A woman is voting.
​​​Photo: Matti Luhtala / Vapriikki image archives​​​​​​​​​
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​Women as voters, candidates and politicians information package

Women in Finland were granted full rights to vote and stand for elections ​in 1906 . The Parliament Act that guaranteed universal suffrage and unicameral parliament was the most radical reform of its time in the world. This information package poses the question of how the suffrage reform was achieved and what followed: how have women participated in elections and become Members of Parliament and achieved other positions of trust in the subsequent over 100 years?​


​The original name of this information package Women's suffrage 110 years that refers to the 110 anniversary was changed in 2024 when the content of the package was updated.   
 

Text: Päivi Erkkilä and Joni Krekola, May 2016, ​​updated April 2025, e-mail: forename.surname@eduskunta.fi

Saatavilla myös: ​​Naiset äänestäjinä, ehdokkaina ja poliitikkoina -tietopaketti
Tillgänglig också: Informationspaket om kvinnor som väljare, kandidater och politiker​​​​​

Historical Background

- Pioneers of women's suffrage
- How was the Finnish suffrage reform achieved?
- Processing the reforms at the Diet of Finland

Women as Members of Parliament

- The Parliament's number of women has ballooned in a little over a century
- Women have been elected to the most important positions in the system
- Parliaments with the highest female participation in 2016

​Women in elections

- Women as voters
- Women as candidates

Literature and online sources

Literature and online sources of the information package.