Ombudsman for Equality

Year 2007 in brief 

Visits at workplaces, equality planning and pay surveys

Equal pay and pay surveys were the main topics when the Ombudsman for Equality visited at workplaces. In 2007 the Ombudsman visited at four workplaces. Two of the workplaces were in the private sector and two in the public sector.

The Ombudsman for Equality has organised seminars already for many years. The theme for the 2007 seminar was equal pay and the focus was on pay discrimination and the discrimination bans in the gender equality legislation.

A specific theme was market pay, and the keynote speaker discussed whether market arguments, i.e. workforce demand and supply, can explain gender pay differences in an acceptable way and to what extent this can be done. Market-logic based grounds for pay can override gender pay discrimination.

Regarding the monitoring of equality plans, the practice of combining equality plan monitoring with other workplace monitoring will be continued. The employers whose workplace had been reported for suspicion of discrimination were also requested to draw up an additional report on equality planning. If no plan existed, a time limit for drawing up the plan was set for the employer.

Pregnancy and family leaves are still a topical problem

In 2007 the Ombudsman for Equality was contacted several times because of suspicions of discrimination due to pregnancy and family leaves. Women asked the Ombudsman how they should respond to questions regarding their family plans when applying for a job and at what stage they should tell their employer about their pregnancy.

In a couple of cases a person’s employment contract was terminated during the trial period and the employee suspected the reason to be her pregnancy. Problems have emerged even in connection with making a post permanent or extending a fixed-term contract when the employer has found out about an employee’s pregnancy. Several people contacting the Ombudsman suspected that employees who have taken family leave have been placed in an unequal position with regard to pay or other terms of employment relationship.

Job advertisements

As before, the Ombudsman for Equality was contacted also because of job advertisements. According to the Act on Equality between Women and Men, discrimination is not allowed in job or education advertisements. In some cases the Ombudsman was contacted because job advertisements used gender-specific occupation titles such as repairman or hostess.

Different pricing

The Insurance Companies Act and certain other related acts were reformed in 2007. The amendments were necessitated by the national implementation of the EU gender equality directive on goods and services.

Ever since the Gender Equality Act took effect in 1987, the Ombudsman for Equality has been asked about the legality of a cruise package a certain shipping company offers only for women. The company has been advertising the cruise with “two ladies for the price of one”. The Ombudsman found that the shipping company’s special offer was against the law as it placed male travellers in unequal position directly based on gender compared to female travellers. The Ombudsman for Equality advised the shipping company to restrain from continuing this activity against the Gender Equality Act.

Educational institutions

The total reform of the Gender Equality Act in 2005 specified the regulations on educational institutions so that a ban on discrimination in educational institutions was included in the Act. Also on the initiative of Parliament, a provision on equality planning for educational institutions was incorporated into the Act.

The Ombudsman for Equality took a stand especially on issues relating to student admission such as admission criteria and questions asked in the admission interview about the possibilities to combine studies and childcare.

20 years of the Gender Equality Act

The 20-year jubilee of the Gender Equality Act was celebrated in Helsinki in early 2007. A book Tasa-arvolaki 20 vuotta was published in honour of the jubilee. All four Ombudsmen for Equality were interviewed for the book as well as a number of people involved in the drafting of the Act. There is also a wide-ranging article about changes in the social atmosphere during these twenty years studied from the perspective of gender equality.

Personnel

In 2007 the Office of the Ombudsman for Equality employed 12 persons. The Office had 10.5 permanent positions. In addition, there was one university trainee working at the Office during the summer.