Avautuva valtaeliitti : Naisten rekrytoituminen eliitteihin vuosina 1991-2021

• Published in: Politiikka
• Main Author: Ruostetsaari, Ilkka
• Other Authors: Tampere University, Politiikan tutkimus
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Finnish
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: 517 Valtio-oppi; hallintotiede; Norway; Oppi; Iceland
• Online Access: https://trepo.tuni.fi/handle/10024/142378; https://doi.org/10.37452/politiikka.103403

Purpose of the study was to explore the extent to which the position of women and men has changed in the topmost decision-making of Finnish societal sectors in 1991-2021. The study epitomizes the changes that have taken place in terms of the openness of elite structure and the gender equality of opportunities during the three decades. The study analysed, whether the 40 percent threshold was broken in terms of elite positions of women and men among the elites of politics, public administration, business, organisations, mass media, science, and culture; how Finland can be compared to other Nordic countries with respect to gender representation among the elites, and the extent of which elite positions were accumulated for women and men. As regards the research method and data, the study was based on the positional approach: individuals belonging to the elites were defined on the basis of public documents as the holders of the top leadership positions of the most influential organizations in various sectors of society. The representation of women among Finnish power elite has grown steadily and tripled from 12 per cent to 35 per cent. In all Nordic countries, the share of women of elite positions was highest in political and cultural elites, but lowest in the business elite. The share of women in the Finnish business elite was lower than that in Iceland and Norway, and it has grown more slowly than in other Finnish elite groups. The accumulation of elite positions for the same persons has slightly decreased between 1991 and 2021 and is by far the most common among the elites of business and politics. Of the five people with the most accumulated elite positions, two are women, although the accumulation of elite positions for men is clearly more common than women. The increased representation of women in the Finnish elites, as well as the decrease in the accumulation of elite positions, indicate to a small extent the increasing openness of elites and the fragmentation of the elite structure. Peer reviewed