Alli Kyllikki Lahtinen ( Ilomäki; 11 April 1926 – 22 May 1976) was a Finnish politician who was the
Minister of Social Affairs and Health
The Minister of Social Affairs and Health (, ) is one of the Finnish Government's ministerial positions. The minister is one of two portfolios associated with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health; the other one is the Minister of Family A ...
from 1971 to 1972 and from June to November 1975.
Biography
Alli Kyllikki Ilomäki was born on 11 April 1926 in
Korpilahti
Korpilahti is a former municipality of Finland. Together with Jyväskylän maalaiskunta, Korpilahti was consolidated with Jyväskylä on January 1, 2009.
It is located in the former province of Western Finland and is part of the Central Finland ...
, Finland.
Her father, Muisto Ilomäki, was a senior member of the Social Democratic Party.
After attending secondary school in
Hyvinkää
Hyvinkää (; sv, Hyvinge, ) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Uusimaa region, approximately north of the capital Helsinki. The city was chartered in 1960. The population of Hyvinkää is (). Its neighboring municipal ...
, she moved to
Kotka and worked for the newspaper ''
Eteenpäin
''Eteenpäin'' (English: ''Forward'') was a Finnish language, Finnish-language daily newspaper launched in New York City in 1921. The paper was the East Coast organ of Finnish-American members of the Communist Party USA. The paper moved to Worcest ...
'' as a journalist. She later worked as a clerk for Kotka's
child services
Child and family services is a government or non-profit organisation designed to better the well being of individuals who come from unfortunate situations, ''environmental'' or ''biological''. People who seek or are sought after to participate in ...
department and taught Finnish and mathematics at a
local school for adults. Ilomäki married Kaarlo Lahtinen, a firefighter, in 1947, and they had two sons. She received the
Bachelor of Social Sciences
The academic undergraduate degree of Bachelor of Social Science (BSS, B.Soc.Sc., or B.Soc.Sci.) requires three to four years of study in the social sciences at an institution of higher education, primarily found in the Commonwealth of Nations.
I ...
degree from the School of
Social Sciences
Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...
(now the
University of Tampere) in
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
in 1956.
In 1959, Lahtinen was appointed as Director of Child Welfare in Kotka.
[ She remained in the position until 1968, when she became the director-general of Finland's new National Board of Social Welfare. In this role, she was the first woman to lead a central government agency in Finland.]child care
Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...
system.[ She is described in '' The National Biography of Finland'' as a leading figure in the country's Social Democratic ]labour movement
The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other.
* The trade union movement ...
during the 1960s and 1970s.[
Although she never ran for election to the ]Parliament of Finland
The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The ...
, Lahtinen was appointed as Second Minister of Social Affairs and Health by Prime Minister Teuvo Aura
Teuvo Ensio Aura (28 December 1912, in Ruskeala – 11 January 1999, in Helsinki) was a Finnish politician of the Liberal People's Party. He served as Mayor of Helsinki and interim Prime Minister of Finland twice, in 1970 and 1971–72.
Cabinets ...
in May 1970, and held the position until Ahti Karjalainen became prime minister in July 1970. She was promoted to Minister of Social Affairs and Health during Aura's second term as prime minister from October 1971 to February 1972, and was re-appointed to the position during Keijo Liinamaa
Keijo Antero Liinamaa (6 April 1929 in Mänttä – 28 June 1980 in Helsinki) was a Finnish lawyer and politician who served as caretaker Prime Minister of Finland from June to November 1975.
Liinamaa, a lawyer specialising in labour law, ...
's caretaker government
A caretaker government is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it usually consists of either randomly se ...
in 1975.Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
For ...
and was a Kotka city councillor for 14 years.[
Lahtinen died on 22 May 1976 in Helsinki at the age of 50, after a sudden illness.][
]
See also
*
Further reading
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lahtinen, Alli
1926 births
1976 deaths
20th-century Finnish women politicians
Ministers of Social Affairs of Finland
People from Jyväskylä
Social Democratic Party of Finland politicians
Women government ministers of Finland