Editing Tarja Halonen (section)

==Early life and career==
[[File:Tarja Halonen 1948.jpg|thumb|left|5-year-old Tarja Halonen in 1948]]
Tarja Halonen was born on 24 December 1943 in the district of [[Kallio]], which at the time was a traditional working-class area in central Helsinki. Her mother Lyyli Elina Loimola was a set-dresser and her father Vieno Olavi Halonen worked as a [[welder]]. Halonen's parents married at the beginning of World War II and Tarja was born a few years later. Vieno Halonen was at the frontline during the [[Continuation War]] and Lyyli Halonen was working in a shoe factory when their daughter was born.<ref name="kb">{{cite web|url=https://kansallisbiografia.fi/kansallisbiografia/henkilo/4064|title=Halonen, Tarja (1943 - )|work=[[The National Biography of Finland]]|access-date=April 2, 2022|language=fi}}</ref> When Halonen was two years old, her father Vieno Halonen went to the [[kiosk]] to buy a magazine and no longer returned home to his family. Halonen has not commented much on the incident since, but Halonen's parents officially divorced in 1948. Vieno Halonen was an award-winning soldier who fought in the 26th Infantry Regiment, so-called ''Ace Regiment''. Vieno Halonen was wounded three times during the war and after the war he was awarded first, second and fourth class [[Order of the Cross of Liberty]] medals. In later interviews, Tarja Halonen has said that she has met her father only a few times.<ref>{{cite book| author= Hannu Lehtilä | title= Tarja Halonen, yksi meistä | page=19 | year= 2005 | publisher= [[Otava (publisher)|Otava]] | isbn= 951-1-19792-4 | language= fi}}</ref>

After the divorce, in 1950, Lyyli Halonen married her new husband Thure Forss, who worked as an [[electrician]] and was very active in the working-class community. Both Halonen's mother and her stepfather influenced her world view extensively. Halonen later said that her mother was a true survivor, always an extremely active and resilient person who valued good, honest and modest hardworking people.<ref name="kb"/> When she entered politics, Halonen stated that these are also the qualities and attributes she respects in people.

In 1950 she began her studies in Kallio Elementary school from where she later moved to Kallio [[Gymnasium (school)|Gymnasium]] and finally finished her matriculation examination in 1962. She began to study [[Art History]] in the [[University of Helsinki]] in 1962 but in autumn 1963 she changed her studies to law, and obtained her [[Master of Laws]] degree in 1968 specializing in [[criminal law]].<ref name="kb"/>

She began to work as a lawyer, already before obtaining her degree, in a credit surveillance company ''Luotonvalvonta oy'' in 1967. After working there for a few years, she was hired by the National Union of University Students in Finland to work as a Social Affairs and General Secretary from 1969 to 1970. Her work in the Union spurred her interest in politics, and in 1970 she obtained a post as a lawyer in the [[Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions]], being the first female ever to work as a lawyer in the Union.<ref name="kb"/>