Anneli Jäätteenmäki, Prime Minister of Finland (2003); Minister of Justice (1994-1995)
Ms. Anneli Jäätteenmäki was the former Prime Minister and former Minister of Justice in Finland. She was the first woman to become Finland’s prime minister.
Ms. Jäätteenmäki became a member of parliament in 1987. She was the country’s Minister of Justice in 1994 and 1995 and led the Moderate Party of Finland in 2002 and 2003, after which she became prime minister.
Anneli Jäätteenmäki was a member of the European Parliament from 2004 until 2019 and served as EP Vice President from 2015 until 2017.
The following is the text of remarks by Anneli Jäätteenmäki at the IWD2024 Conference in Paris.
Dear friends, dear sisters,
It’s a great pleasure for me to (be in) this conference with you.
I am here for the first time with you. Why? Because I want to show solidarity towards Iranian women.
I am shocked that in a country like Iran, women have less value, less freedom, less security, less pay, less human dignity.
Women have always played an important role in the Iranian history. But in 1979, everything changed. The fundamentalist mullahs are trying to (turn) the historical wheel back to the history.
The regime’s civil law subordinated women to men. The regime does not allow any rights neither human dignity for women.
We all have come here to give support for Iranian women, to give support for women’s struggle to get back their dignity and human rights. To let men and women live in peace without political executions, without political killings, and without imprisonment. And I am sure the sound of change is coming. Thanks.
