Observación (CEACR) - Adopción: 2025, Publicación: 114ª reunión CIT (2026)

Finlandia

Convenio sobre igualdad de remuneración, 1951 (núm. 100) (Ratificación : 1963)
Convenio sobre los trabajadores con responsabilidades familiares, 1981 (núm. 156) (Ratificación : 1983)

In order to provide a comprehensive view of the issues relating to the application of ratified Conventions on equality, the Committee considers it appropriate to examine Conventions Nos 100 (equal remuneration) and 156 (workers with family responsibilities), together.

The Committee notes the observations of the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in Finland (AKAVA) and the Finnish Confederation of Professionals (STTK) (hereinafter referred to as “the trade unions”), and the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) and the Federation of Finnish Enterprises (SY), attached to the Government’s report.

Convention No. 100 – Principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value  

Articles 1 to 3. Gender pay gap. Scope of comparison. The Committee notes the Government’s and social partner’s acknowledgement that the gender pay gap remains significant and has narrowed only slowly, with women’s average monthly earnings at 83.7 per cent of men’s in 2023(around 16 per cent), higher than the European Union and Nordic averages, and persisting in both the private and public sectors. It notes that while job-evaluation systems are widely used in the public sector and in some collective agreements, the Government indicates that most pay systems and tools still have limited capacity to assess work of equal value. The Committee also notes the report that the “Dismantling Segregation Project”, under the Government’s Equal Pay Programme (2020–23), developed good workplace practices and a regional cooperation network to reduce gender segregation. 

The Committee notes the concerns of trade unions that the recent “statutory export-driven model” and the 2025 amendments to the Act on Mediation in Labour Disputes (1962), which prevent settlement proposals from exceeding the general level of pay adjustments, may constrain wage increases needed to close gaps in female-dominated, often public sector, occupations. They also consider that wage transparency remains insufficient and assess the Equal Pay Programme’s impact as modest, weakened by changes in collective bargaining structures, limited participation by key employers’ associations, weak sanctions, scarce resources for the Ombudsman for Equality and a narrow, unclear understanding of “work of equal value”. The Committee also notes that the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) views the gender pay gap as distinct from equal pay and questions the value of pay transparency, emphasizing instead measures to make sectors more attractive, strengthen women’s labour market position and promote more equal sharing of family leave and childcare. The Federation of Finnish Enterprises (SY) also considers existing legislation sufficient, stresses that wages are determined in collective agreements reflecting sectoral conditions and benefits, underlines the difficulty of defining “work of equal value” and opposes legislative interference in the social partners’ freedom to set the value of work. 

Furthermore, the Committee notes that a tripartite working group is preparing amendments to the Equality Act (1986) to transpose the European Union’s Pay Transparency Directive (2023/970), with a proposal to be submitted to Parliament in autumn 2025 and entry into force envisaged for May 2026. The proposed amendments would strengthen pay transparency by introducing legal definitions and criteria for “equal work” and “work of equal value”, enhancing workers’ rights to pay information, improving transparency of pay ranges in recruitment, imposing reporting and joint pay assessment obligations on larger employers and requiring all employers to have pay systems that ensure equal pay for equal work and work of equal value. It also notes the continuation of the tripartite Equal Pay Programme for 2024–27 and related research and tools to improve equality plans and pay surveys. The Committee also welcomes the continuation of the tripartite Equal Pay Programme for 2024–27, the completion of research and development projects on labour market segregation, and workplace equality plans and pay surveys. The Committee asks the Government, in consultation with the most representative workers’ and employers’ organizations and the Ombudsman for Equality, to ensure that the forthcoming legal definition and criteria on work of equal value permit a wide scope of comparison between jobs performed by women and men and are effectively applied, including across the public sector occupational groups. It also encourages the Government to conduct a gender-impact assessment of the “statutory export-driven model” and the 2025 amendments to the Act on Mediation in Labour Disputes and provide information on any mitigating measures taken; and (ii) provide updated available statistical data on the gender pay gap. 

