Today marks the 20th anniversary of women in the Lutheran Ministry in Finland.In 1988 seven cathedrals around Finland ordained some 90 female ministers.
Today a third of the country's pastors are women.
Female pastorship however remains controversial within the Lutheran Church.
Although the Lutheran Church in Finland has maintained that male pastors have no right to refuse working with their female colleagues, such biases have surfaced over the years among male pastors opposing female pastorship.
Lutheran Bishops don't view opposition to female pastors as heresy, but say such convictions are not grounds to refusing to work by the side of women of the cloth.
Last month the Supreme Administrative Court outlined that refusing to work with a female pastor would mean not being eligible for the position of rector.
The Finnish Lutheran Church was nevertheless lagging behind the times when it ordained its first female ministers back in the late 1980s.
Women were ordained as Lutheran ministers in Denmark in 1948 and in Sweden in 1958.
The Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches meanwhile lack female clergy.
The Finnish Lutheran Church has yet to see its first female bishop, although it has been possible to elect a female bishop since 1993.
In addition to the other Nordic countries, female bishops hold office in Germany, France, the United States and South Africa.
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