Mainstreaming sexual equality in Finland by SETA

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Mainstreaming sexual equalityin Finland by SETA

• Jussi Nissinen

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SETA

• Sexual minorities
• gays, lesbians, bisexuals
• diversity of sexuality
• Gender minorities
• transsexuals, transvestites, intersexual people
• diversity of gender

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Sexual equality in Finland

• Decriminalization 1971
• still special paragraphs until 1999
• Removed partially from the codebook of diseases
  (DSM III) in 1981
• Criminalization of discrimination 1995
• Special paragraphs removed from the penal law of
  sex crimes 1999
• Law of registered partnerships 2002

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Special features of discrimination

• Sexualization
• Minority status within the family of origin
• Religious arguments
• you need just treatment (sickness label)
• unsuitable to be parents or to bring up
  children
• Invisibility coming out / being in closet
• 50 in closet in their working place
• Homofobia

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SETA

• 30 years old
• 17 member organizations
• local organizations
• lifestyle/identity organizations
• transvestites
• professional groups
• Lesbian and gay professionals within health care
  and social work

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SETA

• 13 employees
• Helsinki, Tampere, Vaasa, Kruunupyy, Rovaniemi
• Voluntary work has an important role

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SETA

• Human rights work
• Social work youth work
• Training
• High schools, vocational schools (police school,
  nurse school), universities
• Peer support groups
• Z-magazine, website www.seta.fi

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SETA

• Transgender support centre in Helsinki
• Social workers in Helsinki and Tampere
• From knots to solutions -project training and
  networking professionals within social work and
  health care
• Youth-project training youth workers and
  counselling young people in Northern Finland

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2 approaches to discrimination

• Events-oriented approach
• focus to single events
• Process-oriented approach
• focus to the historical and social context, as a
  process due to which disadvantaged groups may
  become exluded or subordinated

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Co-operation

• Be Equal Be Different project 2000 - 2001
• training in working places
• advantages of diversity politics, detecting
  discriminatimg practices, horizontal view
• Finland, Ireland, Italy, Neatherlands
• SEIS project in Finland 2001 -
• 4 ministeries and 5 NGOs
• JOIN project
• EQUAL
• Sexual and gender minorities at work

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International co-operation

• Human rights committee in the ministery of
  foreign affairs
• ILGA and ILGA-Europe
• (Hatter in Hungary organizes the next meeting)
• EQUAL-projects

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Gender and sex at work

• question of openness is very personal
• reactions of
• employer
• other employees
• clients
• right to decide whether to tell or not

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Strategy to combat discrimination

• Detecting everyday practices that produce and
  maintain otherness and discrimination
• Correcting these practices
• Together with
• labour unions
• occupational safety authorities
• employers