29 ONE Finland Jouko Huttunen and Petteri Eerola The cultural and policy context of fatherhood As one of the northern social-democratic welfare states, Finland has striven for gender equality since the 1960s and persistent political struggles have borne fruit: in both 2012 and 2013, the World Economic Forum (WEF) placed Finland as the world’s second-ranked country in closing its gender gaps in various areas of living, such as educational attainment, health and survival (WEF, 2013). This standing did not affect Finland’s economy negatively: according to the
87 SIX finland: negotiating tripartite compromises Johanna Lammi-Taskula and Pentti Takala Maternity leave1: 105 working days at 90% of earnings up to a ceiling of €46,207 during the first 56 days of leave, with a lower percentage for higher earnings; subsequently, payment is at 70% of earnings up to €30,033, with a lower percentage for higher earnings. Paternity leave: 18 working days at 70% of earnings up to €30,034, with a lower percentage for higher earnings. Parental leave: 158 working days per family at 75% of earnings up to a ceiling €46,207 during
nIne Finland: towards more proactive policies Juho Saari and Olli Kangas The Finnish attitude to the european Union (eU) and to europeanisation is a mixture of a number of contradictory elements. every political party has its own opinions of the eU, and the political colour of the cabinet has an impact on the government’s official stances on the issue. The official opinion is formed in Parliament, where the Grand Committee, representing all parties, formulates the parliamentary will that does not necessarily need to coincide with the government
19 1 New frames for food charity in Finland Tiina Silvasti and Ville Tikka Introduction In 2017 in Finland, approximately 1,843 tons of food aid was delivered by initiatives financed by the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) alone. Nationally, the FEAD’s operational programme is focused exclusively on combating food poverty. It works to distribute food aid to the most deprived people throughout the country using 650 distribution centres run by partner organisations. These are usually parishes, faith-based organisations (FBOs) or non
59 FOUR Social work academia and policy in Finland1 Helena Blomberg and Christian Kroll In this chapter, we focus on Finnish social work academics’ engagement in welfare policy against the background of some distinctive features of Finnish social work. To provide a basis for the interpretation of the empirical results, in the next section we briefly discuss three different types of factors that may assist in viewing faculty members’ positions in context. Firstly, social work in Finland has developed and is undertaken primarily in the public sector as an
157 EIGHT The language of social politics in Finland Pauli Kettunen Among the five representatives of the Nordic model, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, each an exception in its own way, Finland may easily qualify as the most exceptional one. Finland was a latecomer in industrialisation and urbanisation, and it was also the Nordic latecomer in the field of social policies and industrial relations. Connections and conflicts with the Czarist and Soviet Empires are a particular dimension of Finland’s history, and the class based Civil War of
123 Families, Relationships and Societies • vol 7 • no 1 • 123–39 • © Policy Press 2018 • #FRS Print ISSN 2046 7435 • Online ISSN 2046 7443 • https://doi.org/10.1332/204674316X14552878034703 Accepted for publication 22 January 2016 • First published online 15 February 2016 Early interventionist parenting support: the case study of Finland Ella Sihvonen, ella.sihvonen@helsinki.fi University of Helsinki, Finland This article demonstrates that parenting support represents a key feature of family policy in Finland with certain characteristics. The analysis
Introduction This article compares the care policy options provided to older adults and their informal carers in two post-industrial European states: Finland and England (on account of social care being a devolved policy area in the UK). The two countries share similarities, with long-term care being set in a context of population ageing, austerity politics and the diversification of care options, incorporating both services and cash-for-care to promote user choice. A closer examination of how individual states are responding to the needs of their citizens
143 EIGHT Welfare or work: migrants’ selective integration in Finland Saara Koikkalainen, Timo Tammilehto, Olli Kangas, Marja Katisko, Seppo Koskinen and Asko Suikkanen Introduction All of the Nordic countries have historically been rather homogeneous in their national culture and population. In Finland, a country of 5.3 million inhabitants, the largest minority are Swedish-speaking Finns, who form about 5.4 per cent (290,000) of the population and enjoy extensive rights guaranteed, for example, by the fact that Swedish is the country’s second official
Klinth, 2008 ). We argue that increased global public attention to parenting and parenthood has also directed the ways and cultural climates in which parenting practices are negotiated in contemporary families. These relational negotiations were explored in this study through couple interviews with Finnish parents. Drawing on Morgan’s (2011) concept of family practices and recent research on the multidimensional nature of contemporary parenting (for example, Doucet, 2006 ; Miller, 2017 ), we understand parenting practices as a combination of hands-on care work
