Equality and gender norms in families and society - yhteiskuntaorientaatio.fi
Equality is not perfect even in Finland
Equality between genders is usually seen as a core value in Finnish society. Finnish legislation has been developed throughout the years so that genders would be equal in all situations before the law. Gender-based discrimination is forbidden by law.
This has not always been the case. Gender inequality has been a reality in most of the world, including Finland. After the mid-19th century, Finnish legislation was slowly changed to become more equal. After decades of work, women had the right to decide about their own matters, to study and to work. Legally, they had the same rights as men.
Equality does not only mean that men and women have the same legal rights. It also matters how rights are realised in practice. It also matters whether equality is a reality in people’s everyday interactions and in people’s opportunities to live life the way they want to.
Equality in Finland is in many ways better than in most other countries in the world. But equality is not perfect even in Finland. For example, women on average have smaller salaries than men, and women are less likely to work in leadership positions. Women also continue to encounter violence and sexual abuse because of their gender.
These questions on true equality have gained more attention in Finland since the mid-20th century. For example, developments in children’s daycare and parental leave have made it easier for mothers to work. Changes to legislation on sexual crimes have strengthened the idea that women have the right to decide about their own body and sexuality.
Inequality has continued for centuries and it still has an impact. Society’s structures and people’s attitudes change slowly. Inequality is maintained by people’s and society’s notions of how men and women usually act in different situations. These assumptions direct and limit people’s lives.
Families have a central role in increasing equality. The division of labour in families is a question of equality. It also plays a role in the status of different genders in the job market. How children are raised and whether girls and boys are treated the same in families has a big impact on equality. Attitudes and practices learned as children affect how people act later in life.
Gender stereotypes and gender norms direct people’s behaviour
Stereotypes are simplified ideas about groups of people
A stereotype means a simplified and generalising notion of what some people or things are like. A stereotype is focused on a person’s certain characteristic, such as gender, nationality or age. A stereotype is a generalisation about, for example, what all women, all Finns or all teenagers are like.
All people have stereotypes about different groups of people. Often stereotypes are shared in a community, meaning that most people have similar notions about the same groups of people. Stereotypes can often be somehow rooted in reality, but they are not true for all of those to whom the stereotype is applied. Sometimes a stereotype is completely based on a misunderstanding or even discriminatory ideas.
Gender stereotypes are very common and they are evident in many areas of life. People have generalised ideas about what men and women are like and how they act. Stereotypes can also be connected to how men and women dress or what movies they like.
Gender norms are expectations about how people should behave based on their gender
Stereotypes and other notions often generate societal norms. Norms are expectations for what people should be like and how they should act. Dominant societal gender norms dictate what behaviour is considered appropriate for men and for women.
For example, a stereotype connected to women is the assumption that all women care about their appearance and use makeup to look more beautiful. Accordingly, a gender norm can mandate women to use makeup and take care of their appearance. This makes a woman more accepted according to the societal norm.
Gender norms create unwritten rules about how men and women should act. Breaking these rules often results in some sort of social punishment. This punishment can be slight, such as wondering, laughing or disapproval. However, it can also be more severe, such as disgrace, discrimination, excluding from the community or, in extreme cases, even violence. That is why people usually try to act according to the norm.
There are efforts to minimise the impact of stereotypes and gender norms in Finland
A general notion in Finland is that a person’s gender should not define what they can do in life. The social punishments for breaking gender norms are not usually very severe in Finland anymore. That is why breaking the norms is easier for people now than it was before.
There are, however, still many prevalent gender stereotypes and gender norms in Finland which affect people’s behaviour. These often have negative consequences which weaken people’s wellbeing and the realisation of equality in practice.
Gender stereotypes and gender norms change with time. They may also be different within different communities in Finland. There is also variation in how serious the social punishments are for breaking these norms. Often people feel that breaking these norms is easier in bigger cities than in smaller places.
It is important to promote equality simultaneously in different areas of life
Division of labour in families has become more equal
According to traditional gender stereotypes, women take care of housework and childcare, whereas men provide for the family by working outside the home. These stereotypes still affect the division of labour in Finnish families. Division of labour has, however, become more equal.
According to statistics, women still spend more time on housework than men. Men, on the other hand, still spend more time on paid labour than women. Women, however, spend less time on housework than 30 years ago. Men spend more time on housework compared to earlier, especially when it comes to childcare and making food.
Many families strive to divide housework and childcare evenly. This promotes the wellbeing of families. It is also widely thought that both spouses should financially provide for the family. This gives the family more financial security if one spouse becomes unemployed or falls ill. Both men and women have less pressure when they are not solely responsible for housework or providing for the family.
