Anna Kontula

Anna Liisa Kontula (born 30 March 1977) is a Finnish sociologist and member of Parliament since 2011. In her work as a researcher, Kontula addressed the topic of sex work in Finland. On the same issue, she is the author of numerous articles Finnish and international journals, including a report on sex work in Finland. After her doctoral thesis, she focused on studying undocumented work in the construction industry.

Kontula's involvement in politics particularly concerned the sex workers' rights movement and included trade union and non-governmental organization activities, among others social programmes. She was part of Sitra's Future Makers group and of the working group on human trafficking established by the Ministry of Labour, as well as in drafting the follow-up report.

In addition to her research, Kontula is a columnist and blogger, whose interests include feminism, gender, and immigration policies, the transformation of working life, and the future of the trade union movement. During her tenure in the Finnish Parliament, she described herself as a communist, was critical of NATO, and took pro-Palestinian views, which resulted in her arrest in Israel during a 2020 demonstration to highlight the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. Until 2017, she was also a member of the city council of Tampere, where she was first elected in 2004 at the start of her political career. In 2023, she announced she would not run in the 2027 Finnish parliamentary election.