Finnish working culture is known for its Professionalism, trust, independent working style and remote working possibilities, highly educated workers and straightforward communication.
We have legally set working hours and workers unions to oversee employee’s rights.
While Finland has made significant strides towards gender equality in the workplace, there is still a lot to be done. There are still some difficulties for example pay gap and career progression. Even now sometimes women are paid less for the same job and men have better opportunities to advance in their career. Women have to shoulder most of the caregiving in families, although nowadays fathers are increasingly participating in caregiving. Sexual harassment remains a serious issue in Finnish workplaces, creating a hostile environment for many women.
My experience as a male dance teacher gives us some examples from gender equality and prejudice. Dance field is massively women dominated. I was working for a dance organization for almost 8 years and during that time there was briefly another man teaching. Most of my classes consisted of breakdancing classes for boys. I only got to teach these classes because of my gender - I had no breakdance experience beforehand. There are a lot of assumptions in the dance field about what man knows or is capable of. Some assumptions I have encountered are that we are expected to be able to lift a dance partner above our heads, be strong but still flexible and know how to teach boys. I do know how to teach them but I can tell you that expertise comes with practice, not with gender..
I lived in Southern Finland's big cities most of my life. I lived in Vantaa, Helsinki and Turku. Now after moving to Forssa to study I started to realize how highly I think of those who live in cities and how low for those who live in small towns. Eventough Forssa is not that small it still feels like a quiet place with limited opportunities. In hindsight it does feel absurd. It should not matter where you are from to the way how i think of people.
Although I'm from bigger cities I still love peace, calm and nature. Even some of my closest friends still find it odd that I would rather go camping for the weekend rather than clubbing in the heart of Helsinki. I have actually found it really helpful to build new relationships with people: I have been camping and traveling in lots of places in Finland, and when I'm introduced to someone new I might know the palace they are coming from. I’m interested about their home, surroundings and their experience about their home. And I think that is also a good approach while meeting with people from other countries and cultures.