Tarja Halonen

Who is Tarja Halonen?

Tarja Kaarina Halonen is a Finnish politician who was the 11th President of Finland, serving from 2000 to 2012. The first female head of state in Finland, Halonen had previously held two appointments as a minister and served as a member of the parliament from 1979 to 2000 until her election to the presidency. In addition to her political career, she had a long and extensive career in trade unions and different non-governmental organizations. Her work for advancing human rights has been notable. She was, among other things, an early proponent of gay rights, chairing the main Finnish gay rights organization Seta in 1980-1981.

Halonen rose from humble beginnings, having lived through the wartime as a daughter of a single mother in the Kallio working-class neighborhood in Helsinki. She graduated from the University of Helsinki, where she studied law from 1963 to 1968. She was active in student politics and served as the Social Affairs Secretary and Organization Secretary of the National Union of Students from 1969 to 1970. In 1971 she joined the Social Democratic Party and worked as a lawyer in the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions until she was elected to parliament in 1979.