicial body (the 
Non-Discrimination  and  Equality  Board),  the  civil  courts  (for  compensation  claims),  the 
administrative  courts  (in  relation  to  discrimination  in  administrative  matters,  including 
discrimination in recruitment to public office), or the Labour Court (for matters concerning 
collective agreements). 

11.1 General (legal) context 

11.1.1 Issues related to the pursuit of a discrimination claim 

The  monitoring  system  of  the  Act  on  Equality  has  two  tiers:  the  Equality  Ombudsman 
monitors  enforcement  of  the  Act  and  the  prohibition  of  gender  discrimination.152  The 
provisions on the monitoring bodies and their mandate are located in the Act on Equality 
and the Act on the Equality Ombudsman (1328/2014). In the main, monitoring should be 
conducted by providing guidelines and counselling according to the preparatory works for 
the Act on Equality. The Non-Discrimination and Equality Tribunal153 is a quasi-judicial body 
which has the competence to deal with cases under both the Non-Discrimination Act (which 
covers prohibited grounds of discrimination other than gender) and the Act on Equality. A 
victim  of  gender  discrimination  cannot  submit  a  case  to  the  Tribunal  independently,  as 
such cases may only be submitted by the Equality Ombudsman or the main social partners. 
The  Tribunal  has  the  mandate  to  prohibit  the  continuation  of  discrimination,  but  no 
mandate to order compensation for the victim. The Equality Ombudsman has the mandate 
to conciliate parties of an alleged violation of the Act on Equality, but a conciliation needs 
to be confirmed by the Tribunal. In practice, the Equality Ombudsman aims at voluntary 
compliance with the Act and has only brought two cases to the Tribunal. The social partners 
have brought none.  

The Ombudsman has the mandate to assist a victim at court (Section 3 of the Act on the 
Equality Ombudsman), but the mandate is restricted to cases that the Ombudsman finds 
to  have  ‘considerable  importance  for  implementation  of  the  Act  on  Equality’.  The 
Ombudsman doesn’t have powers to bring cases on their own initiative. The provision on 
assistance  from  the  Ombudsman  to  victims  in  court  is  a  dead  letter,  however,  as  the 
Ombudsman has never assisted a victim in a court case, with reference to lack of resources 
and possible procedural costs to the victim if the case is lost. 

In its 2022 report to the Parliament, the Equality Ombudsman stressed that it should also 
promote the victim’s access to justice. The Ombudsman reported a need to extend access 
to  compensation  under  the  Act  on  Equality  to  discriminatory  acts  by  authorities  and  to 
extend the prohibition of discrimination in access to work to preparations for recruitment 
to  a  job.  The  present  legislation  limits  the  prohibition  of  discrimination  to  the  actual 
selection of the person to be recruited, leaving outside its scope the preparatory phase of 
recruitment, which involves definition of the qualifications required and similar issues. The 
Ombudsman included a description of the discrimination cases based on the Act on Equality 
in courts and noted the small number of cases. The Ombudsman recommended extending 
legislation  on  the  legal  standing  in  gender  discrimination  cases  and  creating  an 
independent right of the Ombudsman to take cases to court.154 

152  The provisions on the monitoring bodies and their mandate are placed in the Act on Equality and the Act on 

Equality Ombudsman (1328/2014).  

153  Act on Non-Discrimination and Equality Board (Laki yhdenvertaisuus- ja tasa-arvolautakunnasta), 

1327/2014. 

154  Tasa-arvovaltuutetun kertomus eduskunnalle 2022 (Equality Ombudsman’s report to the Parliament 2022, 

K1/2022 vp., 26-39. 

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Two  Ombudsmen  monitor  the  enforcement  of  non-discrimination  law:  the  Equality 
Ombudsman monitors compliance with the Act on Equality between Women and Men, and 
the  Non-Discrimination  Ombudsman  monitors  adherence  to  the  Non-Discrimination  Act. 
The latter ombudsman’s mandate covers all discrimination grounds save gender, and the 
Non-Discrimination  Ombudsman  also  has  competence  to  act  in  cases  concerning 
intersectional  discrimination.  The  Non-Discrimination  Ombudsman  has  no  mandate  in 
cases of discrimination in working life, however, which are monitored by the occupational 
safety  authorities,  while  the  Equality  Ombudsman  even  has  a  mandate  concerning 
discrimination  in  working  life.  These  arrangements  are  problematic,  especially  where 
gender-based  discrimination  is  one  of  the  grounds  of  discrimination  involved  in 
intersectional discrimination.  

