The winner of the International Gender Equality Prize will be announced in December

The International Gender Equality Prize (IGEP) will be awarded by the Government of Finland on 2 December. The 2019 prize ceremony will draw attention to issues that must be tackled in order to eliminate inequality.

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

Contact us

15.10.2019 Press release

Finland fourth in the gender equality comparison – development slower than in other EU countries

30.9.2019 Press release

Conference on gender equality: a stronger connection needed between gender equality policy and economic policy in the EU

16.9.2019 News item

High-Level Conference on the Economy of Wellbeing

27.6.2019 Column

Prime Minister Rinne will march in the Helsinki Pride Parade

28.6.2019 News item

Minister Pekonen: Non-discrimination and equality must become reality every day

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