This article examines the employment and placement in the working life of Finnish higher education graduates (i.e. graduates from universities and polytechnics), focusing on gender equality. It reports a study on gender segregation in higher education and working life, considered in relation to Nordic gender equality policies. The data were gathered via a questionnaire administered to graduates in business and administration (n = 1,067) and in technology (n = 1,087), three years after their graduation. The results showed that men were able to secure permanent and full-time employment more often than women, and men achieved better correspondence between their degree and their employment. However, gender divergence manifested differently in polytechnics and universities; thus a higher (Master's) university degree seemed to have a compensating influence on the effect of gender. Despite Nordic equality policies, female and male graduates were placed in the labour market according to tendences of gender segregation.