60°09.806′, 024°56.028′ Under fan, not wheelchair accessible
Erkki Pale developed Finland’s social security number system in 1962 for the Finnish Centre for Pensions. Two years later the Social Insurance Institution adopted the same system and distributed personal ID numbers to all Finnish nationals. Pale perceived gender as an unalterable personal detail. For these reasons, transgender people have had to fight for their right of self-determination.
In confirmations of gender the law requires two favoring statements from a group of examiners, a certificate of sterilization and a sufficiently long period of trial in real life. When a transgender person meets with all these requirements the register office will change the person’s gender in the Population Information System and issue a new second part to the person’s personal ID number, which indicates gender.
It is not a simple task to change the ID number in all the necessary documents. Businesses and organizations may ask to see a copy of the decision on a new ID number. Gathering this type of information is against the Personal Data Act and nobody has the right to do it. Practices vary a lot regionally, against the principle of equal treatment.