Anneli Taina (born June 21, 1951) is a Finnish politician who was

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in so ...

and Minister of Housing for the

Finnish Government sv, Finlands statsråd , border = , image = File:Finnish Government logo.png , image_size = 250 , caption = , date = , state = Republic of Finland , polity = , coun ...

, and then Governor of the

Southern Finland Province Southern Finland ( fi, Etelä-Suomen lääni, sv, Södra Finlands län) was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2009. It bordered the provinces of Western Finland and Eastern Finland. It also bordered the Gulf of Finland and Russia. History ...

Career

Anneli Taina was born on June 21, 1951, in

Imatra Imatra is a town and municipality in southeastern Finland. Imatra is dominated by Lake Saimaa, the Vuoksi River and the border with Russia. On the other side of the border, away from the centre of Imatra, lies the Russian town of Svetogorsk. S ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

, which is located on the border with Russia in the east of the country. She trained in

social work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

, earning a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in social studies in 1975. She then worked for ten years between 1977 and 1987 as a social worker in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population ...

, Southern Finland. During this time, she won a seat on the Tampere City Council, and was a school board member. as part of her council role, she sat on the Urban Planning Committee. In 1987, she successfully ran to become a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

. Taina then set on several committees such as the Social Affairs and Health Committee, Labour, and the Grand Committee. In 1995, she was named to the

Council of State A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

as Minister of Housing, later that year being moved to become

. This was only the second time that a woman had been named as a Minister of Defence in Finland, after

Elisabeth Rehn Märta Elisabeth Rehn (; born 6 April 1935) is a Finnish former politician and diplomat. She served as the Minister of Defence of Finland during 1990 to 1995 and as an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations during 1998 to 1999. She was a ...

, who held the post earlier in 1995. Taina held the position until 1999, and continued as a Member of Parliament until 1999. She then became Governor of the

in 2004, a position she held until 2009, when she became Senior Vice President of the Regional Development Agency of Southern Finland until retirement in 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taina, Anneli 1951 births Living people People from Imatra National Coalition Party politicians Ministers of Defence of Finland Members of the Parliament of Finland (1987–91) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1991–95) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1995–99) Women government ministers of Finland Women members of the Parliament of Finland Female defence ministers