ABSTRACT
The voices of social care professionals who have chosen to start their own enterprise to provide an alternative to the public arrangement of care, are becoming louder in Finland. Finland is moving towards a mixed economy of social care, which has resulted in the need to find new local solutions. This chapter looks at the Finnish restructuring of children's daycare and the care of the elderly. It argues that the marketization of social care in Finland has been more widespread than in other Nordic countries and has resulted in many gender-specific changes. The chapter examines a group of women who have changed their employment position from public sector paid employment to the private sector of welfare services. The restructuring of care services in Finland can be analysed from a gender perspective in the light of women's long tradition as an 'equal breadwinner' and full-time employee.
