The cornerstone of unity

69 CHILD DAY CARE
After the Second World War, Finland was a poor and war-stricken country. Women participated in the labour 
market partly 
in order to compensate for the missing male labour force, partly because of the country’s long 
history of gender equality. After the war, they stayed in paid employment. In the 1960s, the country that 
previously had relied on small-scale farming became urbanised faster than any other country in Europe: young 
people headed for cities to find jobs and to study. This further increased the need for women in the labour 
market, as well as their labour market participation. Child day care, however, was in short supply. 
In 1973, a Child Day Care Act entered into force in Finland that obliged local authorities to provide day care, 
with central government subsidising the activities financially. A heated debate on the “institutionalisation of 
children” had taken place at the time of drafting the Act: right-wingers opposed the Act, underlining the 
importance of children being cared for at home by their mothers, while left-wingers were for the Act, using the 
existing labour market situation as their justification. The Act gave rise to a social innovation: the creation of the 
occupation of family child-minder. Family child-
minders’ work consisted of caring for a group of 5 children, 
including their own children. They were paid a salary (by the parents and the local authority), and the work 
generated pension rights and called for a special education. 
On entering the 1980s, the development of day care was too slow to meet the need. Parental leave had been 
extended to nine months. The Centre Party, the former agrarian party, then developed home care allowance 
– a 
social innovation 
– which was paid to the parents if one of them stayed at home to care for their children under 
school age. The political left-wing opposed, suspecting that the reform would set a trap for women: they would exit 
the labour market and get into a disadvantaged labour market position, as well as lose part of their pensions. In 
1984, a political compromise was reached that again gave rise to a social innovation: legislation on support to child 
day care, which took effect gradually up to 1990. 
The legislation on child day care gave the parents the right to decide on their child’s day care after parental 
leave (11 months at that time): they could choose between day care provided by the local authorities (at a day-care 
centre or in family day care) and home care allowance that they could use according to their own judgement. The 
right only applied to families with children under three. The child day-care legislation aimed to ensure a secure life 
for the youngest children in particular. The implication for the local authorities was that their obligation to provide 
child day care was dramatically increased. However, with the help of central government transfers, the local 
authorities managed to fulfil their obligations. 
In 1990s Finland was hit by a severe economic recession and child care was once more in public discussion. 
At a sudden, women from all parties in the Parliament gathered their political power and stipulated a mandatory 
right for day care to all Finnish families up to the child´s school age from 1996 onwards. Municipalities can use 
their own day care services as well as private kindergartens to respond to the local need.
In this respect Finland is different from many EU countries; fewer children under school age are cared in 
daycare centers, in 2016 altogether 54 % . Half of children under three are taken care at their homes. 
Administration of day care services was transferred to Ministry of Culture and Education in 2015.
Vappu Taipale 
– Minister for Health and Social Affairs 1982–1984, Director General, Stakes (National 

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R&D Centre for Social Welfare and Health) 1992
–2008