JHL (29.10.2013 - Heikki Jokinen) JHL organised a member gathering in connection with the “Osaava nainen” fair in Turku at the end of October. The Union policy is to go where the members are and it has an important issue in the “Osaava nainen” fair for many years.
The JHL Chief Executive Officer Päivi Niemi-Laine spoke to some 400 members present at the event, stressing that in planning municipal saving measures the gender aspect must not be overlooked. Many municipalities are planning redundancies and women are an easy target in this respect. This development could serve to seriously undermine equality in Finnish working life.
Municipalities employ large numbers of women and they are often employed in low income jobs. ”Personnel cuts in municipalities are targeting predominantly female and low income jobs. This cannot be allowed to continue. We can't hope to improve or repair the municipal economy by making low income women redundant”, Niemi-Laine said.
In any case, it is not reasonable to expect that we can repair the municipal economy by redundancies. Furthermore, the gender aspect is important. ”One of the major strengths of the Finnish society is the active role women play in working life”, she stressed. ”Our survival will become much more difficult if we do not to ensure that equal opportunities truly exist at work.”