Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
New tools and solutions for dismantling gender segregation in the labour market

The ‘Dismantling segregation’ development project carried out by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health dismantled gender segregation in the labour market by strengthening collaboration between the business sector and education institutions in the Ostrobothnia regions, Eastern Finland, the Häme region and Southeast Finland. The project activities proved that purposeful long-term collaboration between different parties was a prerequisite for dismantling gender segregation.

In Finland, the labour market is strongly segregated by gender, which means that women and men largely work in different fields and tasks. The operating models of the labour market must be renewed, be-cause the worker and competence shortages are particularly severe in fields with strong gender segregation. Segregation is maintained by prevailing views and gender stereotypes that result in certain fields and professions being regarded as suitable for only one gender. The stereotypes must be dismantled throughout society, and in early childhood education, education and the labour market in particular.

“All available methods must be used to solve the labour shortage. We cannot afford to exclude potential workers due to stereotypes and attitudes,” says Mia Teräsaho, Project Manager of the Dismantling segregation project from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. 
Finland has worked to dismantle the strong gender segregation in the education and labour markets for decades with fixed-term projects in particular. However, hardly any change in gender segregation has been seen.

“Development projects are important, but to dismantle gender segregation in the education and labour markets, the dismantling must be implemented with crosscutting and prominent measures of equality, labour, education and regional policies and key strategies and functions,” says Tanja Auvinen, Director General of the Gender Equality Unit of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. In addition to crosscutting measures, dismantling segregation requires a permanent framework.

Pilot organisations pave the way

Lessons learned by the pilot organisations during the project proved that even the smallest steps made a difference in promoting equality. Trailblazers are needed to ensure that the methods to dismantle segregation spread, and workplaces start dismantling gender segregation and promoting diversity.

The ‘Dismantling segregation’ project was the first to collect the scattered tangible methods employed in workplaces to dismantle segregation and to produce a checklist that could be used to support equality promotion in workplaces. A research review on the state of segregation, its effects, and the benefits gained by workplaces from dismantling segregation was made during the project to support the measures. The project results also included recommendations for the development of statistics and re-search information and the promotion of equality in workplaces.

In addition, recommendations for political and social decision makers on more permanent methods to dismantle segregation were drafted. Descriptions of the development carried out by regional networks and pilot organisations and recommendations for future measures are presented in the project’s final report.

The Dismantling segregation – tools for a more equal working life development project was carried out between 2021 and 2023. The project was funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and coordinated by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. The project was part of the joint Equal Pay Programme of the Government and the central labour market organisations, and it was based on Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Government Programme, in which the Government committed to narrowing the pay gap in various fields by dismantling gender segregation in the labour market, for example.

Inquiries:

Mia Teräsaho, Development Manager, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, tel. +358 295 247 864
Tanja Auvinen, Director General, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, tel. +358 295 163 715

• The ‘Dismantling segregation – tools for a more equal working life’ development project (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare)
• Final report of the ‘Dis-mantling segregation – tools for a more equal working life’ development project (in Finnish)  
• Dismantling gender segregation in the labour market – Recommendations to decision-makers (in Finnish, summary in English)
• Promoting gender equality t workplaces – ways of dismantling gender segregation (in Finnish, summary in English)
• Equality checklist for workplaces (Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, in Finnish)