Faina Jyrkilä was born 1 September 1917 in Sortavala, Finland, graduating from high school in 1941 and completing a social work degree in 1945.
[1] Between 1952 and 1953, Jyrkilä attended school at Columbia University and Harvard.
[2] She was the first Finnish female professor of sociology and began teaching at the University of Jyväskylä in 1964.
Having studied in the US, she was one of the first Finnish scholars to publish in English.
Jyrkilä was a respected teacher and academic and an expert in her field.