GENDER AND POWER IN BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIES IN FINLAND

Kön och makt i Norden final conference

19th November 2009, Reykjavik

Linda Hart, Project Researcher, Kön och makt i Norden

MA, E.MA, PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology

University of Helsinki

Kön och makt i Norden: Gender and Power in Business and Industries in Finland

1. Object and purpose of study

2. Data and methods

3. Main findingsa. State-owned companiesb. Listed companiesc. Economic interest organisations

1. Looking ahead

1. Object and Purpose of Study

To gather existing and easily obtainable information on the division of visible positions of power between women and men in Finnish business and industries

Compared to politics and government, data not as readily available: lack of longitudinal comparable data, e.g. concerning board membership in listed companies

Media have produced various listings in business magazines from time to time

Shed light on existing data and to point out areas where obtaining data is difficult

2. Data and methods

Main sources: Statistics Finland (gender statistics publications)

Websites and annual reports of listed companies (as listed by OMX Helsinki in December 2008)

Websites and annual reports of state-owned companies (both state majority and associated)

Focus on December 2008 and January 2009 (study carried out between Nov 2008–Jan 2009) due to the lack of longitudinal data

Data gathered by compiling data retrospectively on each company/organisation according to availability of data (company websites)

3. a) State-Owned Companies

Quota amendment to the Act on Equality Between Women and Men in 1995: section 4 a, para 2 of the Act

“If a body, agency or institution exercising public authority, or a company in which the Government or a municipality is the majority shareholder has an administrative board, board of directors or some other executive or administrative body consisting of elected representatives, this must comprise an equitable proportion of both women and men, unless there are special reasons to the contrary.”

3. a) State-Owned Companies (2)

The doctrine of equitable proportion translates to 40% of

board members in state-majority companies being women

20% of top management in these companies were

women

In listed companies with state ownership (n = 10), 31% of

board members were women

12% of top management in listed companies with state

ownership were women

Source: State-owned company websites

3. b) Finnish listed companies (OMX Helsinki Dec 2008)

Dec 2008: 13% of members of Boards of Directors were

women

Dec 2008: 17% of top management in these companies

were women

Considerable differences between business sectors in

board composition: two largest sectors below the 13%

averageInformation Technology 5 %Industrials 10%.

Source: Company websites

Source: Company websites

3. c) Economic Interest Organisations

Very few women as board members of chairs of member

organisations in employers’ organisations

In employees’ organisations the share of women is

around 1/4 among board members and above 40%

among members of councils

In employees’ organisations, women make up 53% of

individual members

The higher one goes in the hierarchy, the less women

there are as decision-makers

4. Looking ahead

New Corporate Governance Code introduced in Finland in 2008: both men and women should be represented in Boards of Directors

Enters into force in Annual General Meetings held after 1st January 2010

Looking ahead: in 2009, share of women in as board members rose to 14 % - an upward trend in 2003-2009

Figure 6. Listed Companies: Women and Men as

Members of Boards of Directors 2003-2009, %

Source: Statistics Finland/Balance Consulting - OPTIO

93,1

91,9

88,4

88,6

88,2

88,2

85,9

6,9

8,1

11,6

11,4

11,8

11,8

14,1

0 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 % 100 %

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Men

Women

References

Hart, Linda, Holli, Anne and Kovalainen, Anne, ‘Gender

and Power in Politics and Business in Finland’, in

Niskanen Kirsti and Nyberg, Anita (eds.) Kön och makt i

Norden, TemaNord, forthcoming online publication, 2009.

Statistics Finland http://www.stat.fi

Vallan tasa-arvoa: Sukupuolten tasa-arvo 2009 (Power

and Equality: Gender Equality in 2009) Statistics Finland,

published in August 2009.