Kaarina Elisabeth Suonio ( Brusiin; born 7 February 1941) is a Finnish retired politician and psychologist. She represented

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

in 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 ...

from 1975 to 1986 as a member of the

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 Fo ...

. From 1982 to 1986, she was Finland's minister of education, and from 1994 to 1997, she was the last governor of

Häme Province The Province of Häme ( fi, Hämeen lääni, sv, Tavastehus län) was a province of Finland from 1831 to 1997. In 1997 the southern parts with Kanta-Häme, Päijät-Häme was merged with the province of Uusimaa and Kymi into the new Provin ...

prior to its merger with other provinces.

Early life and education

Kaarina Elisabeth Brusiin was born on 7 February 1941 in

, Finland. Her father was

Otto Brusiin Otto Brusiin (2 June 1906 – 31 October 1973) was a leading Finnish teacher of law. He taught at Helsinki from 1949 on before he was made assistant professor at Helsinki in 1955 and professor at Turku in 1961. Recorded to have been a stirring tea ...

, a legal scholar and professor. She graduated from the Apollo Coeducational School in Helsinki in 1959 and received the

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

degree in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

from the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

in 1964. She later received the

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...

degree from the University of Helsinki in 1978.

Career

Early career and psychologist

During her undergraduate studies at the University of Helsinki, Suonio worked as a library assistant at the

Helsinki City Library Helsinki City Library ( fi, Helsingin Kaupunginkirjasto, until 1910 ''Helsinki People's Library'') is the largest public library in Finland. Owned by the City of Helsinki, the library has 37 branches and a collection of about 1.56 million books. T ...

. From 1963 to 1971, she worked at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health as a psychologist. During this time, she also taught psychology and education in the Finnish prison service, where she worked as an organisational researcher from 1971 to 1975. Additionally, Suonio was a lecturer at the University of Helsinki in the 1970s and worked on various television programs about mental health. Her appearance on programs hosted by journalist

Erno Paasilinna Erno Paasilinna (14 March 1935, in Petsamo – 30 September 2000, in Tampere) was a Finnish writer and journalist. He received several literary prizes, the most notable being the Finlandia Prize in 1984 for his collection of essays ''Yksinäisyys ...

made her well-known in Finland.

Political career

Suonio was a member of the

City Council of Helsinki The City Council of Helsinki (, ) is the main decision-making organ in the local politics of Helsinki, Finland. The City Council deals with issues such as city planning, schools, health care, and public transport. The 85-seat Council's members a ...

from 1973 to 1984. In 1975, she was elected to the

to represent the constituency of Helsinki as a member of the

(SDP). After Suonio was re-elected in 1979, she was the vice chair of the Legal Affairs Committee until 1982 as well as the vice chair of the SDP parliamentary group from 1981 to 1982. In Parliament, she opposed a free trade agreement between Finland and the European Economic Community; she later said in a 2021 interview that she regretted her opposition. Indira Gandhi and Kaarina Suonio 1983 (cropped)

Indira Gandhi and Kaarina Suonio 1983 (cropped)

In February 1982, Prime Minister Kalevi Sorsa appointed Suonio as Finland's minister of culture, a deputy position in the Ministry of Education and Culture. She was promoted to Minister of Education in December 1982 and held the position until 1986. As minister, she worked on legislation to build or renovate cultural facilities in Finland, including a new opera house and the

Ateneum Ateneum is an art museum in Helsinki, Finland and one of the three museums forming the Finnish National Gallery. It is located in the centre of Helsinki on the south side of Rautatientori square close to Helsinki Central railway station. It ha ...

art museum. Suonio's duties included overseeing government funding of Finnish sports, and she opposed Finland's participation in the

South African Grand Prix The South African Grand Prix was first run as a Grand Prix motor racing handicap race in 1934 at the Prince George Circuit at East London, Cape Province. It drew top drivers from Europe including Bernd Rosemeyer, Richard "Dick" Seaman, R ...

in the 1980s due to South Africa's policy of

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

. She unsuccessfully attempted to stop

Keke Rosberg Keijo Erik Rosberg (born 6 December 1948), known as "Keke" (), is a Finnish former racing driver and winner of the Formula One World Championship. He was the first Finnish driver to compete regularly in the series, as well as the first Finnish ...

from competing in the 1985 Grand Prix, saying that she wanted to "make sure the Finnish national anthem may not be played in a country which supports apartheid". Suonio left Parliament in July 1986 to become the deputy mayor of education, culture, and youth in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

, a position she held until 1992. As deputy mayor, she took part in the world's first

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...

call in 1991 when former prime minister

Harri Holkeri Harri Hermanni Holkeri (; 6 January 1937 – 7 August 2011) was a Finnish statesman representing the National Coalition Party of Finland (Kokoomus / Samlingspartiet). He was the Prime Minister of Finland 1987–1991, president of the UN Gen ...

called her using the new technology. From 1993 to 2007, she sat on the High Court of Impeachment of Finland. In 1994, she became the governor of

and was the last provincial governor of Häme before it was merged with other provinces in 1997.

Other activities

In the late 1990s, Suonio was involved in several anti-racism groups, including chairing a national Delegation Against Racism and serving as a member of the management board of the

European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, usually known in English as the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), is a Vienna-based agency of the European Union inaugurated on 1 March 2007. It was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 168/20 ...

. From 1997 to 2004, Suonio was the managing director of

Tampere Hall sv, Tammerforshuset , image = Tampere-talo panorama 2014.jpg , caption = Tampere Hall in June 2014 , former_names = , building_type = , architectural_style = Postmodernism , structural_system = , ...

, the largest

concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variet ...

and

congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

centre in the Nordic countries. In 2005, she was elected as the chair of Finland Festivals, a nonprofit organisation.

References