11.1.2 Political and societal debate and pending legislative proposals 

Several  Governments  have  prepared  strategic  reports  outlining  objectives  for  gender 
equality. The latest report was prepared by the previous Government in 2022. The report 
pointed out that the Equality Ombudsman’s resources are insufficient  and stressed that 
equality  bodies  should  have  adequate  mandates  and  resources.155  The  Equality 
Ombudsman reports to Parliament every four years. The Equality Ombudsman’s report for 
2022  focused  on  the  difficulties  in  monitoring  intersectional  discrimination  due  to  a 
problematic sharing of mandates. The Parliament’s Employment and Equality Committee 
noted the low number of gender discrimination cases in the courts, due to high litigation 
costs. The Committee supported the Ombudsman’s claim that the lack of collective action 
in discrimination cases is problematic and recommended that the Non-Discrimination and 
Equality  Board  should  have  the  mandate  to  decide  on  compensation  for  gender-based 
discrimination, as recommended by the Equality Ombudsman.156 The discussion on such 
matters  tends  to  take  place  among  experts  on  equality  law,  with  little  broader  political 
resonance. 

As mentioned under 3.4.1, a Ministry of Justice working group was appointed in October 
2024  to  consider  merging  the  Equality  Ombudsman  and  the  Non-Discrimination 
Ombudsman.  The  aim  of  such  a  merger  would  be  to  achieve  greater  efficacy  and  cost 
benefits, as well as an equal treatment of all discrimination grounds on access to a low 
threshold remedy. The working group is to prepare a report by the end of March 2025 that 
includes a proposal for merging the Ombudsmen.157 

11.1.3 Gender mainstreaming 

The positive equality duty of the authorities to promote equality (Section 4(1) of the Act 
on  Equality)  requires  that  authorities  promote  gender  equality  in  all  their  activities  in  a 
targeted and systematic manner, as well as provide such administrative proceedings that 
ensure that gender equality is promoted in decision-making. The Ministry of Social Affairs 
and Health states, on a website on gender mainstreaming, that the positive equality duty 
of  authorities  requires  authorities  to  plan  their  activities  so  as  to  promote  gender 
mainstreaming.  The  website  also  refers  to  the  Government  programme  and  presents  a 
12-point guideline for carrying out gender impact assessments. 

155  Finnish Government (2022), Valtioneuvoston tasa-arvopoliittinen selonteko (Government Report on Gender 

Equality Policy), Helsinki, 
https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/164219/VN_2022_49.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowe
d=y. 

156  Parliament of Finland, Employment and Equality Committee (2022), Työelämä- ja tasa-arvovaliokunta 
Tasa-arvovaltuutetun kertomus eduskunnalle 2022 (Employment and Equality Committee: Equality 
Ombudsman’s Report to the Parliament 2022 (TyVM 8/2022 vp), https://www.edilex.fi/mt/tyvm20220008. 
157  Ministry of Justice (2024), Erityisvaltuutettujen tehtävien ja päällekkäisyyksien selvittäminen (Reporting on 

the tasks and overlaps in the tasks of the special Ombudsmen), OM063:00/2024, 
https://oikeusministerio.fi/en/project?tunnus=OM063:00/2024. 

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The Ministry of Justice guidelines for law drafting list many types of impacts that should 
be  considered  in  the  context  of  law  preparations.  One  of  the  categories  covers  societal 
impacts (Chapter 5), among them the impact on non-discrimination, children and gender 
equality. The guideline stresses the impacts on values and attitudes, the rule of law, legal 
relations and civil society. The need for a gender impact assessment must be assessed at 
the beginning of law preparation, by considering possible differentials between women and 
men  in  the  field  in  question  and,  if  such  differentials  exist,  the  drafters  must  consider 
whether  the  impact  of  the  planned  legislation  would  be  more  detrimental  to  one  of  the 
sexes. The guideline mentions a number of issues which may be relevant, such as impact 
on employment, economic position, work-life balance, societal participation, safety, etc. It 
is  further  noted  that  equality  does  not  require  similarity  but  involves  providing  equal 
opportunities to both sexes.158 The current Government’s legislative proposals on cuts to 
social security were, according to critics, not carried out according to the official guidelines 
for  legal  drafting,  as  they  did  not  take  into  account  the  impact  on  non-discrimination, 
children and gender equality. In its report on the proposal to make changes to index checks 
for certain benefits, the Parliament’s Employment and Equality Committee stressed that 
the  equality  impacts  of  legislative  proposals  should  be  adequately  assessed,  and  that 
follow-ups on their gender impact should be made.159 The level of social security benefits, 
such as sickness benefits and pensions, is tied by legislation to an index which reflects the 
cost of living and rising pay levels. The level of benefits is checked regularly against the 
index. ‘Freezing’ the index thus effectively reduces the purchasing power of the recipients 
of benefits. 

