University of Helsinki
Professor Johanna Niemi is Professor of Procedural Law at the University of Turku and expert in insolvency law, in particular on issue of debts of private individuals, as well as in gendered violence.
Johanna Niemi is the principal investigator of the Academy of Finland research project “Gendered Choices in Structures of Law and Gender”, carried out jointly with CASS, Institute of Law. This research project studies law and gender as the central social structures constricting the choices by women and men. In her opinion exchange of ideas and co-operation with Chinese scholars in this area is very important as both societies deal with similar issues, among which violence against women, “but also more general equality issues, such as discrimination on the basis of maternity” she says.
Professor Niemi underlines however that it is quite impossible to compare the level of gender equality in such different political and cultural contexts as the Chinese and the Finnish. Therefore the collaboration, based on the exchange of information and ideas, is really about learning from another legal system to gain new perspective to approach your own. She adds that “sometimes you learn to appreciate your own; sometimes it helps to see problems or solutions that you would not have thought about otherwise”. Therefore, thinking of the impact that this project will have, Professor Niemi hopes to provide support to her Chinese colleagues. While attending various round-tables and other academic events, she perceived that Chinese scholars value the opinion of their Western colleagues. Even more, as they have a lot of expertise themselves, they ably ‘pick and choose’ what fits their society best. Professor Niemi reminds however, that this learning process is not a one way stream and Finland could also learn from China. The respect for cultural values and long cultural tradition is worth to be explored as well as how the different historical impacts are reflected in contemporary society and law.
In June 2014, Johanna Niemi has been chosen as Finnish Academy Minna Canth Professor to conduct her research project on perception of gender and equality. Professor Niemi admits she admires Minna Canth for her inspirating social justice feminism and her determination in seeking constructive discussion with the contemporary public thinkers. “I like the way in which she challenges the critique that feminism is a movement for middle class women’s rights (only)”, she says. Although, Niemi believes she was born a feminist, and brought the feminine inclination already in her doctoral dissertation on debt adjustment, she fully embraced the gender perspective in her post-doctorate research. When she started to look for a new research focus in the procedural law field, Niemi realized that “that violence against women and procedural law is a theme that no other procedural law scholar is going to take up”. Undeniably, it is the awareness of human rights issues that she developed since her teenage years that encourage her to take on this responsibility. It is for the same close connection with human and fundamental rights that Niemi finds her interests in criminal procedure and crime investigation, and will always work on the debt issues of ordinary people.
As Johanna Niemi built her expertise in law, she lived and worked in every important place around Finland: Helsinki, Turku, Vaasa and Rovaniemi. There is no doubt that she would be one of the best people to advice visiting scholars on what to visit and do while in Finland. Turku, Rovaniemi and Oulu all have a magnificent river and a river-side in the middle of the city and Vaasa the sea-side, so there is nothing better than walking around and enjoying the atmosphere. She also points out that “the art museums and classical music have a surprisingly high level in Finnish middle-size towns and one can enjoy them without language barriers” Professor Niemi is not a shopping person but if she should recommend some places to visit for our Chinese Researchers coming to Finland it would be the Marimekko, Finnlayson and Iittala shops, not to forget Muumi-dolls that you find in tourist shops.