Convention No. 156 – Workers with family responsibilities  

Article 3. Discrimination against men and women workers based on family responsibilities. Recalling that section 8(1) of the Non-Discrimination Act (1325/2014) includes “family status” among prohibited grounds, the Committee notes information from the Government and trade unions that discrimination linked to pregnancy and family leave remains common, underreported, affects in particular fixed-term and part-time workers, and increasingly concerns fathers following the 2022 reform. It welcomes the Working Group on Family Leaves and Gender Equality (Dec 2023–Feb 2025), mandated to support implementation of the Government Programme on Family Leaves and prevent such discrimination, and notes its commissioned legal study, comparative study on parenthood costs, stakeholder consultation and expert inputs. On this basis, the Committee notes proposals to refine the Equality Act, extend limitation periods, strengthen protection for temporary agency workers, ensure collective agreements contain no discriminatory terms, increase resources for the Ombudsman for Equality and joint information efforts, and review allowance systems to distribute family-leave costs more evenly. The Committee asks the Government to provide available examples of court or tribunal decisions applying section 8(1) of the Non-Discrimination Act (1325/2014) in employment and occupation, indicating outcomes, remedies and sanctions, and to report on the status and implementation of the Working Group’s proposals, including guidance to employers and workers and impact monitoring.

Articles 3 and 4(b). National policy and leave entitlements. The Committee notes that the reformed parental-allowance system under the Health Insurance Act entered into force in August 2022, introducing a pregnancy allowance and two equal parental quotas of 160 days with flexible use between parents, and requires employers to give written reasons when refusing part-time parental leave. It further notes the creation of up to five days of unpaid family carers’ leave per year, the increase of the annual holiday accrual cap during parental leave from 156 to 160 days and reimbursement to employers for holiday costs accrued during pregnancy and parental leave. The Committee notes that fathers’ share of parental-allowance days rose from 11.1 per cent in 2021 to about 20.9 per cent in 2024, but that only 4 per cent of parents split days equally and 3 per cent used parental leave part-time. It also notes trade union concerns that the Employment Contracts Act limit of four leave periods per year of at least 12 working days reduces flexibility, that discrimination linked to pregnancy and family leave persists, and that the child home-care allowance continues to prolong women’s absence from paid work. The Committee further notes that, in its 2022 concluding observations, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) highlighted persistent discrimination against women based on pregnancy and maternity and the low share of men taking parental leave, and recommended that the Government implement measures to promote equal sharing of domestic responsibilities and encourage men to use their full parental leave entitlements. (CEDAW/C/FIN/CO/8, paras 31 and 32). In this regard, the Committee asks the Government to take steps to assess the practical effects of the Employment Contracts Act limits on splitting leave period for employees and results achieved. 

Articles 7 and 8. Return to work and protection from dismissal. The Committee notes with concern, on the basis of the 2024 Pregnancy discrimination in Finland: Results of the population survey 2024 and trade union observations submitted in 2025, that 44 per cent of pregnant persons between 2012 and 2023 experienced some negative workplace consequence due to pregnancy, 26 per cent at least one form of pregnancy discrimination, 26 per cent fear or concern about its impact on their position and 16 per cent other negative treatment related to pregnancy or parental leave. It further notes that the risk of discrimination is highest in fixed-term employment (44 per cent), followed by zero-hour contracts (40 per cent), compared with 18 per cent in permanent employment, and that the most common forms are the non-renewal or non-confirmation of fixed-term contracts (7 per cent) and slowed or halted career progression (6 per cent). It also notes the concerns of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the information submitted by the trade unions in 2025 that pregnancy discrimination occurs across sectors and occupations, is particularly common among highly educated and fixed-term employees, is significantly higher among sexual and gender minorities and, in the context of the 2022 family leave reform, increasingly affects fathers as more fathers take parental leave. The Committee once again requests the Government to implement awareness-raising measures for employers, workers and the public on the challenges faced by workers with family responsibilities and urges it to adopt measures expressly prohibiting the non-renewal or limitation of fixed-term contracts solely on the basis of family responsibilities, and to report on results achieved.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.