Women as caregivers and men as leaders—even in the 2020s?

This post is currently available in Finnish. Please see the original post here. If the mistress of Niskavuori were to travel back in time a century via a time machine, what would she have to say about the present day? Even the most conservative observers could not have predicted that, even in the 2020s, we would still be encountering women as nurses and shaking hands with men as leaders.  This is what our future looks like, according to the latest findings from the “When School Ends – Youth Future Report.”

More than 7,700 young people have sketched out a vision of the future in which gender strongly shapes their own future and, in particular, their choice of field of study. Not a single industry appears in the top five career choices for both middle school and high school girls and boys. Something is seriously wrong when a 13-year-old is already forced to consider their career choice through the lens of their own gender. For example, it is pointless to expect female job seekers to alleviate the shortage of coders in the near future.

This phenomenon comes as no surprise, given the state of our working life. While glass ceilings are shattering in other Western countries, the development of the Finnish labor market has come to a standstill. It is clear that national income is being lost when people’s resources are directed toward something other than what their natural abilities would guide them toward. A nation of five and a half million people cannot afford to leave anyone trapped by their gender, yet strong gender norms still seem to be hindering Finland’s prosperity.

At the same time, the anxiety surrounding the choice of further education has increased, and the popularity of taking a gap year is at an all-time high. The fear of making the wrong choice is particularly prevalent among girls, as nearly 40 percent of high school girls plan to take a gap year, compared to 17 percent of boys. This trend has grown stronger year by year. One might laugh at the girls’ uncertainty, but dismissing it comes at a high cost to taxpayers. This is a strong signal that current methods of guiding young people in their decisions about further education need to be overhauled. A completely new approach is needed to guide high school students, involving subject teachers, collaboration with the business community, and career coaching.

Progress toward gender equality in the Finnish workplace has been far too slow, and clearly more work needs to be done in this area. Our society desperately needs greater tolerance for people making different choices, starting from childhood. Best practices are rewarded by the preservation of our welfare society.

The author is the research director at T-Media.