Ombudsman for Equality

Year 2005 in brief

• supervises compliance with the Act on Equality between Women and Men, in particular the prohibition on discrimination and discriminatory job advertising
• promotes the purpose of the Act by means of initiatives, advice and counselling
• gives information about the Equality Act and its application
• monitors the implementation of equality between women and men in different sectors of society.

The revised Equality Act entered into force in July 2005

The reform of the Act on Equality between Women and Men was completed in 2005 after lengthy preparations and the revisions entered into force in July. The most important revisions were the clarification of the obligation to promote gender equality, the obligation concerning equality planning in particular, as well as the introduction of an obligation to prepare employer-specific pay surveys. The revisions also included sanctions on failure to carry out gender equality planning.

In the reformed Act, the quota provision was specified to apply also to bodies established for the purpose of inter-municipal cooperation. Also the principle of equitable representation was expanded.

The Equality Act’s provisions prohibiting discrimination were revised. The Act includes now an explicit definition of direct and indirect discrimination. The definition of discrimination also includes sexual harassment and gender-based harassment as well as an order or an instruction to engage in discrimination. Also countermeasures in working life constitute discrimination. The Act’s provisions prohibiting discrimination can also be applied to discrimination against transsexuals.

Also the provisions concerning timeframes for action and compensation were revised. The timeframe for action was extended to two years in all cases except cases concerning discrimination in employee recruitment situations where the timeframe is still one year. The Act provides that the minimum sum payable as compensation is EUR 3,000. No upper limit has been set for the amount, except for employee recruitment situations, for which the maximum compensation payable is EUR 15,000.

Especially during the latter halve of the year the focus was on distributing information concerning the legislative reform. There were over thirty training events. Most of these events were organised by the social partners. In December 2005 the Ombudsman for Equality organised a seminar titled Revised gender equality legislation – what’s new in EC law and the Equality Act.

Two workplaces were rewarded for active gender equality planning. The survey Gender equality planning in the public sector – Survey on the realisation of the planning obligation commissioned by the Ombudsman from Statistics Finland was published in December. Also the handbook Added value from gender equality – Handbook on gender equality work at workplaces was published at the end of the year.

The Ombudsman for Equality suggested revisions in the Employment Contracts Act

The Ombudsman for Equality suggested to the Ministry of Labour that the Employment Contracts Act should be complemented with an explicit prohibition on non-renewal of fixed-term employment relationships or restriction of their length on the grounds of pregnancy or family leave. The Ombudsman also initiated a revision of the provision concerning temporary child-care leave so that a parent would have the right to temporary child-care leave even if he or she and the child do not live in the same household.

As before there were plenty of training events, conferences and other events concerning gender equality in 2005. In addition, the Ombudsman’s Office had numerous visitors and delegations from different countries including EU Member States, Ethiopia, Japan, Afghanistan and Arab countries.