Finland may be best-known for its cutting-edge technology, lavish welfare system and strong gender equality record, but research also shows that the Nordic country tops EU statistics for violence against women.
"We had a beautiful home from the outside, a church wedding and two children," said Tuuli, 39, who lived happily with her husband for more than seven years.
But when he buckled under the pressure of layoff rumours at his workplace in 2000, the happy homelife fell apart.
"He was starting to fear that he would lose his job, and released his pressure through increased drinking and violence against me," Tuuli said, asking that her real name not be disclosed.
Her experience is depressingly common in Finland. Some 22 percent of all married or cohabiting women in the country have, according to surveys, been abused, including sexually, by their partners. Nine percent have been subjected to violence in the past 12 months alone.
Even before entering adult relationships, Finnish women run a high risk of becoming victims of violence. A third of all women in the country will have been abused or experienced violence or sexually threatening behaviour before reaching their 15th birthday, said Leena Ruusuvuori, who recently led a national research project on the issue.
"Finland is a violent country, among the most violent in Europe, and a lot of this violence is directed against women," she told AFP.
The country's many wars, its relatively late industrialisation, the rapid emancipation of Finnish women as well as Finns' brooding and taciturn nature have all been cited to explain the disposition to violence.
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