Abstract
Reform of the family leave system has been on the Finnish political agenda for a long time but has proved to be a challenging task. The challenges relate to ideological differences between the political parties and to non-decision making in tripartite working groups, where the labour market parties participate in policy formulation. The article analyses the recent attempt to reform the Finnish family leave system under a right-conservative government (2015–2019) as an example of how diverging political ideologies and vested interests undermine adoption of government gender equality policy. The case also serves as an example of the growing influence of knowledge, and especially economic knowledge, in policy-making. The article provides new insights into the changing processes of decision-making in relation to gender equality policy.
Highlights
A pivotal aspect of research on gender equality policy is to analyse the conditions and processes informing the adoption or non-adoption of a particular policy
Reform of the family leave system has proved challenging as a result of ideological differences between the political parties, compounded by the interests of central labour market organizations, which play a central role in reform efforts within the Finnish corporatist regime (Lammi-Taskula and Takala, 2009; Salmi and Lammi-Taskula, 2015)
This article analysed a failed attempt to reform Finland’s family leave system in terms of the difficulties of formulating and adopting gender equality policy in an unfavourable context shaped by austerity, conservatism and corporatism
Summary
A pivotal aspect of research on gender equality policy is to analyse the conditions and processes informing the adoption or non-adoption of a particular policy. Based on broad survey and interview data, one finding of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare’s (THL) study of family leave use was that cutting the home care allowance would not have the desired effect on employment because of the precarious labour market position of those who used the allowance for the longest time (Salmi and Närvi, 2017).
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