11.2 Victimisation 

The  provisions  on  victimisation  are  implemented  by  the  Act  on  Equality.  Under 
Section 8(a)(1),  it  is  discriminatory  if  an  employer  dismisses  an  employee  or 
disadvantages an employee in some other manner when the employee has referred to the 
rights and obligations under the Act on Equality or has been party to handling a case of 
discrimination. Under Section 8(a)(2), it is discriminatory if a provider of goods or services 
disadvantages a person after that person has referred to the rights and obligations under 
the Act on Equality or participated in handling a case of discrimination.  

11.3 Access to courts 

11.3.1 Difficulties and barriers related to access to courts 

Although victims of discrimination have access to court, the high costs prevent this from 
being realised and there is a risk that the losing party has to pay the costs of the other 
party.  The  Equality  Ombudsman’s  report  to  the  Parliament  refers  to  the  low  number  of 
gender  discrimination  cases  in  courts.  In  2015-2018,  District  Courts  received  66 
compensation claims based on the Act on Equality. Most of the cases involved working life. 
of these, 30 involved the recruitment process and 17 of them were made by one and the 
same man. During the same period of time, 45 cases were brought to administrative courts 
on  the  basis  of  the  Act  on  Equality.  Most  of  these  cases  also  involved  the  employment 
recruitment process. The Ombudsman explained that the low number of cases coming to 
court cannot be explained by a low incidence of discrimination. The risk of procedural costs 
is prohibitive, noting that the compensation to parties that win discrimination cases tends 
to be relatively low.160 The Ombudsman’s report to the Parliament in 2022 also stresses 
the need for better access to justice. The number of compensation cases remains low, as 

158  Säädösehdotusten vaikutusten arviointi: Ohjeet (Impact assessment of law drafting: Guidelines, Ministry of 

Justice 2007:6, 
https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/76082/saadosehdotusten_vaikutusten_arviointi_
ohjeet.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. 

159  Parliament of Finland, Employment and Equality Committee (2023), Työelämä- ja tasa-arvovaliokunnan 

lausunto (Employment and Equality Committee’s statement) TyVL5/2023 vp., 
https://www.eduskunta.fi/FI/vaski/Lausunto/Sivut/TyVL_5+2023.aspx. 

160  The Equality Ombudsman’s Report to the Parliament, 31-32. 

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do compensation sums in relation to the risk of procedural costs and the resources of the 
Ombudsman to assist a victim in court. Better access to justice would require collective 
standing  in  cases  that  involve  a  large  number  of  claimants  or  where  there  is  need  for 
precedent.  Class  action  has  previously  been  proposed  as  a  suitable  remedy. 161  Other 
organisations  besides  the  social  partners  should  have  standing  in  discrimination  cases. 
Access  to  the  Tribunal  should  also  be  extended  to  such  organisations,  as  well  as  to 
individual claimants, in which case the  Tribunal would act as a more accessible remedy 
than court. The Ombudsman’s report proposes a comprehensive inquiry into how access 
to remedies in gender discrimination cases should be improved.162  

Either the Equality Ombudsman or a central labour market organisation may bring a case 
of  alleged  discrimination  before  the  Non-Discrimination  and  Equality  Board.  The  victim 
does not have an independent right to bring a case to the Board. The Board (or Tribunal) 
has relatively limited powers in gender equality cases, however. The Board may prohibit 
anyone who has violated the prohibitions of discrimination under the Act on Equality from 
repeating the discriminatory act under the threat a of fine (Act on Equality, Section 21). 
The Board has no mandate to decide on compensation to the victim. Thus, the Board is 
not a quasi-judicial body that could provide a remedy for the victim.  

