Implementation of central concepts

AuthorNousiainen, Kevat
Pages9-20
9
3 Implementation of central concepts
3.1 General (legal) context
3.1.1 Surveys on the definition, implementation and limits of centr al concepts of gender
equality law
No surveys have been completed on how the central concepts of gender equality law are
defined, implemented, or limited.
3.1.2 Other issues
Courts often differ in their views on certain issues, such as how to iden tify a comparator
in discrimination cases. The Supreme Court and the Labour Cou rt have each presented
different interpretations of the comparator requirement, which, as the highest courts in
their respective competences, is problematic. Aside from the courts, the concept of
discrimination is in general not sufficiently understood. Social partners, who play an
important role in gender equality in the labour market and other areas such as social
insurance, tend to narrowly interpret the notion of discrimination, and indirect
discrimination and the concept of equal pay for work of equal value are not always
understood by the social partners. Employers tend to consider equal pay within the bounds
of collective agreements, and pay differentials under different agr eements are not
necessarily considered discriminat ory. There is a tendency to dismiss discrimination as a
cause of pay differentials, and rather, stress the impact of gender segregation of the labour
market as an explanation.
3.1.3 General overview of national acts
The Act on Equality b etween Women and Men ( 1986/609) is the main legislati ve
instrument that implement s EU directives in Finnish law. The Act has been amended
several tim es (in 1988, 1992, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2014, and 2016).
Initially, the Act was introduced in order to implement the requirements of the CEDAW,
and the amendments of 1995 intended predominantly to facilitate the i mplementation of
EU gender equality law.
As explained under 2.2, above, Section 7 of the Act on Equality contains a general
prohibition of discrimination on the ground of sex, as well as defining what constitutes
discrimination under the Act. The material scope of the Act on Equality is quite broad, as
only religious activities of religious communities, family and o ther private relations, and
acts of MPs and the President are excluded (Section 2). A violation of Section 7 may have
an impact in administrative law, as the prohibition of discrimination also applies to public
authorities. However, Section 7 does not provide a victim of discrimination with a
justiciable right to demand compensation for discrimination, the general provision only has
legal effect through monitoring of legality by the Equality Ombudsman and other
authorities monitoring legality. The Act on Equality contains further prohibitions on
discrimination in working life (Section 8), victimisation (Section 8a), discrimination in
educational institutions (Section 8b) and labour-ma rket organisations (Section 8c),
workplace harassment (Section 8d), and discrimination in the access to and supply of
goods and s ervices (Section 8e). Authorities and actors that violate these provisions are
required to compensate the victim(s) of discrimination.
The provisions that concern the two equality bodies the Equality Ombudsman and the
Gender Equality Board were originally incorporated into the sam e legal act, but in 2014
the Gender Equality Board was merged with the former Board for Ethnic Discrimination
into the National Non-Discrimination and Equality Tribunal of Fin land, which has a broad
mandate to protect persons wh o consider that they have been discriminated against on

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