Sixteen-year-old Katariina Räikkönen as adviser for Prime Minister Sipilä on International Day of the Girl

On 11 October, International Day of the Girl, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä will be taking part in a campaign organised by Plan International, a children’s rights organisation, and will be working together with 16-year-old Katariina Räikkönen. The Girls’ Takeover campaign launched by Plan encourages everyone to work for equality.

‘Gender equality and the position of girls are among the cornerstones in centennial Finland. I’m sure the day will bring new perspectives to both my own work and that of many other decision-makers,’ says Sipilä.

In the course of the day, Prime Minister Sipilä and Katariina Räikkönen will discuss the position of girls in society and deliberate ways to help advance equality in Finland and around the world. Together they will appear on national TV (MTV Huomenta Suomi programme) and hold speeches at the Day of the Girl event organised by Plan. Räikkönen also will meet Maria Lohela, Speaker of Parliament, talk with younger generation female members of Parliament and follow a plenary session in Parliament.

In the discussions, Räikkönen wishes to talk especially about girls who are not empowered and whose rights are being violated. Räikkönen, member of the Children's Board in Plan, challenged Prime Minister Sipilä in the spring to join the campaign.

‘There are too many girls in the world who are still not allowed to attend school and many women are still not being heard in society. Those of us who are in decision-making positions must work with determination to enable girls everywhere to make decisions about their own lives and to have a say in society, in demanding positions too,’ Sipilä adds.

Over 600 influential actors in society are participating in the Girls’ Takeover in 60 countries around the world. Among them are Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, different ministries in Indonesia and Uganda, Google Australia, IKEA Switzerland and Unilever Canada.

In Finland, Plan’s Girls’ Takeover is one of the 100 Acts for Gender Equality in celebration of Finland’s 100 years of independence.

There will be a live webcast of the breakfast event organised by Plan on the International Day of the Girl via the link on Plan’s Facebook pages from 9.00 onwards: facebook.com/plansuomi/

Follow the day’s events in Twitter at @FinGovernment and in Instagram at @FinnishGovernment.

The Government Communications Department will be publishing photos of the day’s events in Flickr: flickr.com/finnishgovernment/.

Inquiries: Janika Tikkala, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister, tel. +358 295 160 403 and Anne Sjöholm, Head of Communications for EU Affairs, tel. +358 40 537 0733, Prime Minister’s Office.