Only 50 out of Finland’s 320 municipalities are headed by women. The number surprised local government employers' organisation KT.
KT's information officer Sari Ojanen points out that in the municipal services sector 60 percent of supervisors and other directors are female. However, Ojanen doesn’t think the skewed figures are political.
"I do believe that the best person for the job is selected. It could be that there are less female candidates and that women do not dare to apply for the job," she says.
The exact gender ratio of applicants for the post is not known. However, there is a notable discrepancy, according to Hattula’s city head and member of the Municipal Managers Association's Board of Directors, Heidi Rämö.
"In general, it’s a minority – a significant minority," says Rämö.
Worklife challenges
So what prevents women from applying for the top job? Kittilä’s city director, Anna Mäkelä, thinks that many women are scared off by the difficult hours. Herself a mother of three children, Mäkelä says that juggling family life and work responsibilities is a challenge.
"I do always have a bit of a bad conscience when I go on a business trip and I stay overnight away from home," she says. "I don’t know that bad conscience is stronger than with my male colleagues."
Rämö has similar suspicions to Mäkelä, also thinking that evening and weekend work has dissuaded female candidates.
"You always have to juggle your time. In particular, it's challenging to perform a maternal role in the family, allocating time with children and your spouse," Hattula's municipal leader says.
Mäkelä thinks, however, that the amount of female municipal leaders will increase in coming years, especially since many of the men now in post have been there for a long time. As older generations retire, she says, the ratio will head more in the direction of modern day standards, which tend towards more equal representation.