Women in Finland enjoy a "high degree of equality" and "traditional courtesy" among men.

The Telegraph wrote in 2006: Finnish women are much more outgoing and approachable than the men and often command three or four languages.

The successful women included Lucina Hagman, Miina Sillanpää, Anni Huotari, Hilja Pärssinen, Hedvig Gebhard, Ida Aalle, Mimmi Kanervo, Eveliina Ala-Kulju, Hilda Käkikoski, Liisi Kivioja, Sandra Lehtinen, Dagmar Neovius, Maria Raunio, Alexandra Gripenberg, Iida Vemmelpuu, Maria Laine, Jenny Nuotio and Hilma Räsänen.

Newly elected MPs Lucina Hagman and Maikki Friberg together with Olga Oinola, Aldyth Hultin, Mathilda von Troil, Ellinor Ingman-Ivalo, Sofia Streng and Olga Österberg founded the Finnish Women's Association's first branch in Helsinki.

As of 2022, there have been three female Prime Ministers; In the mid 19th-century, Minna Canth first started to address feminist issues in public debate, such as women's education and sexual double standards.

[17] In the 1960s, feminism again became a part of debate in Finland after the publication of Anna-Liisa Sysiharjun's Home, Equality and Work (1960) and Elina Haavio-Mannilan's Suomalainen nainen ja mies (1968),[17] and the student feminist group Yhdistys 9 (1966–1970) addressed issues such as the need for free abortions.

Rape in marriage was not considered a crime at the time, and victims of domestic violence had few places to go.

Two feminist groups were created to help the movement: The Marxist-Feminists (Marxist-Feministerna) and The Red Women (Rödkäringarna, Puna-akat).

This act is called the Government Action Plan for Gender Equality (hallituksen tasa-arvo-ohjelma) and it included more than 100 issues that needed discussion.

[22] When the dispensation for female university students was dropped and women were accepted at the same terms as men in 1915, girls and boys started to receive the same education in the school system, and the girl schools in Finland started to be changed to same sex education, a development which was completed in the 1970s.

In spite of this, Finland is now one of the top-performing countries in mathematical skills, but also one of the few whose girls normally outperform boys.

This is also true among the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) where the top-performers in problem solving are predominantly men, except for in Finland, Australia and Canada.

[26] Employers who have at least 30 employees must have a gender equality plan that includes a women's and men's pay comparison.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and other important labor market organizations set guidelines for gender equality planning.

[20] Military service is required for all mentally and physically capable men in Finland, but is voluntary for women.

[28] In using the sauna, women bathe separately from men, except if they are with family members or friends.