2 Euro, 16-coin set 2004–2014

In 1906, Finland was not yet an independent state, but an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire. Until then, its political representation was based on a Diet in which the nobility, clergy, bourgeoisie and peasantry were represented separately. Large sections of the population had no right to vote. Women, too, were excluded from political participation.

The immediate background to the reform was the political unrest in the Russian Empire in 1905. In Finland, resistance to the restriction of autonomy became linked with demands for a more democratic representative body. A nationwide general strike increased the pressure on the Russian government and the Finnish institutions. The estate-based Diet was then replaced by a unicameral parliament with 200 members.

The electoral law adopted in 1906 granted women and men the right to vote and stand for election under the same conditions. Women were thus allowed not only to vote, but also to stand for a mandate themselves. Combining both rights went beyond earlier electoral reforms in other countries, which initially allowed women only to vote. In the first election after the reform, held in March 1907, 19 women entered the Finnish Parliament. They are regarded as the first female members of a national parliament anywhere in the world.

The new electoral system was also based on proportional representation and secret voting. The reform thus abolished the political division by estates and laid the foundation for today’s Eduskunta. Its practical impact initially remained limited by the position of the Russian emperor, who was able to dissolve Parliament repeatedly. It was not until Finnish independence in 1917 that the representative body operated within a sovereign state.

The 2006 coin issue marked the centenary of this parliamentary and electoral reform. The juxtaposition of the two genders refers to the core of the innovation at the time: equal political rights for women and men.