Report: Women are still being rejected from CEO positions.

Sweden’s gender equality is world famous, and Swedish managers are happy to emphasize how good they are at gender equality and diversity. But the fact is that the business world is lagging behind in the world-class league. And the problem is at the top, according to several reports.

The Swedish Allbright Foundation addresses the Swedish stagnation in the May report “Tight-minded at the top”.

Today, companies in Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovakia are far more equal than Swedish ones, according to the report. The proportion of female CEOs in the Eastern European countries’ largest listed companies has increased to 20 percent, every fifth CEO, while the Swedish companies have fallen to 7.8 percent in the foundation’s EU comparison.

“It places Sweden in a highly mediocre place, 13 out of 27.”

Also international Boston Consulting Group draws attention to the Swedish stalemate.

In 15 years, from 2006 to 2021, the country’s largest listed company has climbed a single pinhole, from 36th to 35th place in the management company’s global ranking.

“The Nordic countries have still not included diversity as a vital part of the business plan. The lack of diversity in Swedish company managements is striking “, the company writes in the report” Diversity and Inclusion Isn’t Just a Fix “2021, and calls for less talk and more workshop.

Development is certainly progressing slowly, but one door seems to remain closed:

“In the ultimate position of power, the CEO position, women and people with a foreign background are unashamedly rejected. Nine out of ten stock exchange CEOs are men with a Swedish background “, writes the Allbright Foundation and believes that the attitude propagates down in the organization.

– Scary, says Maud Olofsson.

– I have fought for equality throughout my life, over 50 years. Gender equality is often discussed only from a justice aspect. Go for the money instead! Gender equality and diversity are driven more easily and more strongly if companies know that it is about money. Money talks. Believe me.

Gender equality and diversity are driven more easily and more strongly if companies know that it is about money. Money talks. Believe me

The Gender Equality Authority divides gender equality work into two main groups.

Quantitative, ie measurable aspects such as the number of female middle managers or board members, and qualitative, ie the economic and social status of different positions, and the underlying structures, norms and behaviors that govern the results.

According to Maud Olofsson, the market is the strongest driver for change.

– To get the best competence, you have to work with your own and the company’s values ​​and highlight them in the business strategy. Today, it is talents and we consumers who demand equality, sustainability and social responsibility. Again: money talks.

Companies that do not live up to their claims are rejected. Two stock exchange CEOs and an industrial family entrepreneur agree.

Jonas, Tomas and Anders are all white, middle-aged and extremely result-oriented men with a common goal: To increase diversity and gender equality in their own company.

– For many years, it was enough as a manager to perform. Today, what is important is not what, but also how, says Jonas Gustavsson, President and CEO of the technology consulting company Afry (formerly ÅF) with 17,000 employees and annual sales of SEK 20 billion in 40 countries.

– The business community has a superstition about education and experience right into the template. Then the recruitment base will then be: limited, says Tomas Carlsson, President and CEO of the construction giant NCC with 13,000 employees and a turnover of around SEK 53 billion.

Rotatilt in Vindeln is Västerbotten’s largest private employer with 300 employees, of which 20 percent are women. The company makes machine mounts and control systems for excavators all over the world, has a turnover of close to SEK 800 million and has won several awards for its basic work.

– We want to double the proportion of women. In the meantime, we highlight girls as supervisors. Not everyone is technically educated, but several of them are fantastically cunning in motivating and getting others involved. That ability is worth its weight in gold, says family entrepreneur Anders Jonsson.

Only when diversity becomes part of the top management’s strategy are they prioritized by the organization, according to Boston Consulting Group.

Increased self-awareness is often the first step to change.

Anders Jonsson’s journey of insight took off when his daughter googled the English CEO title CEO in connection with his university degree.

– The pictures showed one man after another. The first woman to show up was a Barbie doll, he says.

The first woman to appear was a Barbie doll. For me, it was such a scary aha-experience that we included diversity and equality in our ownership directives

– For me, it was such a scary aha-experience that we wrote diversity and gender equality in our ownership directives.

Companies stand and fall with the employees’ skills and group dynamics.

If you, like me, want the one who is best at solving tasks in the future, you need to take in different perspectives and not just be content with having your own worldview confirmed and recruiting a copy of yourself. Or let themselves be influenced by opinions such as that certain roles are male or female, says the NCC manager.

– For example, that a business area manager who works with stone and asphalt and has a turnover of many billions should be a man.

If you, like me, want the one who is best at solving tasks in the future, you need to take in different perspectives and not just be content with having your own worldview confirmed and recruiting a copy of yourself.

During the refugee wave in 2015, Afry took in two full-time people solely to recruit and coach employees among Sweden’s 160,000 refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

– We employed almost 570 foreign-born engineers, says Jonas Gustavsson.

The result gave more flavor. Today, Afry’s vacancies are matched with fleeing engineers from Ukraine.

The concept of “inclusive workplace” has become a recent mantra in the management ranks. But diversity will not be credible if the door remains closed to some, Jonas Gustavsson emphasizes:

– To invite everyone to the party is to affirm diversity. To ensure that everyone also gets to dance is to be inclusive. There is no point in having diversity if some are never invited, but are expected to be content to watch while everyone else dances.

To invite everyone to the party is to affirm diversity. To ensure that everyone also gets to dance is to be inclusive. There is no point in having diversity if some are never invited, but are expected to be happy watching while everyone else is dancing

Why is development so slow?

– I am a deeply impatient person, but I think it’s about time perspective, that changes take time. NCC today is something completely different than when I started 30 years ago, Tomas Carlsson answers.

The three CEOs are convinced that diversity pays off, but no one can put the financial results in numbers:

– Sometimes it is not possible to dress individual success factors in numbers. The supply of skills is crucial for our profitability, and for me the whole is important. From showing teenage girls in high school how much fun it is with technology, so that we get a broader recruitment base, to that all employees get the same opportunities and value, regardless of gender, age and origin, says Afrys Jonas Gustavsson.

– The connection is covered in research and other things, and I intend to live in that image until someone proves the opposite, says NCC’s Tomas Carlsson.