1890 – The first Kindergarten in Finland is established in Helsinki
1919 – Married women are entitled to wage-work without permission of their spouses
1937 – The Maternity Grants Act was accepted
1948 – Child allowances are introduced. Finland also becomes the first country in the world to introduce free school meals
1973 – Local authorities are given a statutory obligation to provide day care for children under school age
1978 – Sharing parental leave becomes possible; fathers are given the right to take paternity leave (however subject to the mother’s approval)
1985 – Maternity allowance is renamed maternity, paternity and parental allowance
1989 – Child care leave is introduced for parents of children under the age of 3
1990 – All children from 3-7 years of age have a subjective right to municipal day care
1996 – All children under school age (7) have the right to day-care
2001 – Local authorities are given a statutory obligation to provide free (voluntary) pre-school education for children at the age of 6
2004 – Provisions on before-school and after-school activities for first-year and second-year pupils are added to the Basic Education Act (628/1998)
2013 – The number of days of leave reserved exclusively for the father is raised to 54 working days
2015 – The subjective right to day care is limited to 20 hours/week if either a is at home due to unemployment, maternity or paternity leave for younger children, for instance.