Religion

Most Finns belong to the Evangelical-Lutheran Church while a fraction of them belong to the Orthodox Church. The Evangelical-Lutheran Church accepts the ordination of women as priests.

As far as religion is concerned, there are very few dangers for visitors to Finland, even on subjects that in other cultures might be particularly sensitive. Most Finns belong formally to the Evangelical-Lutheran Church (about 83%), while 1.1% belong to the Finnish Orthodox Church; but people in general are fairly secular in their views. Despite this, the Church and its ministers are held in high esteem, and personal religious views are respected. It is difficult to observe differences between believers and everyone else in everyday life, except perhaps that the former lead more abstemious lives.

The number of immigrants in Finland is growing, and increasing contacts with other religions in recent years have increased the Finns' knowledge of them, although there is still much to be desired in their tolerance for people with different religions and cultures.

Gender

There is a high degree of equality between the sexes in Finland, as can be seen in the relatively high number of women holding advanced positions in politics and other areas of society. At the time of writing, the President of the Republic is Tarja Halonen, Finland's first woman president, who was Foreign Minister before being elected to the highest office.

There are also numerous women in academic posts, and in recent years visiting businessmen have also found increasing numbers of 'the fairer sex' on the other side of the negotiating table. The Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland accepts the ordination of women, and there are women priests in numerous parishes. No woman has yet been elected a Bishop, though.

Chauvinistic or patronizing attitudes towards women are generally considered unacceptable, although such attitudes do persist in practice. Women do appreciate traditional courtesy, although ultimately they appraise men on the basis of their attitude towards equality. Women are usually independent financially and may offer to pay their share of a restaurant bill, for instance. A man may politely refuse such an offer, but it is equally polite to accept it.

In international contexts, or when using foreign languages, particularly English, Finns have become accustomed to politically correct language in which traditional masculine terms are replaced with gender-neutral ones (e.g. 'chairperson'); or the third person singular pronoun is offered in both forms (he/she) when they exist. In Finnish the latter problem does not exist. Instead, the third person singular pronoun hдn covers both genders. There are also many titles ending with the suffix – mies (man) that are not considered gender-specific. It is appropriate for visitors to follow the established practice of whatever language they are using.

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