Finland's largest circulation daily, Helsingin Sanomat features an article reviewing the position of women and political power in the European Union.
It points out that in Greece, Hungary and Slovakia, not a single woman holds a government portfolio, whereas Finland is the only EU country where women are in the majority in the cabinet.
Upon winning the elections in Greece, that country's new left-wing Prime Minister Alexi Tsipras pledged more power to the people.
"When Tsipras formed a new Greek government this week it was seen where the power went: to men. There was not room for a single woman," wrote Helsingin Sanomat.
According to the EU Commission, there are only six European Union countries where women make up 40% or more of the cabinet. Finland is the only one where there are more women than men. Sweden has a 50-50 split, followed by Estonia, Italy and Slovenia.
The paper quotes Professor Giovanni Razzu of the Faculty of Economics at Reading University, saying that one should look at more than just the numbers. The status of portfolios is crucial.
"Women get the weighty portfolios such as finance, foreign affairs or the interior, much less often than do men," says Razzu.
He notes that the situation in Europe has improved, but not enough. There are complex factors involved, as there usually are in questions of equality: outdated attitudes, education and career paths and culture.
Participation by women in decision making on all levels is, however, important. The first reason is that decision making and decision makers should reflect the whole of society.
"Only having white males as decision makers would be too homogeneous," Razzu states.
Another reason is to be found in the economy. If the expertise of women is left unused, a great deal of talent goes to waste.
Weighing in on consensus
Decision making is also the focus of an op-ed piece in Friday's business paper Kauppalehti.
On several occasions, including during a recent election debate among party leaders, Prime Minister Alexander Stubb has been critical of Finland’s consensus politics, saying decisions by consensus are ineffectual.
According to Kauppalehti, this view was not shared by the leaders of the country's other major parties. At the same occasion, the SDP's Antti Rinne said he considers consensus as being sensible cooperation and the Centre Party's Juha Sipilä pressed for a broad social compact on reforming working life.
This paper argues that moderate wage agreements and pension reforms show that consensus works. But, it notes that in the view of critics, reforms are carried though too slowly and too late.
In its comments on the issue, Kauppalehti says that the roots of consensus are so deep in Finnish society that they should not be ripped out. Broadly-based commitment to reforms is also of benefit to the cohesion of the nation.
"For a small nation, consensus can also be strength. For example, credit rating agencies have praised the Finns for their ability to adjust to even seriously difficult matters. So, it is always worthwhile seeking consensus. If it cannot be found within a reasonable length of time, democratically elected decision makers should take the reins."
Nokia testing the waters
Nokia announced its results for the whole of 2014 yesterday. The business and economic daily Taloussanomat reports that Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri told the press that he was satisfied by the growth seen late in the year, that Nokia operations are moving in the right direction, and that its biggest division, Nokia Networks is "running on all cylinders".
Suri also said that he is pleased by market response to the company's android-based Nokia N1 tablet.
Right now, though, writes Taloussanomat, Nokia is making no promises concerning new products.
The paper quotes Group Chief Financial Officer Timo Ihamuotila to the effect that the positive initial reaction to the tablet shows that the Nokia brand has value for consumers.
According to Ihamuotila, Nokia is now "testing the market" with its N1.
Those annoying FB status updates
Anyone who uses Facebook has at least one friend who posts status updates that in time just get your back up: regular reports on athletic prowess, bragging about how sterling their little darlings are, how perfect their relationships.
The newsstand tabloid Ilta-Sanomat asked its readers what types of status updates are the most annoying. According the responses from over 8000 people, the most annoying are the mysterious "oh, life is so wonderful" status updates that actually don't tell you what's going on.
Ilta-Sanomat lists what are perceived by its readers as the 11 most commonly annoying status updates and explanations by a psychologist, Kari Kiianmaa, of what are really the motives behind them and what they really say.
Overall, Kiianmaa's view is that spending time hanging out on social media sites and discussing one's personal affairs is problematic because it is so much easier to expose oneself there than in a face-to-face situation. There is a danger of revealing too much without even noticing it. He urges more caution.
"If you are there [on Facebook] constantly, that is time taken away from something else. If your phone is your companion and you spend more time with it than with people close to you, your should set yourself some rules for using that phone," Kiianmaa advises.