The Finnish People/Gender Equality

From what I've heard the Finnish are a proud people who play by the rules. It is an unthought of, no question way of life for Finns, that one must strive to work hard and to practice respect. I have heard of people saying that Finns are so set in their ways to abide by the law, that in the city, even if there were no cars within eyeshot, a Finn wouldn't even think about crossing the street until after sign changed to "walk" .. These ideals are so engrained into the lives, and personalities of the Finnish population, that evidently Finland has been found "the least corrupt country" since 1998. I read this on a website that stated that these facts were via the Berlin based organization, Transparency International.

I believe that these underlying ideals of encouriging a society to do right and abide by the law is a contributing factor as to why Finland is so advanced, in more than one way. A very tech- savvy nation, it is the home of Nokia among many other large corporations exporting the latest and greatest new devices. But in addition to its sucsessful engineering and manufacturing industries, Finland has set an example for the world regarding Gender roles and equality. Women and Men coexist truely equal with one another. Finland's workforce is split 50/50 working men and women. There are more female doctors in Finland than male doctors. Also, Finland has already had 2 female Prime Ministers - (the current, Tarja Halonen, appeared on The Conan O'Brien Show for striking a shocking resemblance to O'Brien himself).

So why in Finland does it appear that the oppression of women is completely erased? America prides itself on it's support of equal rights, yet men on average earn a much higher salary than women do here. Furthermore, the idea of a woman president is still somewhat of a shakey subject, though we are making strides towards acceptance of a more completed idea of women's equality.

I admire this culture a lot for it's ideals. It has also been suggested before that Finnish are amongst the most friendly and hospitible people you can find on the earth. Though a lot of Finn's are known to be shy and inhibited upon introduction, in most cases when they open up to new people they are positive and friendly. In a Finnish household, guests are held in high esteem and treated like royalty. It is just a way of life, a way of behaving that goes without saying.