For several years, the Central Chamber of Commerce has monitored the number of women on the boards of listed companies based on the composition of the boards appointed at the general meetings. When looking at the statistics of 2022 and all listed companies, almost half of the companies already meet the gender equality goal.
Of the 130 listed companies examined, only 16 would have been excluded from the EU’s quota directive, which will enter into force in 2026. A little more than half of the companies covered by the directive already meet the goal of equal representation of men and women. women in boards and supervisory boards, as proposed in the directive.
“In Finland, women’s leadership has been successfully promoted through self-regulation. Along with that, an even greater atmosphere must be created that encourages women to advance in their careers. It is important that companies pay attention to women’s career paths so that they can more often lead companies in management positions and CEO roles instead of support functions”, says Ville Kajala, the leading expert of the Central Chamber of Commerce.
The increase in the share of women on boards can be explained, among other things, by the recommendation of the management code of listed companies, according to which both sexes must be on the board of a listed company. If a listed company does not comply with this recommendation, it must justify the deviation publicly.
According to the report of the Central Chamber of Commerce, the gender balance of the institution preparing the board’s composition proposal is also important.
“The research revealed clear differences. In companies where the proposal for the composition of the board was prepared by the shareholders’ nomination committee and the committee had at least one woman, the proportion of women on the board was up to 40%. When the nomination committee consisted only of men, the proportion of women on the boards was 31%,” says Kajala.
A balanced gender distribution in management teams is achieved in approximately 30 percent of listed companies. Equal representation of men and women in the management team is said to be achieved when the underrepresented gender makes up at least 40 percent of the team.
The results of the report show that progress has been made, but there is still a long way to go to achieve gender equality in leadership positions. More attention should be paid to diversity in the selection of board members and the recruitment of management team members. As Ville Kajala emphasized on International Women’s Day, an environment that supports women is crucial for women to advance in their careers.
HT
Source: The Nordic Page