40 PERSPECTIVES ON BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS | VOL 41 | 2023 The Danish equality paradox: Women in Danish corporate management Caroline E. Palmer Compared to the other Nordic countries, Denmark is lagging in its representation of women in management positions in the private sector. Corporate boards and executive positions do not meet the EU guideline of 40% women. Danish culture, lack of quotas, and parental leave legislation, among other factors, contribute to this disparity. While changing a country’s culture is a long-term process, quota legislation would spur immediate progress and increase the number of women in these upper-level business roles. Introduction Denmark is generally considered a nation that regards women and men as equals, and in many sectors, this is a reality, as evidenced by their female prime minister. Denmark ranks second in the EU according to the Gender Equality Index (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2020). It may come as a surprise then that the number of women in advanced management roles in the private sector does not reflect this ranking. So, by pinpointing specific examples of female leadership, one may not realize that Denmark falls short when it comes to the number of women in managerial roles. As women make up a large portion of the public sector, the issues discussed in this article pertain mainly to the private corporate sector, where the representation of women is low. This article exposes Denmark’s inequalities regarding gender in management positions, offers potential reasons for why this may have happened, and proposes both cultural and policy-based solutions. The gender gap problem In examining the composition of men and women in upper levels of businesses, Denmark fares well compared to the EU as a whole. The Gender Equality Index from European Women on Boards gathered information on 19 European countries: Denmark ranked seventh. Its overall score was 0.02 points above the EU average (Kantar Public, 2021). With respect to the number of women on boards of directors, at the executive level (CFOs and CEOs), Denmark is either equal to or above the 19-country average. Again, these scores demonstrate that gender equality in Denmark is high, but, when compared to the other Nordic countries, it is evident that Denmark lags behind in the level of equality in management positions. By way of example, in Denmark, 37% of corporate board members were women in 2021, a tie for the lowest percentage for this level of leadership among all the Nordic countries. In Norway, that number was 41% and in Sweden, 38% (Kantar Public, 2021). While these numbers may not be that far apart, Denmark consistently ranks lower in many other areas of leadership, indicating that the issue is widespread. In the case of women in executive positions, a survey found that as of 2021 Denmark had 19% female executives. By comparison, in Finland, there were 24% female executives; in Sweden, 25%; and in Norway, 32% (Diversity Council, 2022). These numbers thus display a larger gap between Denmark and the other Nordic countries pertaining to women in leadership positions. In the category of women on board and control committees, the presence is 32% for Denmark, whereas in Finland and Norway, it is 37% and 38%, respectively (Kantar Public, 2021). Again, Denmark is consistently behind the other Nordics. A historical comparison of the numbers of Nordic women in corporate management indicates that the gender gap has been worsening over time for Danish women, making the issue even more pressing. In the past, Denmark’s gender gap ranked closer to the other Nordic nations but has veered away from them more recently. In 2017, Denmark ranked fourteenth in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index, while Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland all remained in the top five (World Economic Forum, 2017). Even more shockingly, in 2022, despite increasing the number of women in executive positions and boards, Denmark ranked thirty-second in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index. Iceland, Finland, and Norway ranked numbers one, two, and three, respectively,
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