Centenary of women's political rights in Finland

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The history of NYTKIS, the Coalition of Finnish Women’s Associations

Niina Sinkkonen

What is NYTKIS?

NYTKIS, or the Coalition of Finnish Women’s Associations, is an umbrella organisation that promotes equality in Finnish society. It monitors the achievement of women’s rights, comments on social and political issues, and works to improve women’s status and to achieve genuine gender equality. A total of about 600,000 Finnish women belong to the member associations of NYTKIS.

Women's associations united under a single umbrella

The history of NYTKIS can be traced back to 1987, when the idea of establishing an organisation that would represent Finnish women in international cooperation was first put forward. The following year, an unregistered committee called NYTKIS (Naisjärjestöt Yhteistyössä – Kvinnoorganisationer i Samarbete) was set up for this purpose. Those present at the founding meeting decided that the committee would convene when necessary and that decisions would be based on consensus. In the name of equality, the chairmanship of the committee would rotate annually from one association to another, and all member associations would be equally represented.

There was clear social demand for NYTKIS in late-eighties Finland. As a country that was not part of either the Capitalist system or the Communist system, Finland needed an umbrella organisation for women’s issues, because the weight and resources of women’s organisations within Finnish political parties were not sufficient to mediate East-West dialogue. After its successful establishment, NYTKIS was joined not only by political women’s organisations, but also by the National Council of Women in Finland, UNIONI, the League of Finnish Feminists, and the Association for Women’s Studies in Finland.

As intended, NYTKIS initially focused on international issues. Very soon, however, the member associations began to examine their opportunities to influence domestic policy as well. At the end of 1989, the member associations chose as their slogan “Equal pay for equal work”.

In its early years, NYTKIS demanded that more women be included in decision making in Finnish society, analysed European integration from the woman’s perspective and worked actively to incorporate women’s views into Finland’s development aid. NYTKIS also arranged seminars and training, submitted statements to authorities on women’s issues and family policy, and participated in projects promoting peace, environmental protection and the status of women refugees. The example set by NYTKIS as an umbrella organisation capable of broad cooperation inspired people across Finland and led to the establishment of many regional committees.

From early on, the goal of the member associations of NYTKIS was to increase the number of women in decision making. NYTKIS campaigned several times under the slogan “Vote for a woman”. In the parliamentary elections of 1991, Finns set the world record in women’s representation by electing 77 women MPs. Further concrete results were achieved in 1992: after NYTKIS commented on the fact that only men had been appointed to the ministerial group preparing Finland’s accession to the EU, two women government ministers were appointed.

After Finland became a member of the EU, NYTKIS was accepted into the European Women’s Lobby, which is Europe’s largest coalition of women’s associations. NYTKIS has also been involved in the cooperative network of Nordic women’s organisations, Nordiska Kvinnoorganisationer i Samarbete. In Finland, the expertise of NYTKIS in women’s issues is widely recognised. For example, NYTKIS was granted expert status in the Council for Gender Equality in 1998.

Throughout its existence, the activities of NYTKIS have been impeded by lack of funding. Despite petitions, the organisation does not receive regular government funding. In 1995, on the proposal of NYTKIS, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health established a committee to look into the status and funding of Finnish women’s organisations and their participation in international cooperation. The committee memorandum, entitled Anelun aika on ohi (“The time for pleading is over”), stressed the significance of Finnish women’s organisations and proposed that they be granted regular government funding. In practice, however, the memorandum did not lead to new policies on funding.

NYTKIS becomes a registered association

For a number of years, NYTKIS operated on a purely voluntary basis. Its activities were largely based on the efforts of the member association that held the chairmanship at any given time, and of the secretary general of that association. NYTKIS appointed the first secretary general of its own in 2001 to prepare its entry into the Finnish Register of Associations. On 11 January 2002, what had originally been a small, unregistered committee of women’s organisations became a registered association.

NYTKIS was and is a unique Finnish coalition. It has successfully brought together not only the women’s associations of various political parties, but also a large number of non-political women’s organisations, and has succeeded in committing all its members to the pursuit of common goals.

Charting the history of NYTKIS, one can say that although it has accomplished many things, the issues facing women remain much the same as in the early years of the organisation’s activities. The gender pay gap continues to be a genuine problem, and the objective of electing 101 women to the 200-seat Finnish parliament has not been reached. NYTKIS still has its work cut out for it.

On the eve of the centenary of Finnish women’s suffrage, Finnish women’s associations continue to promote the key women’s issues of our time. In the 21st century, the associations have focused their energies on preventing violence against women and trafficking in women, on bringing the principle of equal treatment into the mainstream of society, and on levelling the cost of parenthood more equally among employers. One of the major tasks NYTKIS is currently involved in is monitoring the implementation of the Beijing Declaration in Finland and of the current Finnish Act on Equality between Women and Men. NYTKIS is also campaigning for the amendment of the Act in line with current challenges in the field of equality.

In 2006, NYTKIS will monitor the drafting of legislation that aims to regularise funding for Finnish women’s organisations. If the bill drafted for the centennial session of the Finnish parliament in June 2006 is successfully passed, women’s organisations will finally be put on equal footing with other non-governmental organisations, and the “time of pleading” which has lasted far too long will come to an end.

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