Women now lead in Finnish political news coverage
The large number of women in leadership roles in Finland has bridged the traditional media gap.
The leaders of the five parties in Finland s coalition government in 2019. Since this time, the Centre Party s Katri Kulmuni ( second from left) has been replaced by Annika Saarikko.
Image: Jari Kovalainen / Yle
Last year, just over half of all mentions of members of parliament in political news coverage in Finland were references to female MPs, with women accounting for 52 percent, according to an analysis by the media monitoring agency Retriever.
The analysed coverage included news reporting on members of the government. If the holders of ministerial portfolios are excluded from the analysis, female MPs were mentioned in only 29 percent of political news items. 45 percent of all the members of the Finnish Parliament are women.
But that wasn t all that drew global attention: she was in a coalition government made up of five parties all led by women.
Stepping into the new government with Marin was Li Andersson (Left Alliance), 32; Maria Ohisalo (Green League), 34; Anna-Maja Henriksson (Swedish People s Party of Finland), 55; and Katri Kulmuni (Centre Party), 32.
So, a year on, how has the female-led government done?
French President Emmanuel Macron, right, greets Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Friday, Dec. 13, 2019Credit: AP
Finland interested in what other people think about us
Although women remain highly underrepresented in governments worldwide, in Finland, Marin is the fourth female prime minister.