Speech by President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen at a seminar in Reykjavik on 24 September 2004

30 YEARS OF NORDIC COOPERATION (1974-2004) Where are we - where are we going?

All the Nordic countries do very well in international comparisons regarding equality and particularly gender equality. This has required a lot of work in each country. Nordic cooperation has long traditions. I believe that equality work has received special strength from this cooperation among like-minded people.

Thirty years of cooperation is a good reason for a celebration: we have achieved results that we can be pleased with and those who have done the work deserve our thanks and respect. And while we are assembled this is also a splendid occasion for us to infuse one another with faith and courage to continue work.

Our work is truly needed. Some old problems are still waiting to be resolved and change in our world has brought many new challenges. Fortunately we are wiser today than before. Equality gaps have been studied and new solutions have been found. The women's movement and women's research have also questioned the level of gender equality that has supposedly been achieved. More people are also involved in equality work - both women and a few men. Nordic solutions interest other countries near and far. During the past decades gender equality has gained in social value. It has become part of the discussion of human rights.

Marilyn Monroe sang that "diamonds are a girl's best friend". I believe that the Nordic welfare society is really a woman's best friend. Equality and the welfare society are closely connected. Our welfare society is based on equality but its roots lie especially in women's efforts to improve the welfare of women and children and at the same time men. Social security has divided the individual's and the family's responsibility in case of hardships such as illness or unemployment. Social security has also become a bridge between generations, for example through old-age pensions and family benefits. Reliable public services, particularly children's day care and healthy school meals but also services for the disabled and care for the elderly, have allowed women to work outside the home. Balancing work and family life has been made easier above all by legislation concerning parental leave.

Sexual discrimination in the workplace is forbidden by law. The trade union movement and authorities responsible for occupational safety and health have intensified the monitoring of regulations. The courts have started sentencing offenders. The EU principle of equal pay for equal work is changing opinions in the right direction.

Women's education level is high and has been diversifying. A record number of doctoral theses are being written. Women can enter the clergy in all the Nordic countries. Gender-based restrictions on office holders have disappeared in practice. The number of women involved in political decision-making has increased.

The Nordic countries are admired for these reasons in Europe, and countries around the world use us as a model. Although many of you probably began sighing half way through my list, I hope that you will add to it, because it is important to celebrate victories. They helps us to face the next challenges.

There are also areas in which development has not occurred. The wage gap between women and men appears to remain stubbornly the same from year to year at least in Finland. As a matter of fact the wage gap even seems to be growing, partly because many well-educated women have part-time or temporary jobs.

The labour market is still divided according to gender. Men work more often in the private sector and women in the public sector. Women still work more in care and service fields, men in industry and technical fields. Different fields have different pay levels and this explains part of the wage gap between women and men. Studies indicate that segregation does not explain all differences in pay, but gender often does.

There are not many women executives in the business world. A larger proportion of women in executive positions would increase the diversity of resources and probably competitiveness. Economic decision-making power also plays a key role in deciding the future of the welfare society and equality. For my own part I have tried to encourage women to start businesses and aim for executive positions. Many women feel that it is becoming harder to balance work and family life in today’s hectic atmosphere.

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Equality begins at home. Children need mothers and fathers, women and men around them. Adults' quality of life would also improve if men spent more time on parental leave. Discrimination against women would be reduced if in employers' view men were just as likely as women to take family leave. Men's opportunities to strengthen their role in the family would grow. Costs resulting from family leave and children could finally be divided fairly among employers.

From the viewpoint of families, at least in Finland the use of family leave by men is reduced not only by attitudes but also by the fact that the father usually has higher earnings than the mother. These traditional choices in turn reinforce differences in pay.

I am sure that young people today are ready to take more equal responsibility for their children, as long as families are provided sufficient economic possibilities. Iceland's paternal leave model is very interesting for this reason. Here in Iceland men use their parental leave, which no doubt strengthens fatherhood. Limiting leave to fathers' use and keeping earnings on the same level during leave seems to work. "Father months" are spreading to the rest of us as well.

