| Pirjo Ala-Kapee-Hakulinen | |
| Office1: | Member of the Parliament of Finland |
| Term Start1: | 24 March 1979 |
| Term End1: | 30 April 1989 |
| Office2: | Minister of Education of Finland |
| Term Start2: | 1 January 1986 |
| Term End2: | 30 April 1987 |
| Birth Date: | 25 March 1944 |
| Birth Place: | Vihti, Finland |
| Party: | Social Democratic |
Pirjo Anneli Ala-Kapee-Hakulinen (born 25 March 1944) is a Finnish politician who was the minister of education in the fourth cabinet of prime minister Kalevi Sorsa from 1986 to 1987. A member of the Social Democratic Party, she was also a member of the Finnish Parliament from 1979 to 1989.
Ala-Kapee-Hakulinen was born on 25 March 1944 in Vihti, Finland.[1] She completed the matriculation exam in 1966 and attended the University of Tampere, receiving the Master of Arts degree in 1972. After graduating, Ala-Kapee-Hakulinen taught history and social studies at the, where she was a deputy principal from 1973 to 1975.[1] [2] She was a member of the Ylöjärvi town council in 1973.[2] From 1975 to 1979, she worked at the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions as researcher and secretary of the organization's history committee.[1] [2] She was elected to the city council of Vantaa in 1977, a position that she held until 1989.[2]
Ala-Kapee-Hakulinen represented the constituency of Uusimaa in the Parliament of Finland from 24 March 1979 to 30 April 1989.[2] A member of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, she sat on the Education Committee from 1979 to 1986 and the Finance Committee from 1987 to 1989.[2] She has been described as being part of the SDP's left wing.[3] In 1986, after minister of education Kaarina Suonio resigned to become the deputy mayor of Tampere, Ala-Kapee-Hakulinen was appointed by prime minister Kalevi Sorsa to fill the vacancy.[1] She was the education minister in Sorsa's fourth cabinet from 1 January 1986 to 30 April 1987, and focused on vocational schools during her time as minister.[1] [4] Ala-Kapee-Hakulinen was the Second Deputy Chair of the SDP between 1987 and 1990.[2]
In 1989, Ala-Kapee-Hakulinen left Parliament to become the mayor of Vantaa.[1] When the province of Eastern Finland was formed in 1997, she became its first and only governor until Finland's provinces were abolished in January 2010.[5] [6] [7]
Ala-Kapee-Hakulinen's first husband died of cancer in 1996. They had been married for 32 years.[8] In 2001, she married Kajaani mayor Pentti Hakulinen at Mikkeli Cathedral.[9] In 2012, she returned to the Vantaa city council.[1]