Meeri Sirka Kalavainen (27 April 1918 – 27 October 2010) was a Finnish politician. She represented
Kymi Kymi may refer to:
*Kymi, Greece, a town in Euboea, Greece
*Kymi, Finland, a former municipality in Finland
*Kymi (constituency), a constituency in the Finnish Parliament
*Kymi (region), or ''Kymenlaakso'', the region of Finland
*Kymi B.C., a basket ...
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 ...
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
For ...
from 1948 to 1979. She was also the country's first minister of culture in the cabinet of prime minister Ahti Karjalainen from 1970 to 1971.
Biography
Kalavainen was born in
Dubrovka, Vsevolozhsky District, Leningrad Oblast
Dubrovka (russian: Дубро́вка) is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) in Vsevolozhsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Neva River northeast of Saint Petersburg. Municipally it is incorporate ...
in Soviet Russia, on 27 April 1918. She grew up in Kotka, where she graduated from a
vocational school
A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the tasks ...
in 1935. She was involved in politics from a young age, becoming the chair of the youth arm of the Kotka Social Democratic Party (SDP) when she was 17 years old. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Kalavainen was a
bank teller
A bank teller (often abbreviated to simply teller) is an employee of a bank whose responsibilities include the handling of customer cash and negotiable instruments. In some places, this employee is known as a cashier or customer representative. ...
at a workers' savings bank in Kymenlaakso from 1938 to 1945, after which she moved to
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 ...
to work as an organizational secretary for the SDP's youth association. From 1947 to 1948, she was a secretary at a union affiliate of the
Finnish Federation of Trade Unions The Finnish Federation of Trade Unions ( fi, Suomen Ammattiyhdistysten Keskusliitto, SAK) was a national trade union centre in Finland.
The federation was established in 1930, after the Finnish Trade Union Federation (SAJ) was banned. Its initial ...
.
In 1948, Kalavainen was elected to the Parliament of Finland to represent the constituency of Kymi as a member of the SDP. She was re-elected eight times, serving continuously until 1979. Kalavainen frequently worked on educational and cultural issues and policies. She was a member of many parliamentary committees, including Education and Culture, Finance, Foreign Affairs, and the Grand Committee, and was a vice chair of the SDP parliamentary caucus from 1967 to 1979. She was also a presidential elector in the 1950, 1956, 1962, and 1968 elections.
Prime minister Ahti Karjalainen appointed Kalavainen as minister of culture and second minister of education in his second cabinet in 1970. She was the country's first minister of culture, and held the position until October 1971. As minister, she promoted
adult education
Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralp ...
in Finland, and worked to provide government funding for youth organizations and arts groups. Kalavainen was also active in women's organizations. She chaired the Federation of Social Democratic Women, a role in which she helped unite various divided factions of the women's branch of the party. In 1972, she became the first president of the Council for Gender Equality, where she worked on issues of equal pay and access to
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 ...
.
Kalavainen died on 27 October 2010 in Helsinki, at the age of 92.