11.3.2 Availability of legal aid 

The Equality Ombudsman provides opinions and advice to alleged victims of discrimination 
under Section 19 of the Act on Equality. The Ombudsman has a mandate to assist a victim 
The  worin  court,  but  the  mandate  has  not  yet  been  used.  The  Act  on  the  Equality 
Ombudsman stipulates that, if a case taken to court by the Ombudsman is won, the losing 
party shall pay the costs of the Ombudsman (Section 3(3) of the Act). There is no provision 
concerning cases that the Ombudsman loses in court. Under normal procedural rules, the 
losing party carries the costs of both parties. The Ombudsman’s right to assist a victim is 
limited  to  cases  which  the  Ombudsman  considers  to  have  considerable  importance  for 
implementation of the Act on Equality (Act on the Equality Ombudsman, Section 3). Legal 
aid is provided by public legal aid offices under the Act on Legal Aid (257/2002) for persons 
with low income (‘persons who due to their economic position are unable to meet the costs 
of legal assistance’, Section 1 of the Act), and the right to free trials is income-related and 
not available for persons with a higher income.  

11.4 Horizontal effect of the applicable law 

11.4.1 Horizontal effect of relevant gender equality law 

The horizontal effect of EU gender equality law is recognised by the courts which frequently 
refer to EU law in cases involving private parties. For example, in KKO:2017:25, a case on 
an  employee’s  right  to  start  a  new  period  of  paid  maternity  leave  directly,  without 
returning to work from childcare leave, was decided in all instances with arguments that 
referred  to  EU  gender  equality  law.  The  Courts  of  Appeal  referred  to  national  law  and 
extensively  to  EU  case  law.  A  condition  of  the  collective  agreement  required  that  pay 
during maternity leave required six months’ work between two periods of leave. the Labour 
Court  has  also  referred  to  EU  law,  for  example,  in  several  cases  concerning  pay  during 
maternity leave.  

161  The Ombudsman’s report refers to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health report by Anttila, O. and 
Nousiainen, K. (2013), Selvitys tasa-arvolain valvontasäännösten toimivuudesta (Report on the 
effectiveness of the monitoring provisions of the Act on Equality), p. 12, 
https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/70159/URN_ISBN978-952-00-3647-8.pdf. 

162  Tasa-arvovaltuutetun (Equality Ombudsman) (2022), Kertomus eduskunnalle 2022 (Report to the 

Parliament 2022), p. 26–37. 

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11.4.2 Impact of horizontal direct effects of the charter after Bauer  

The horizontal effect of charter provisions on equality (Chapter 3) should not cause much 
change  in  the  enforcement  of  gender  equality  law  in  Finland.  The  provisions  on 
fundamental  rights  under  the  Finnish  Constitution  contain  very  similar  provisions  on 
equality before the law and gender equality. 

11.5 Burden of proof 

Section 9(a) of the Act on Equality stipulates that if the alleged victim of sex discrimination 
shows in a court (or before an authority) facts on the basis of which it may be assumed 
that discrimination has taken place, the respondent has to show that no wrongdoing has 
occurred  and  that  the  treatment  was  caused  by  an  acceptable  ground,  other  than  sex.  
The Equality Act’s provision on burden of proof was adopted in 2004, before the Recast 
Directive  was  enacted,  in  the  context  of  a  reform  related  to  the  adoption  of  the  Non-
Discrimination  Act.  The  preparatory  works  refer  to  the  Burden  of  Proof  Directive 
(97/80/EC)  and  case  law,  which  later  became  a  part  of  Directive  2006/54/EC.  The 
preparatory  works  explain  that  Section  9(a)  of  the  Equality  Act  shall  be  applied  in 
accordance  with  the  Burden  of  Proof  Directive:  the  claimant  shall  provide  proof  on  the 
basis of which discrimination may be assumed, and the respondent shall then prove that 
there were other acceptable reasons other than gender for the alleged discrimination. 163 
It  was  assumed  that  there  was  no  need  to  amend  the  wording  or  interpretation  of  the 
provision to implement  the Recast Directive. Section 9(a)  on the burden of proof is not 
applied  in  criminal  law  matters,  or,  according  to  the  preparatory  works,  to  claims  for 
compensation on the basis of tort law (compensation for gender discrimination under the 
Equality Act may be supplemented by compensation based on tort law). 

Under Section 10, the employer has a duty to explain their actions to a person who alleges 
they have been discriminated against in employment or access to employment. Regarding 
access to employment, the employer must provide information on the grounds of selection 
to the post, the education, work and other experience of the selected person and other 
grounds that have had an impact on that person being selected. Access to proof is more 
difficult  in  cases  of  pay  discrimination,  where  the  necessary  information  on  the 
comparator’s pay needs to be obtained with the help of an employee representative or the 
Equality  Ombudsman.  The  alleged  victim  has  no  independent  right  to  receive  the 
information. In practice, the right to receive comparator’s pay information has not been 
used at all.164 The lack of information makes it difficult to present sufficient evidence of 
discrimination to reverse the burden of proof. 

