An interesting video posted by a CaroxElMundo, who tells us in Spanish about her experiences about Finland, makes a very good observation: Finland promotes gender equality, but all other types of equality take a back seat.
She makes a valid point.
Finland has made a lot of progress in gender rights. There are still many things that have to be set right: women make on average 20% less than men at work, Finland is one of the most violent countries in the EU for women to live in. It was only 37 years ago when women won the right to pass on Finnish nationality to their children, even if they won the right to vote in 1906.
There are a lot of myths surrounding social equality in Finland.
The myths that are perpetuated permit institutional racism and discrimination to stay intact.
The myth reaches its most vulgar proportions at many “integration” courses for newcomers are, in reality, courses where you are fed Finnish exceptionalism. You are taught a lot about using public services but rarely talked about fighting for your rights and being treated equally before the law.
For this reason, the process of learning about your place in Finland can come as a rude surprise for some. It may also come as a lesser surprise if you learn this harsh reality in drips and drabs.
See also:
- Kotoutuminen #1: A good synonym for kotoutuminen is too many times the reinforcement of structural racism
- Kotoutuminen #2: A tool of white fragility to rule you
- Kotoutuminen #3: To touch or not to touch
- Kotoutuminen #4: Amalgamate, assimilate is the rule, two-way adaption is a pipedream
- Kotoutuminen #5: Perpetuating the Ulysses syndrome, a chronic stress disorder of refugees
- Kotoutuminen #6: The white Finnish teacher and the migrant adult child. Stop infantilizing!
- Kotoutuminen #7: How do we deal with our prejudices and exceptionalism?
- Kotoutuminen #8: Let’s do away with “us” and “them”
- Kotoutuminen #9: Spreading half-truths about integration
- Kotoutuminen #10: Misleading expectations that will keep you (dis)integrated
- Kotoutuminen #11: The teacher asks the student why Muslims kill people
- Kotoutuminen #12: Integration is as easy as 1+ 1 = 2. NOT!
- Kotoutuminen #13: There is no good Finnish word for inclusion just like with integration before
- Kotoutuminen #14: Disseminate and vanish
*Kotoutiminen is the Finnish term for integration. It came about in the late-1990s because there was no such term in the Finnish language.