Under the terms of the 1998/1999 national incomes policy agreement, the Finnish central organisations, of the unions of both the employees and the employers, formed a joint equal opportunities working group which in turn launched a research project on equal opportunities at the workplace. Ten workplaces, which represented different industries and services, were offered participation in this project, which had the purpose of encouraging equal opportunities at the workplace. The main goal of the project was to collect information and to gain experience on equal opportunities initiatives, and to discover how these affect productivity, morale and the working atmosphere in general.

This working group produced a discussion report of some one hundred pages. However, according to Riitta Partinen, the Equal Opportunities Secretary of SAK, this is only a first stage report as the project should be continued in order to develop efficient tools for securing equal opportunities.

The working group is unanimous in its opinion that the project should be continued. Those nine companies which initially participated in the project have also indicated their interest in again taking part.

This latter fact suggests that these companies were satisfied with the project and considered that they had gained real benefits from it.

Both public and private sector companies participated in the research. Senior researchers Kaisa Kauppinen, of the Occupational Health Institute and Leenamaija Otala, of Pro Competence Oy, were responsible for the practicalities of the project.

Women less satisfied than men

A thorough investigation was conducted into the degree to which equal opportunities had been implemented within the participating companies, although no league table was produced. There were 521 replies to a questionnaire on the subject of equal opportunities. These replies indicated that a programme of equal opportunities at a workplace creates a workforce which has more job satisfaction and is under less stress. All positive conditions at work, such as good career prospects, a constructive atmosphere and a fair-minded management, have a similar effect.

According to the questionnaire, it is clear that women experience discrimination at work on a more frequent basis than do men. 77 percent of men, but less than 50 percent of women, were of the opinion that equal opportunities had been implemented to a satisfactory degree in their own workplace. One in every two men, but only one in every four women, considered that equal opportunities in career development actually existed. Age discrimination was also perceived as a fairly common feature, and both men and women over the age of 50, though especially women, had experience of this. Women under 30 have also however experienced age discrimination.

In all of these participating companies, there was a firm division between the work of men and the work of women. This notwithstanding, most of the respondents were of the opinion that their own work would be equally well suited to either men or women. The supervisory and managerial positions were more often occupied by men than by women in each of these companies. Additionally, in the case of a woman being in a supervisory position, most of her staff would consist of women. This is yet another indication of an established, gender based, division of work.

Everyone should be consulted

The research results revealed that there were wide differences between the views of the company management and those of the staff. In the opinion of the management for example, the conditions for equal opportunities, the position of the older workers and the morale within the workplace, were all much better than were these factors in the opinion of the staff.

- If men in general, and managers - who are usually also men - in particular, do not perceive discrimination in the area of equal opportunities as a problem, then it is a problem which will never be solved. It is therefore vital that women draw attention to any occurrence of discrimination, says Riitta Partinen.

When women refrain from speaking out, because they are afraid that references to equal opportunity issues will incur resentment, a vicious circle is created.