Finland wants to encourage equality and give the world a word – their all-inclusive personal pronoun, hän

Like many languages, Finnish is full of loanwords – words that were, at some point, borrowed from other languages and incorporated into Finnish. Finland would now like to give the rest of the world a word, to encourage international discussion about equality and inclusivity, and to support everyone who is working to promote them. The word is: hän.

Federal Chancellor Merkel who gave the prize money to SOS FEVVF visited Niamey

The first recipient of the Government of Finland’s International Gender Equality Prize, Chancellor Angela Merkel, directed the sum of EUR 150,000 included in the prize to SOS FEVVF, a Nigerien organisation that defends the rights of women and girls.

Photo: Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung

Thank you to everyone who nominated a candidate for the prize

The call for proposals for the next recipient of the International Gender Equality Prize closed at the end of the year. Over three hundred nominations from all over the world were received for the prize to be awarded in autumn 2019. The prize is awarded to a person or organisation that has advanced gender equality in a globally significant way.

Meet our new, outstanding prize jury 2019

We are proud to present our outstanding prize jury that will evaluate the nominations for the International Gender Equality Prize in 2019. Welcome on board Pekka Haavisto, Eva Biaudet, Katja Iversen, Anneli Jäätteenmäki and Dean Peacock!

More information about the jury members

International Gender Equality Prize 2017 goes to Chancellor Angela Merkel

On 14 December in Brussels, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä announced the first-ever recipient of the International Gender Equality Prize introduced by the Finnish Government. The prize goes to Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany in recognition of her long-standing work as a defender of human dignity and human rights and commitment to women and girls globally.

Photo: Juha Roininen

Finland & gender equality

The Prize

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28.6.2019 News item

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7.6.2019 Press release

Responsibilities of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health divided between three ministers

11.3.2019 Press release

UN Commission on the Status of Women will discuss social protection

21.12.2018 News item

There's still time to nominate a recipient for the International Gender Equality Prize

28.11.2018 News item

Gender equality in the European Union the focus of Thursday’s discussions in Brussels

1.11.2018 Press release

Finland's first Development Policy Results Report 2018 submitted to Parliament

25.10.2018 Press release

Nominate a candidate for the next International Gender Equality Prize

16.10.2018 Press release

More efficient means needed to achieve pay equality