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youngest serving
female prime minister and heads a
coalition of five parties all led by
women
from being the first country in europe
to give equal voting rights
finland has been praised for its
historic approach to gender equality
but it's all as good as it seems to be
five white
educated females it's not very
representative
in the end and is this really a country
for everyone
of course our background still affects
the possibilities that we have
in life and this shouldn't be the case
but of course we have problems
ahead of the launch of an ambitious new
equality plan
we talk exclusively to the party leaders
of the world's only
all-female-led government
lee anderson is one of the five female
party leaders that make up the country's
coalition government
this week the cabinets are going to be
meeting to launch signature government
programme the equality plan aimed to
improve equality across society
including on race and gender issues i
mean
in finnish media i think there's been
some kind of comments around whether we
all go to the sauna together
because there's this old cliche about
finnish politics that the decisions are
made in the sauna
something that had been heavily
criticized in feminist circles because
you know the whole idea of male decision
makers sitting in the sauna is based on
this concept of decision makers being
solely men there is
kind of this tendency of some people to
say that because there is women
you will make a certain type of policy
or it's easier for you to agree when
you're all women and so on and that's
not
i think necessarily the case and that's
why i also want
there to be a focus around the policy of
the government not just the
gender of the female party leaders
although finland is celebrated for its
equality
recent reports from the council of
europe have detailed what they call
a concerning rise in racism in the
country
bella forsgren is the only black
politician in finland's government
and hakuna onwen is the chair of
finland's anti-racist forum
means
if we had exactly the same conditions
exactly the same timing exactly the same
age
exactly the same family background
and yet santa marine was black would she
be prime minister
[Laughter]
i think the representation with five
white educated females it's not very
representative
in the end and there were a lot of
critical
uh writings when this photo went viral
that hey if
if we really look at the equality here
it doesn't show
yet and i agree on that because actually
daria hollonen
who you probably know the first female
president and the only
female president she says that it's not
the person who breaks the class ceiling
but it's the people who follow
and i think that's to the point you
always
you need the persons who break the
ceiling but then you also need all the
people who will follow
and you should never stop that
far up in the arctic circle finland's
northern territory is home to europe's
only indigenous population
the sami people in finland they were
only officially recognized
by the government in the 90s and they
still face a battle for their right to
the land
and their way of life
sarah wesleyan is a journalist based in
the sami town of ivalo
what are the major sort of issues
concerning sami people right now
you don't have a sami representative in
finnish government is that worrying
yes of course in your ideal future what
would you like this government to do
what would you like
santa marine to do for sami women
we can we don't have to be ashamed that
we are sam
sam is living in finland we can be proud
that we are
part of finnish nation as a sami and we
are
equals here
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one of the main issues addressed in the
government equality plan
is the rights of gender minorities in
finland
trans rights activists have for years
asked for reform of the trans act
a law that currently requires those
seeking legal gender recognition
to undergo enforced sterilization
well finland is the only nordic country
that still
requires infertility in order to get
your legal gender recognized
so in order to get the m to f or f to m
you need to prove that you cannot have
biological children
we have had a female president we have
the youngest female leader of country
but alone that doesn't it's just a token
alone it has to have the support of the
system behind it
before it actually makes a difference so
it's possible that the
transact could be the sacrificial lamb
once again
it looks that
any coalition government is a mixed bag
of politics
and agendas that have come together in
the hope of being more effective
but to implement any real change or
government plans
requires unanimous support across the
board
when you build a government in finland
you put a lot of effort on what we call
the government's program
and there is negotiations we had it for
three weeks
in 2019 and and then when you have that
program
everyone knows that this is it this is
what we have decided together
when you are five different parties you
have to
all the time try to see
how you find solutions when you have
different different opinions
please enter the conference password
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finland's party leaders are meeting at
helsinki's houses of the estates
for the ilta kulu a cabinet meeting to
discuss the new equality programme
trans rights and racism is on the agenda
finland has had coalition governments
forever
so so of course we are used to trying to
make compromises and trying to find
consensus
between different parties and
ideologists and i think it's also a big
strength
for us gender minorities are also
discussed in the equality programme
particular transgender people and
finland is
has been in the spotlight everyone
should
should have the right to determine their
own
identities for you are trans women
women it's not my job to identify
people it's everyone's job to identify
themselves
if people if if someone feels that
he or she is a woman then it's not my
place to say
a lot was written about how well finland
taiwan new zealand germany did in terms
of their
coveted responses there was quick
decisive action and the other thing that
all those countries have in common are
female leaders well of course there are
countries
led by men that has that have
also done well so i don't think it's a
gender-based
issue i think we should more focus on
how the countries that have done well
what they have done
what they have learned uh what we all
can learn
from each other and that we also
response together because it's a global
pandemic
at some point something might change
and that popularity might change when a
decision needs to be made especially
maybe during covet times as well does
that worry you at
all i don't
look at polls the most important thing
is that
we try to make the decisions that we
have to make
based on the best knowledge that we can
use and
also that we are trying to make
decisions in a way that
helps ordinary people in their ordinary
lives
in crisis and also in normal times so
this is my mission as a prime minister
but there are challenges ahead and no
prime minister in finland has seen a
full term since the 90s
but with 85 approval rating santa marine
is enjoying a striking level of
confidence
in uneasy times
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you