Number of female members of parliament in Finland 1983-2023

How far has gender equality progressed in Finland? In the 2023 election, 46 percent representatives in the Parliament of Finland (in Finnish: eduskunta) were female. Finland is known for being the first country in Europe to grant women the right to vote and run for office, as well as the first to grant universal suffrage regardless of ethnicity or resources. These rights were adopted in 1906, the same year as the Parliament of Finland was established. The third female prime minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, was instated in December 2019. At that time, she was both the world's youngest current state leader as well as the youngest prime minister ever in Finland.