When leaders from the European Council gathered for a group photo in Brussels last week, it was hard to miss the class newbie. Standing front and center among the neat rows of middle-aged men was Finland's new prime minister—34-year-old Sanna Marin. The former transport minister gained worldwide fame earlier this month after she became the country's youngest serving prime minister. It's a remarkable line-up, given the country's leaders have traditionally been older men. Marin's youth and gender "make her stand out from her predecessors, for the most part have been males in their 50s.
Finland was the first country in the world to elect women to parliament, a little over a century ago. People have been saying it's the best thing to happen to the international reputation of Finland. There is a sense of pride—at least among her supporters and people who support her party.
Marin's modest background doesn't read like your average world leader's either. Her parents divorced when she was a small child "because of my father's alcohol problem," Marin wrote in a 2016 blog. She grew up with her mother in north of Helsinki. They lived in a rented apartment. Despite not having much money, Marin wrote that they had an "abundance" of love.
At 15, Marin's first summer job was at a bakery, and at high school she distributed magazines to earn extra cash. After graduating, she worked as a cashier—a role Estonia's interior minister this week mocked, calling her a "sales girl" and questioning her ability to run the country. Marin used the comments to her political advantage, saying, "I'm extremely proud of Finland. Here a poor family's child can educate herself and achieve her goal in life. A cashier can become even a Prime Minister."
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