Women leading the five parties in the coalition government, in Finland, have just passed a new gender-neutral policy for parents of newborn children.  

The Finnish government, led by 34-year-old Prime Minister Sanna Marin, just introduced a policy of equalized paid leave for both parents of a newborn child. 

This means, both mothers and fathers of an infant will be granted seven months maternity and paternity leave, respectively.

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So, a cumulative of 14 months of paid leave will be granted to both parents which is great news. The new policy will come into effect sometime around September in 2021. 

This policy has been put in place to eliminate gender biases with regards to paid leave for new parents. Previously, mothers were granted 4 months leave while the fathers were allowed only 2 months leave. 

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Apart from that, a pregnant parent will also be given one month of pregnancy allowance before the child is born. 

Under the new policy, parents will also be given the choice to transfer 69 days from their own leave to their partner if they wish to. 

And, if you are a single parent in Finland, you’ll be able to use all 14 months for yourself. Even Twitterati is impressed with the new policy. Take a look. 

This move is highly commendable. Introduction of such policies in Finland is probably one of the reasons why this country is termed as the happiest country in the world.