Gender stereotypes and gender norms connected to division of labour are now less impactful than before. Many now see that men can also be caring and women can be ambitious with their careers. Gender norms relating to the division of labour in families is still evident in how many consider caring for a small baby primarily as the mother’s task.
Career choices in Finland are very gendered
Gender stereotypes not only affect division of labour in families, but also more broadly in society. In Finland, there is a very clear division between typically female and typically male jobs. The most typical female fields are health and social services and education. The most typical male fields are construction, logistics and technology. Fields with rather equal distributions of both men and women are the restaurant and food industries.
There is a stereotypical idea that it is natural for women to care for other people or work with children. On the other hand, it is often thought that men are better than women in maths and sciences, even though this is not really true. A typical division is that women work with people and men work with machines.
People do not perhaps actively think that they choose their profession or education based on their gender. But societal examples affect which jobs people imagine they could do. It may also feel difficult to enter a field where most employees are a different gender. In a field like this, a person may have to continuously justify why they are competent at their job despite their gender.
Work-related gender stereotypes are a problem, because they may prevent young people from entering fields in which they are interested. Stereotypes are self-enforcing, and this may lead to people being unable to use their talents in the best way possible. This is a loss for both the individual and society.
Another aspect connected to fields being divided by gender is that, due to historical reasons, typically female jobs often have lower salaries than typically male jobs. Because of this, jobs being classified as male or female jobs exacerbate income differences between men and women. Gender stereotypes connected to work cause gender inequality.
Gender norms learned as a child carry through all of life
Children adopt gender stereotypes and gender norms at a young age. Attitudes adopted as a child have great significance on what a person thinks about gender and equality as an adult. There are efforts to raise children in a way that embraces equality in both early childhood education and school in Finland. A child’s gender should not define what they can be and what they can do.
Equality in the upbringing of children requires adults to pay attention to their own behaviour and attitudes. Adults often unconsciously direct their children to behave according to gender stereotypes or gender norms. They may give a girl dolls and a boy cars without thinking about it. This teaches children that some things naturally belong to being a man and others to being a woman.
If adults categorise some games, toys and clothes as being for girls and others for boys, this affects the thoughts of children. This type of division directs children into adopting the shared gender stereotypes and gender norms of society. This may have future effects, for instance, on which professions they pursue.
It is detrimental to a child’s wellbeing if they feel they are somehow faulty. Adults may say to a boy that it is not suitable for him to wear a princess dress. But nowadays in Finland, for instance, in early childhood education, the aim is to let children freely express themselves and try different roles. A child should feel that they can be just the way they are and like the things that they like.
It is rather simple for adults to notice if they offer children toys based on their gender. But there are also behaviours which are more difficult to detect. Adults may, for instance, be more prone to ask girls to help with housework. They may let boys run and shout, but tell girls to calm down and behave.
When adults expect different behaviour from girls and boys, they enforce gender norms. Often girls learn from a young age to take others into account and give others more space. Boys learn to take risks and be more confident. These behavioural models learned in childhood have an impact on gender equality for decades to come.
Gender diversity is understood better than before
The long-standing, dominant gender norm in Finland contains the notion that there are only two genders. According to this thought, all people are thus either men or women. Being a man or a woman is seen as opposite and mutually exclusive. Gender is also considered primarily defined by a person’s biology.
Nowadays, it is more common to perceive gender as a much more diverse phenomenon. A person’s gender identity is not necessarily related to their biology. Gender identity means the gender that a person feels they belong to.
Everybody, both children and adults, have the right to be seen and valued in their own gender. Talking about gender diversity does not mean we are trying to change anyone’s gender. It is about letting everyone be themselves without bullying, harassment or discrimination.
A person can identify as being a different gender than they have been assigned to at birth. For example, it is possible that a child has been considered a girl, but when they grow up, they can actually feel that they are a boy or a man. When a person’s gender identity is different from the gender they have been assigned at birth, they are called transgender.
On the other hand, some feel that they are neither clearly a man nor a woman. A person can feel that they are something between a man and a woman. They may also feel that they are both a man and a woman, or that they have no gender at all. When a person feels that their gender is something completely other than male or female, they are called non-binary.
Transgender and non-binary people are generally called gender minorities. There have been efforts to improve the rights of gender minorities in Finland in the past decades. The latest reform was the Act on Legal Recognition of Gender which came into force in 2023.
According to this new act, a person can change the gender assigned to them in official registers by their own notification. They can thus fix their official gender to conform with their experienced gender. Earlier this required a doctor’s diagnosis stating that the person is transgender.
This law does not make it possible for a person’s official gender to be other than male or female.
More information on the process of confirmation of gender: Confirmation of gender (dvv.fi) (Finnish, Swedish, English)