Power and decision-making
The page contains statistical data on women and men as leaders and decision-makers.
Women and men in elections
Finland was the first country in the world to have universal and equal voting rights in the parliamentary elections in 1907. Women's representation in Parliament has increased over the decades but has not thus far exceeded 50 per cent of MPs.
Women’s share of votes, candidates and elected representatives both in parliamentary and municipal elections has grown, as a rule, in the past few decades although the growth has, at times, been slow or has halted. In the parliamentary elections of 2019, more women MPs were elected than ever, altogether 94 out of 200 (47 %) MPs were women. The share of women voted to the European Parliament in Finland has stayed around 40 per cent.
The first county elections in Finland were conducted in January 2022. Of the nominated candidates 5,778 (54.6%) were women. Altogether 735 (53.3%) of all elected councillors in the county elections were women. Female candidates gained 51.6 per cent of all votes cast. Women's voting tunrout was 50.1% and men's 44.8%.
Further data on women and men in elections can be found on the home page of Election statistics.
Percentage of female candidates, votes cast for women and women elected in the Parliamentary elections, 1954 to 2023
Voting turnout, Finnish citizens living in Finland 2023: women 72.9 and men 71.0.
Source: Statistics Finland, Election statistics
Percentage of female candidates, votes cast for women, and women elected in municipal elections in 1956 to 2021
Voting turnout, Finnish citizens living in Finland and foreign citizens entitled to vote 2021: women 56.5 and men 53.6.
Source: Statistics Finland, Election statistics
Percentage of female candidates, votes cast for women, and women elected in European Parliament elections in 1996 to 2019
Voting turnout, Finnish citizens living in Finland 2019: women 43.4 and men 42.7.
Source: Statistics Finland, Election statistics
Women and men in senior management positions of enterprises
The representation of women and men in management positions can be followed from Statistics Finland's leadership data of gender statistics given below, which examine the senior management of listed companies, unlisted companies, state and municipality-owned companies.
Here, senior management refers to board members, chairs of boards and managing directors.
Management of listed companies
Share of women on the boards of listed companies was 28.7 per cent at the end of 2018. Women's share in board members was, on average, the higher the bigger the enterprise in question was. There were clearly more women on boards in 2018 than in 2007 when the share of women was only 11.8 per cent. However, growth has been relatively slow in the past few years.
Share of women on the boards of listed companies in the followed-up years, %
* Comparable data have been only collected for the years 2007, 2012, 2013 and 2015-2018.
Source: Statistics Finland, Gender equality; Suomen asiakastieto Oy; Finnish Patent and Registration Office
At the end of 2018, there were six women acting as chairs of the board in listed companies.
There were a total of ten female managing directors in 132 listed companies at the end of 2018, which corresponded to 7.5 per cent of all managing directors.
Finland Chamber of Commerce also collects and publishes data on the representation of women and men in the top management of listed companies.
Management of unlisted companies
The share of women on the boards of unlisted companies was 19.2 per cent and 11.0 per cent of chairs of boards at the end of 2018. 12.9 per cent of managing directors were women in 2018.
Share of women on the Boards of the largest unlisted companies in the followed-up years, %
*Comparable data have been only collected for the years 2007, 2012, 2013, 2015-2018.
1 100 largest unlisted companies according to revenue. For example, companies with less than 10 wage and salary earners have been removed from the group
2150 largest unlisted companies according to revenue. For example, companies with less than 10 wage and salary earners have been removed from the group.
3 150 largest unlisted companies according to amount of staff.
4 250 largest companies according to amount of staff.
5 500 largest companies with minimum of 250 employees according to amount of staff.
Source: Gender Equality, Statistics Finland ; Suomen Asiakastieto Oy; Finnish Patent and Registration Office
Management of state-owned companies
A total of 41.2 per cent of board members in state-owned companies were women at the end of 2018. The share of women was highest on the boards of fully state-owned companies and correspondingly lowest in listed companies where the state is a minority owner.
The share of women in board members was higher than in 2007, when the share of women was 31.2 per cent.
Share of women on the Boards of state-owned enterprises by the government’s holding share in the followed-up years, %
*Comparable data have been only collected for the years 2007, 2012, 2013, 2015-2018.
Source: Gender Equality, Statistics Finland; Suomen Asiakastieto Oy; Finnish Patent and Registration Office
In 2018, the share of women as chairs of boards was 20.3 per cent.
There were 64 state-owned companies of which ten had a female managing director (the share 15.6%).
Management of municipality-owned companies
Statistics Finland carried out an examination of the representation of women and men in the senior management of municipality-owned companies in the spring of 2017 ordered by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities. The report on 1,716 municipality-owned companies discussed the situation in 2015.
Share of women in management in municipally-owned companies in 2015 (companies with at least 1 person-year), %
Source: Keski-Petäjä, Miina & Katainen Antti 2017. Naiset ja miehet kuntaomisteisten yhtiöiden ylimmässä johdossa. [Women and Men in the Senior Management of Municipally-Owned Companies]. Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. Reports and Memorandums of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2017:24.
Thirty-four per cent of the board members, 16 per cent of chairs of boards and 23.6 per cent of managing directors in municipality-owned companies were women in 2015. The shares concern companies with at least one employee. Around ten per cent of the boards of the examined enterprises had no female members.
Further information:
Finland Chamber of Commerce collects and publishes data on the representation of women and men in top management of listed companies.
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health's project Gender Equality in Top Management (TASURI) (2013 to 2015) produced a statistical report on the representation of women and men in senior corporate management. The leadership statistics network following the TASURI project, which is coordinated by the Ministry of Finance, continues to develop leadership statistics. Apart from Statistics Finland and the Ministry of Finance, the network has representatives from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, Minna - Centre for Gender Equality Information, Finland Chamber of Commerce, the University of Helsinki, the University of Jyväskylä, the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, and the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK.
Management positions and advancing in one’s career
Women and men in management positions
Women hold management positions more rarely than men in most sectors. A clear majority of managers in child and elderly care, social services and human resources managers are women. There are also more women than men in management positons in health care.
In all other management groups there are more men than women. Men hold over 80 per cent of management positions in the industries of information and communications technology, industrial output, agriculture, forestry and fishery, and retail and wholesale trade.
Here, the management examination is based on the category “1 Managers” of the Classification of Occupations 2010.
Women and men as supervisors
According to the 2013 Quality of Work Life Survey, 43 per cent of male wage and salary earners reported that their work included supervisory tasks. Thirty-three per cent of women reported this. The share for both sexes has grown until 2008 but declined somewhat in 2013.
Tasks involve supervision of the work of others 1984, 1990, 1997, 2003, 2008, 2013 and 2018 (%)
Source: Statistics Finland: Quality of work life survey 1984-2013
Men have clearly more subordinates than women, so they act as administrative superiors more often than women. Working in supervisory tasks without subordinates is, however, as common for men as for women.
Advancement opportunities experienced by women and men
Fifteen per cent of men felt in 2013 that their advancement opportunities at work were good. Twelve per cent of women felt the same. In 2013, a clearly larger share of men felt their advancement opportunities were good than in previous years. The share has not grown for women since 2008.
Assessment of opportunities for advancemenet at work: "good opportunities". In 1977, 1984, 1990, 1997, 2003, 2008, 2013 and 2018 (%)
Source: Statistics Finland: Quality of work life survey 1977-2013
According to the Quality of Work Life Survey, few women and men considered advancement in their career to be very important, but women considered developing in work as very important more often than men.