The fact that the fathers of small children do a lot of overtime, even though surveys show that the parents of small children value time together, says something about attitudes in the workplace. Many women probably do a lot of unpaid overtime since they have part-time or temporary jobs.

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Violence against women is not a new problem in Finland either. Its existence is recognized and this is the first step to achieve change. Tightening criminal law, training authorities and supporting victims were the first reforms. We still have a great deal of work to do, especially in changing men's roles. Men's own efforts to condemn the use of violence and to seek new ways to resolve conflicts and control personal behaviour have proved effective.

Finland conducted a project in 1998-2002 to prevent violence and prostitution. The scope of the problem surprised us. According to a WHO report, violence causes an exceptionally high number of deaths in Finland. We are now preparing a broad national programme aimed at reducing violence, with special emphasis on gender equality.

Violence against women must be taken seriously and sufficient resources must be aimed at preventing it. Civic organizations and the third sector are important, but the state bears the main responsibility. I am sure that we will do our best in this matter.

Trafficking in women is part of violence against women. Trafficking and prostitution have changed their nature with the freer movement of people. We have cooperated with the Nordic and Baltic countries and neighbouring regions. In 2002 we arranged a joint campaign against trafficking in women involving eight countries. Cooperation has led to different measures to fight trafficking in the Baltic countries. Nordic-Baltic cooperation models are also being applied in the Barents region. Nordic-Baltic NB8 cooperation has been effective and should be continued.

Crime against women can also be examined in a larger context. I will not go into women's and children's position in wars and armed conflicts since this would require separate handling because of its seriousness. The sexual exploitation and oppression of women and children is an everyday occurrence in society. Trafficking in women and prostitution are a global phenomenon.

With regard to trafficking in women the Nordic countries are on the receiving end. Women mainly come from Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Asia. This extensive cross-border organized crime exploits and oppresses hundreds of thousands of women and children each year. Well over a hundred million euros change hands in Europe alone each year.

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Globalization has brought back some very negative phenomena that we may have even thought we had defeated. Trafficking in women and sex tourism have increased as a result of the freer movement of people, but the phenomenon is caused above all by the gap in the standard of living, women's weak position and downright poverty. If living conditions at home are poor, it is understandably easier to lure women even into outright prostitution. Many women are lured into becoming sex workers with false promises of a better life. To talk about sexual self-determination and a freely chosen profession in connection with this type of modern slave trade is truly cruel.

International cooperation is required to prevent prostitution and human trafficking and to help the victims. Women trafficked across borders need help at the destination and in their own country. Since organized crime is often involved, special attention must be focused on returning women safely to their home country.

Various measures have been tried at the international level to fight trafficking in women. The United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocol against Trafficking in Persons, which were approved in 2000, and conventions prepared by the International Labour Organization deal with women's and children's rights. The European Union's framework agreement on trafficking in human beings also requires that the member states harmonize their legislation.

A key means to prevent trafficking in women is for border and police authorities to step up activities to detect the problem at an early state and to intervene. Sweden criminalized the purchasing of sex services in 1999. In Finland purchasing sex services from minors and purchasing or selling sex services in a public place have already been criminalized and broader measures are being discussed. Nordic cooperation in this difficult work is important. Procuring and prostitution are increasingly organized by international criminal organizations, and fighting them requires effective efforts. All the Nordic countries belong to the EU's Schengen system, which means free movement, but we must be able to combine this with safety.

The other side of the sex trade is purchasing. Criminalizing the purchasing of sex services is connected to our idea of human dignity and respect as well as women's position in society. International laws and agreements must be obeyed and our countries' legislation must be up to date. The foundation of society is always collectively agreed ethical codes of what is right and wrong, good and bad. I hope that Nordic society's tradition of democracy, human rights and the rule of law will be strengthened.

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Women's and men's equal rights and opportunities to make full use of their abilities and resources benefit society as a whole. Both women and men are needed to achieve gender equality and to change traditional gender models.

I wish you the very best success in the remainder of this seminar.