Those who have moved to Finland face a strongly gender-segregated labour market

Guest post by Mia Teräsaho and Anne-Mari Hietaharju from The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

In many respects, Finland is considered a model country for equality, although there are still obstacles to achieving gender equality that need to be actively addressed. One of these obstacles is the strongly gender-segregated labour market, faced also by those who move to Finland.

For women and men with a foreign background, the education field is not as strongly segregated by gender as for women and men with Finnish a background. For example, women with a foreign background have more degrees completed abroad in the technology fields than those completed in Finland.

Women with a foreign background also work slightly more often than women with a Finnish background in male-dominated occupations in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Similarly, women with a foreign background do not work as often in female-dominated occupations in the fields of education, health, and wellbeing (EHW) as women with a Finnish background. (See the infographic.)

Men with a foreign background are less likely than men with a Finnish background to work in the field of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). On the other hand, in the professions of education, health, and wellbeing sector (EHW), the employment of men with a foreign and Finnish background is almost equally low. (See the infographic.)

The full utilization of international talents’ potential

The competence potential of international professionals who have moved to Finland should not be ignored. Unemployed women who have moved to Finland are a resource and a partial solution to the shortage of skilled labour.

The employment of highly educated immigrant women is hampered by the fact that they do not advance into professions corresponding to their higher education, even if they have a degree obtained in Finland and at least advanced knowledge of the Finnish language. They are more often overqualified for the jobs they do – no similar overqualification is seen for men with a foreign background.

According to research, women who have moved to Finland have largely been guided into the social and health care sector, especially as practical nurses – also contrary to some women's own interests, wishes and educational background as well. The skills of women with both foreign and Finnish backgrounds are valuable to identify and utilize in the social and health care sector, for example in the positions of a doctor, but also in professions in the male-dominated fields, such as technology and ICT. The social and health care sector, which suffers from labour shortages, would greatly benefit from getting more men with both Finnish and foreign backgrounds to strengthen the quality of service for a diverse customer base.

Five tips for more equal recruitment

In an equal and equitable society, different population groups and different genders are represented in different organizations and work positions. Promoting gender equality and equity has many benefits for the workplace. Diverse work communities have been found to be innovative and creative. In addition, a workplace that values ​​diversity is also attractive to other international professionals.

Based on the work of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare’s (THL) Manifold more and Dismantling segregation projects, we present five easy-to-implement ways to promote diversity in recruitment and to break down gender segregation in working life, especially from the perspective of international professionals.

1. Add a diversity clause to the job advertisement

THL uses the diversity clause in many of their job advertisements, in hopes to receive applications from persons of different ages and genders, as well as persons belonging to linguistic, cultural or other minorities. In line with its values, THL is a leader in equality, so we emphasize equality in our operations and value the diversity of our work community.

2. Consider the language skills required for the task

Do you need excellent Finnish language skills to do the job, or are the basics of Finnish enough? Language-aware work, for example, the flexible use of Finnish, Swedish and English in the work community, improves everyone's participation and enables work to be done with the developing Finnish language as well.

3. Apply a form of partially anonymous recruiting

Anonymous recruitment hides information about applicants, such as their name, age, gender, and nationality, allowing applications to be evaluated completely anonymously. Incorporating an anonymous sample text in recruitment, on the other hand, is a form of a partially anonymous recruitment process.

The anonymous sample text means that, for example, an anonymous one-page research idea paper or a motivation letter is attached to the application, on the basis of applicants first being evaluated without identifying background information. After the evaluation, the anonymous sample text will be attached to the applicant's application and CV.

4. Communicate in a gender-aware way and reach job seekers from different networks

By distributing the vacancy announcements in various ways on wide networks and on several social media channels, you can reach potential job seekers more broadly.

Job advertisements should make use of more equal and gender-aware communication to dismantle existing stereotypes. For example, selecting images of people with diverse gender expressions, ages, and looks in diverse roles, occupations, and positions.

It is also a good idea to avoid gendered titles in vacancies, such as titles ending with -man, as there are gender-neutral equivalents to these.

5. Introduce resources into the workplace through an equality plan

A good tool for implementing concrete measures to dismantle gender segregation and promote diversity is the workplace equality plans, which are required by both the Finnish Equality Act and the Non-Discrimination Act.

Useful measures to address gender segregation and promote diversity in the workplace also include guidelines for the elimination of discrimination, harassment, and inappropriate treatment in the workplace, the principles of safer events, equal career paths and pay, and the inclusion of gender and family diversity in the measures of the plan.

Authors: Mia Teräsaho works as a Development Manager in The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare’s Manifold More Project and as a Project Manager of the Dismantling Segregation Project. Anne-Mari Hietaharju is the Planning Officer of the Dismantling Segregation Project.