Finland to give equal maternity and paternity leaves to promote gender equality

Finland’s government reportedly announced Wednesday that they would grant men equivalent paid paternity leaves as they grant to the women when the parents are expecting a child. The paid leaves can be extended for upto 7 months by the men, additionally qualifying women to extend their maternity leave by a month prior to the day of the childbirth, confirm reports.

Aino-Kaisa Pekonen, Minister of Health and Social Affairs, Finnish Member of Parliament reportedly said that the government’s focus of the radical reform was to boost gender equality and improve the declining birth rate, which promotes equality between men and women and diversity amongst the families. Both the parents of the child are entitled to parental leaves, without discrimination, she added.

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Reform is expected to go into effect in 2021

According to the reports, the reform is expected to go into effect in 2021 and allows up to 69 days from the paternity leaves to be transferred to one's spouse, and single parents will be able to avail the full amount of paid job off offered to a two-parent family.

Finland reportedly grants  4.2 months of paid maternity leave, while paid paternity leave lasts just 2.2 months in a policy distinguished by the gender. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin emphasized in her speech at the World Economic Forum that Finland had to majorly contribute towards gender equality in the Nation as the government aims to achieve equal rights for both the genders within the country, according to reports.

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She reportedly claimed that the fathers in Finland were unable to spend sufficient time with the newly born, revealing that the government was considering splitting the parental leave equally in policy reform. 

The steadily declining birth rate in Finland that fell by nearly a fifth despite having the oldest population among the Nordic countries is a cause of concern for the government, suggest reports. Finland reportedly confirmed only 47,577 new-borns annually in a population of more than 5.5 million people.

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