ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects on some of the latest events in Nordic welfare states and education systems based on Finnish experience. The focus is on women and issues of gender, since they are at the centre of the idea and phenomenon of the welfare state. It also has a subjective bias: I grew up as a daughter of a young welfare state and raised my child while it was maturing. Now my daughter is finishing her gymnasium and leaving home, head full of dreams and heart filled with excitement. Do I feel proud, envious, frightened or sorry? The worldwide economic recession caused by financial speculation, overproduction and overinvestment and by the collapse of many socialist economies has strengthened neo-liberalist policy everywhere, including in the Nordic countries. In contrast to the UK where the educational system is blamed for shortcomings in national competitiveness, in Nordic countries the welfare state is the main target. Along with the proposals to join the European Union, political publicity and the media are filled with comparisons of labour costs, social service and public expenditure. Both at local and at national level, the scope and standards of public service are taken to be the key to a nation's competitiveness. Despite the phlegmatic temperament of its people, Finland is a nation of sudden turns. Among Nordic countries, reactions seem most extreme in Finland.