163  Government Bill HE 195/2004 vp, Hallituksen esitys Eduskunnalle laiksi naisten ja meisten välisestä tasa-
arvosta annetun lain muuttamisesta (Government Bill on amendments to the Act on Equality between 
Women and Men). 

164  This concerns the right to receive information by asking for it via the Ombudsman. There are other routes 

to obtain pay information, especially in the public sector where pay information is largely public. 

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11.6 Remedies and sanctions  

11.6.1 Types of remedies and sanctions 

The remedies under the Act on Equality include the right to compensation through a court 
within two years after the violation has taken place (Section 12 of the Act). Compensation 
is available for violations of Section 8 and 8(a)-(d), which cover discrimination in working 
life, educational institutions and labour-market organisations and in the provision of and 
access  to  goods  and  services.  The  compensation  under  the  Act  on  Equality  does  not 
exclude compensation under the Act  on Torts  or labour legislation, nor does it preclude 
the victim’s right to use administrative-law remedies. A municipal decision to employ an 
official  may  be  reversed,  if  the  decision  is  found  to  violate  the  Act  on  Equality  and  the 
person discriminated against may thus be reinstated. Discrimination is criminalised under 
Chapter 11, Section 11 of the Criminal Code.  The  scope  of the provision covers  market 
and occupational activities,  services to the public, activities  of the authorities and other 
public  activities  and  in  the  arrangements  for  a  public  occasion  or  general  meeting.  The 
prohibited  grounds  cover  sex  and  family  relations.  Under  Chapter  47  on  work-related 
crimes,  Section 3  criminalises  work  discrimination  and  Section 3(a)  criminalises 
extortionate work discrimination. Under the Criminal Code, the act must be intentional and 
the burden of proof lies with the prosecutor or the claimant. 

11.6.2 Effectiveness, proportionality and dissuasiveness 

The compensation under the Act on Equality is appropriate in the sense that there is no 
upper  limit,  except  for  cases  where  several  applicants  to  a  post  have  suffered 
discrimination. It is problematic, however, that under Section 11 the compensation may 
be  reduced  or  removed  altogether,  if  this  is  deemed  reasonable  when  considering  the 
economic circumstances of the violator, their attempts to prevent harmful effects caused 
by the act or other circumstances. These grounds are not in line with the requirements for 
the effectiveness, proportionality and dissuasiveness of compensation. It is possible to be 
compensated through criminal law or on a tort-law basis, although the corresponding rules 
on the burden of proof and the intention requirements are different from those under the 
Act on Equality.  

11.7 Equality body  

The equality bodies include the Equality Ombudsman,165 who monitors the Act on Equality 
and sex discrimination, and the Non-Discrimination and Equality Tribunal.166 The Tribunal 
merges the functions of the former Gender Equality Board and the Discrimination Tribunal 
and monitors the Act on Equality between Women and Men and the Non-Discrimination 
Act, the latter of which covers all grounds of discrimination except sex/gender. As noted 
under 11.1.2, a working group appointed in October 2024 is to consider merging of the 
Equality Ombudsman and the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman. 

The tasks of the Equality Ombudsman are to advise, monitor and decide on cases to be 
brought to the Non-Discrimination and Equality Board (Tribunal). An amendment to the 
Act on Equality in 2016 provided the Ombudsman with the mandate to conciliate parties 
to a discrimination case (in practice, the Ombudsman had often attempted to help parties 
to reach an agreement even before the amendment was made). The Ombudsman has the 
right to visit workplaces, educational institutions, labour-market organisations and service 
providers  in  order  to  monitor  the  implementation  of  the  Act  on  Equality.  The  Non-
Discrimination and Equality Board may decide on discrimination cases brought to the Board 
by the Ombudsman or  by the social partners.  Victims of gender discrimination may not 
bring a case to the Board themselves. An amendment of the Act on Equality in 2016 gives 
parties in a case of discrimination who have reached an agreement the right to have that 

165  See: https://www.tasa-arvo.fi/fi/etusivu. 
166  See: http://yvtltk.fi/en/index.html. 

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agreement  confirmed  by  the  Non-Discrimination  and  Equality  Board.  The  Equality 
Ombudsman had, by 2022, brought two cases to the Tribunal and the social partners had 
brought none. An  earlier  study shows that only one  case based on the Act on Equality 
between Women and Men was brought to the Board during the period 2015-2019.167 The 
Non-Discrimination and Equality Tribunal is in practice not used as a remedy in cases of 
gender discrimination. 

