Vice President Commemorates International Women’s Day in Finland
Vice President Biden spent most of this 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day with Finnish President Tarja Halonen and Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi (both women!).
In his remarks with President Halonen, the Vice President said: “Finland has been a leader in the world, a pioneer when it comes to women having the right to an equal place in society. And I believe that to be the single greatest moral imperative of our time.”
He went on to say, “The single most significant thing we can do in the 21st century to improve the prospect of peace and security is to educate more women and to have women, particularly in other parts of the less developed world, have equal access to opportunity.”
![Vice President Joe Biden stops for a photo with Finnish Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi Vice President Joe Biden stops for a photo with Finnish Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120926031523im_/http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/imagecache/embedded_img_full/image/image_file/V030811DL-0262edit.jpg)
Vice President Joe Biden stops for a photo with Finnish Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi at the House of Estates, in Helsinki, Finland, March 8, 2011. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)
“And if there’s any nation in which I can stand with on the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day, this is the most appropriate place to stand,” the Vice President added.