Teenage girl becomes Finland's Prime Minister for the day

A teenage girl became Finland's Prime Minister for the day in light of the United Nations' drive, "Day of the Girl." Sixteen-year-old Aava Murto sat in for Prime Minister Sanna Marin on Wednesday as part of a global campaign by a children's charity. The campaign allows teenagers from countries around the world to fill in the shoes of politicians in various sectors of the government for a day.

This will be the fourth year that Finland has taken part in the charity movement set up by Plan International. The campaign, "Girls Takeover," focuses on promoting several skills and opportunities for girls in an effort to encourage countries to end the gender gap.

Kenya, Sudan, Peru and Vietnam are among other participating countries going for their own swaps to boost digital skills and technological opportunities for women.

Although Murto did not sign any laws into place, she was given an opportunity to meet politicians during the day to advocate for women's rights in technology, the BBC reported.

"It is a pleasure to be speaking here before you today - although, in a way, I wish that I did not have to stand here, that campaigns like the Girls Takeover were no longer necessary," Murto said in her speech

"However, the truth is that we have not yet achieved gender equality - not anywhere on earth. Although we have accomplished a great lot of good in this area, there is still much work that needs to be done. "

Murto, who is an active advocate and campaigner for climate change and human rights issues rounded off her day with PM Marin discussing gender equality in technology.

The Prime Minister strongly stressed on the importance of diminishing the great digital divide between countries and societies and ensuring access to technology must always be available for everyone to pursue.

In 2019, Finland came in third at the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap report as it vies for another top listing with this year's campaign.

Prime Minister Marin became the world's youngest prime minister last year when she was sworn into position at the age of 34. She is also Finland's third female prime minister to take seat in the government and leads a centre-left coalition with parties headed by women most of whom are under the age of 35.