11.8 Social partners  

The social partners have the right to bring cases of sex discrimination (but not other cases 
of discrimination) to the Non-Discrimination and Equality Board. The provision is a dead 
letter, as the social partners have never used this right. The social partners are influential 
in proposing and drafting legislation in all issues of working life, including gender equality 
law. The collective agreements have a strong impact on working conditions and pay and 
traditionally the social partners jointly discuss gender equality issues. 

11.9 Other relevant bodies 

There are no other relevant bodies to discuss.  

11.10 Evaluation of implementation 

The implementation is formally sufficient, although access to justice is not facilitated by 
quasi-legal  bodies  or  simplified  procedures.  The  number  of  court  cases  on  gender 
discrimination is low, which partly reflects lack of access. 

11.11 Remaining issues 

There are no remaining issues to report. 

167  See table in Nieminen, K., Jauhola, L., Lepola, K., Rantala, K., Karinen, R. and Luukonen, T. (2020), 

’Lautakunnan julkaistut ratkaisut lopputuloksen mukaan’ (The published decisions of the Board by outcome) 
in: Prime Minister’s Office, Aidosti yhdenvertaiset. Yhdenvertaisuuslain arviointi (Truly equal: Assessment of 
the Non-Discrimination Act), Publications of the Government’s analysis, assessment and research activities 
2020:50, p. 53. 

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12  Overall assessment  

EU  law  has  generally  been  implemented  correctly.  However,  access  to  remedies  and 
legislation  on  compensation  are  not  de  facto  satisfactory,  even  where  there  is  no 
infringement  of  the  formal  aspects  of  EU  law.  The  strongest  national  gender  equality 
provisions are those involving positive measures and access to social security and social 
services, both of which mostly exceed the requirements of EU law. 

The following specific transposition problems are mentioned in this report: 

- 

- 

- 

- 

The  complicated  structure  of  the  prohibitions  of  discrimination  under  the  Act  on 
Equality may make interpretation difficult (separate sections: general prohibition and 
definition  of  discrimination  under  Section 7  and  specific  prohibitions  for  different 
areas of life under other sections). 

Access to justice is not sufficiently facilitated, as victims of discrimination have no 
independent right to bring cases to the Non-Discrimination and Equality Board. The 
only  option  is  the  ordinary  court,  which  in  most  cases  involves  a  considerable 
economic risk, and access to remedies other than court is very limited. The working 
group  reporting on merging the Equality Ombudsman with the Non-Discrimination 
Ombudsman  that  was  appointed  in  October  2024  is  also  to  report  on  seeing  that 
victims of gender discrimination enjoy similar access to the Non-Discrimination and 
Equality  Tribunal  as  that  enjoyed  by  victims  of  discrimination  on  other  grounds, 
which would improve access to justice. 

The gender pay gap is relatively large and prohibition of pay discrimination has not 
been an effective tool for reducing the gap. 

It is questionable whether compensation and reparations under Finnish equality law 
are real and effective, and whether they are dissuasive and proportionate to the 
damage suffered. 

86 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Country report – Gender equality – Finland – 2025 

Bibliography 

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- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

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Anttila,  O.  (2008),  Sukupuolisyrjinnän  kiellosta  Suomen  ja  EU:n  oikeudessa, 
Helsinki, Edilex. 

Anttila,  O.  (2013),  Kohti 
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tosiasiallista 

tasa-arvoa,  Helsinki,  Suomalainen 

Kantola,  J.,  Nousiainen,  K.,  Saari,  M.  (eds.)  (2012),  Tasa-arvo  toisin  nähtynä, 
Helsinki, Gaudeamus. 

Nieminen, K. (2005), Tasa-arvolaki työsuhteessa, Helsinki, WSOY. 

Nieminen,  K.,  Jauhola,  L.  (2022),  Syrjintä,  intersektionaalisuus  ja  oikeussuojan 
rajat, Oikeus 2/2022, pp. 168-190. 

Nousiainen, K. (2008), ‘Unification (or not) of equality bodies and legislation’, 
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87 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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