"One Hundred Years of Women's Voices and Action in Finland"

The National Council of Women of Finland has produced an exhibition named “100 Years of Women’s Voices and Action in Finland” to celebrate the Finnish women’s accomplishments on the road of gaining equal rights and status with men in the country over the past 100 years.

Finland celebrates the 100th anniversary of a pioneering parliamentary reform and events that introduced equal and universal suffrage in the country and gave full political rights to all women as well as men at the same time. The new law, passed on June 1, 1906 (came into force on October 1) made Finnish women in spring 1907 the first women in the world to become members of Parliament.

The exhibition presents the history of Finnish women with pictures and graphics. One of the features is a gallery of remarkable Finnish women, leading up to the country’s current president, Mrs. Tarja Halonen. The milestones of women’s progress in Finland are presented over a timeline from 1901 to the present: for example, in 1901 Finnish women could enroll in universities on equal basis with men; in 1922, they could accept employment without their husbands’ permission; in 1926, they could apply to civil service posts with the same benefits as men; in 1930, they were recognized as having legal status even if married; in 1950, they received abortion rights; in 1963, they received equal pay with men in civil service posts; in 1973 local governments became obliged to provide daycare for children; in 1987, equality between women and men was recognized in law; in 1994, rape and violence against women even in marriage became punishable by law; from 2000, workplaces have had to draw up equality programs and supervise their implementation.

Finland obtained the country’s first woman Speaker of Parliament in 1994, the first woman President (still in office) in 2000, and the first woman Prime Minister in 2003. Today 12 out of the 20 Cabinet Ministers are women, as are 42 percent of the Members of Parliament, elected without a quota system for women.

In this 90th Anniversary year of the National Woman’s Party we recognize how far all women have come in the pursuit of equality and acknowledge the work still to come.

The Sewall-Belmont House and Museum, on Capitol Hill, celebrates women's progress toward equality—and explores the evolving role of women and their contributions to society—through educational programs, tours, exhibits, research and publications.

On exhibit during museum hours August 7, 2007 through December 15, 2007.
(Museum hours are: Tuesday-Friday 11AM-3PM and Saturday 12PM-4PM.)

Sewall-Belmont House & Museum
144 Constitution Ave., NE Washington, DC. 20002. (At the corner of 2nd & Constitution Ave. NE, next to the Hart Senate Office Building)

Visit us at www.sewallbelmont.org.