Posted on 09/25/2006 12:21:09 PM PDT by presidio9
If you’re a woman, rising the corporate ranks is never easy. Unless you live in Norway.
Within the next year, the 510 Norwegian companies listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange must have 40% of their respective board seats occupied by women. Any company failing to comply will be booted off the OSE. For now, the law passed in 2002 only applies to publicly traded companies. But the government is considering extending the law’s reach to cover family-owned companies as well.
Since the Norwegian government first issued its mandate, things have improved. The number of companies in compliance has risen from 17.5% to 29.6%. Still, the country’s companies need to get cracking. Nearly 33% of public companies don’t have a single woman board member. And as of July 1, only 151 of 510 firms on the OSE meet the 40% representation rule. The number of women in top jobs isn’t good. Out of 562 women who are board members in the country, only 11 are chairmen of the board, and 15 are deputy chairmen.
In Pictures: The Most Powerful Women Those numbers don’t sit well in a country renowned for its progressive policies and its pursuit of egalitarianism. But even in Norway, there’s been some controversy over the government’s quota. "I wish a law governing diversity in the workplace hadn't been necessary, but change through natural evolution would take about 200 years," says Anne Kathrine Slungard, the Market Director of Entra Realestate, a large real estate company based in Oslo.
“Men appoint other men,” says Norway's State Secretary for the Ministry of Children and Equality Kjell Erik Oie. “It's an informal system made and run by men.”
There’s little disagreement from Norway’s women execs. Legislation is the only way forward, says Grete Faremo, a director for legal and corporate affairs in Northern Europe for Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ). "With experience, you see that you need action."
Heidi Petersen, a board member at DnB NOR, a bank that ranks 342 on the Forbes 2000, also believes the quota system is a necessary evil. "It makes it easier to see all the clever women out there. It helps bring them to the fore," she says.
But could compliance with the new law spawn tokenism? It shouldn't. Oie points out that more women than men pursue advanced degrees in Norway so there’s no shortage of smart, well trained women. In fact, says Slungard, women now outnumber men at the prestigious Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim.
Even though there are clearly thousands of capable and willing women ready to become top brass, convincing stick-in-the-mud investors of the benefits of workplace diversity may prove difficult in the short-term. "We need to change the mentality of these shareholders, they are the ones that choose the board members," says Slungard. "We need to make them see that Norway will not prosper if it doesn't use 50% of its inhabitants.”
Legislating increases in workplace diversity seems to be a bit of trend in Scandinavia. Earlier this summer, a Swedish government adviser on sex equality, Catarina af Sandeberg, proposed that companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange that do not have 40% of women on their main boards by 2010 should be fined until they do.
"The previous Social Democrat government in Sweden was definitely planning a similar thing to Norway. And the new Conservative government there will be discussing plans," Oie says. "By tradition, Norway and Sweden do things together. I know Sweden often looks to Norway on occasions like this," says Slungard.
Why is Norway so progressive? "Our Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, is one of the best we've had," remarks Petersen.
However, Faremo warns, "we are not where we should be." She says that managers should be working to encourage women from day one and facilitate opportunities for young parents--irrespective of sex. Women should also be working to make themselves more "visible" in the workplace, she adds. "If they are not impatient to do so, I am impatient for them," says Oie.
Soon 40% will be mandated to actually have penusis.
perhaps muslims should be preaching @ mass?
Absurd laws supported by the fact that Norway is flush with petrodollars and they can afford to be non-competative in other areas.
Mind you moose bites can be very nasti.
Why not 50%?............
Obviously another isult to Islam. Why must these countries continue to irritate our Muslim brothers? Provocative actions like this just breeds more terrorists. (Do I even have to say I'm being sarcastic?)
Classic result of government interference in industry. More and more work being done by less and less of the
And in fact, to make up for centuries of persecution, discrimination, and hate, I think it only fair that 60% of these positions be given to women.
Hmmmm, so the plural form of penis ISN'T penii. Glad the subject never came up (ahem) in conversation.
Could you describe the medical condition known as "penusis?" ;>
Penusis is technically the female name for woman without Penisis but argue they need Peni' to be equal.
And thanks for all you do. :-)
Thanks. You can learn something every day on FR.
These discriminatory laws inevitably hurt those who they are intended to help. Once other people know someone's there just to fill a quota, legimitate doubt about their abilities quickly makes them a non-player in real decisions.
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