The number of women on the boards of listed companies has been monitored for several years by the Central Chamber of Commerce, based on the composition of boards appointed at the general meetings of shareholders. Nearly half of the companies have met the target of gender equality when looking at the data for 2022 and all listed companies.
Out of the 130 listed companies surveyed, only 16 would have been outside the scope of the EU's quota directive, which will take effect in 2026. More than half of the companies that fall under the directive already meet the goal of equal representation of men and women in boards and supervisory boards, as proposed in the directive.
Women's leadership has been promoted successfully through self-regulation in Finland. A climate must be created that encourages women to advance in their careers. It is important for companies to pay attention to women's career paths to lead to business leadership positions and CEO positions instead of support functions, according to Ville Kajala, the Central Chamber of Commerce's leading expert.
The increase in the proportion of women on boards is due to the recommendation of the Corporate Governance Code, which stipulates that the board of a listed company should include both genders. If a listed company does not follow this recommendation, it must justify the deviation publicly.
According to the Central Chamber of Commerce's report, the gender balance of the body responsible for preparing the proposal for the board's composition also matters.
There were clear differences in the survey. In companies where the proposal for the board's composition was prepared by a shareholder's committee, and the committee included at least one woman, women accounted for as much as 40% of board members. Kajala said that when the nomination committee consisted only of men, the proportion of women on the boards was 31%.
In almost 30% of listed companies, a balanced gender distribution is achieved in executive management teams. Equal representation of men and women in an executive team is said to be achieved when the less represented gender accounts for at least 40% of the team.
The findings show that progress has been made, but there is still a long way to go to achieve gender equality in leadership positions. There should be more attention to diversity in selecting board members and recruiting executive team members. As Ville Kajala emphasized on International Women's Day, a supportive environment for women is crucial for women's advancement in their careers.