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Around one-third of MPs who responded said they were in favour of making military conscription compulsory for women, according to an Yle straw poll.
Out of Finland's 200 MPs, 113 lawmakers responded to the query. Out of those, 30 said they were in favour of making conscription obligatory for women, while 69 MPs said they were against the idea.
Meanwhile, 14 MPs said they were unable to answer the question and the remaining 87 lawmakers did not respond to the poll.
The debate over whether women should also be required to serve as conscripts was reignited last autumn, and debate on the topic has become increasingly heated following Russia's invasion of Ukraine at the end of February.
As Finnish MPs are also weighing whether Finland should apply to become a member of Nato, there are concerns about the country's military reserves and capabilities, as discussions about how Finland would be able to function in a crisis situation continue.
Last autumn, a cross-party parliamentary committee proposed extending military call-ups to women, but not conscription, which is mandatory for Finnish males. It said that universal call-ups could help prevent social marginalisation as officials would reach out to everyone in a certain age group.
Females can currently partake in military service, but on a voluntary basis. Last year, a record number of women, 885, voluntarily served. The total number of female reservists in the country currently stands at around 11,000.
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Survey breakdown
The majority of MPs against compelling women to serve in the military came from the two main opposition parties -- the Finns Party and the National Coalition Party (NCP) -- as well Prime Minister Sanna Marin's Social Democratic Party (SDP). They were not generally against conscription, but suggested that the current arrangement was working well.
Finns Party MP Lulu Ranne said the country could bolster interest in military service through cooperation between schools and the Defence Forces, suggesting visits to social studies and other classes, for example.
NCP MP Kalle Jokinen, also in the opposition, suggested that instead of compulsory military service women could be required to undergo national and defence preparedness training in crisis situations.
MP Anna Kontula from the Left Alliance, one of five government parties, was also interested in seeing the development of training or service for women. She also suggested the system could be reformed, not just in regard to women.
"Conscription should be replaced by an age-appropriate public service arrangement that could be performed by those who wish to serve. Its duration would be shorter and take a better account of work, study and starting families," she said.
A few other MPs also raised the issue of women's role in starting families.
Social Democratic MP Eeva-Johanna Eloranta said that compulsory military service for females would shorten the length of women's careers even more than they already are.
MP Jouni Ovaska from the Centre, another government party, suggested that both men and women could be screened before heading off to college or working life.
"Military service could also be combined with some sort of defence courses to learn about cyber security and hybrid attack preparedness," Ovaska said.
Government-linked Greens MP Saara Hyrkkö said she is in favour of equality and a change to the system.
"I believe that a compulsory national defence service which treats genders equally would strengthen the sustainability and acceptability of the system in the future," Hyrkkö said.
Most of the MPs who said they were in favour of conscription being extended to women, 23 of them, belonged to one of the coalition government's five parties.
Meanwhile, seven MPs from opposition parties were in favour of such a change.
At the same time, 30 government-linked MPs were against the change, while 39 opposition parties were against compulsory conscription for women.
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