Anya Osipyan
26 Mar 2014
Denmark has made some fantastic television dramas over the past few years. ‘The Killing’ and ‘Borgen’ have been compulsive viewing in the Lagerberg household. Both place intelligent, strident women as the main characters and, in the case of political drama, Borgen, imitate life itself by prophetically telling the tale of a female Prime Minister – Helle Thorning-Schmidt becoming the first Prime Minister of Denmark in 2011.
Despite Denmark's success with female leaders in politics and entertainment, women remain underrepresented in senior business positions. The country ranks the highest in the "no women in senior management" category, with 71% of businesses lacking female leadership. This disparity raises the question: why does a country that embraces female leadership in other fields resist it in business?
Unfortunately Denmark is not alone. Germany, where Angela Merkel is Chancellor, fares little better with 67% of businesses having no women in a senior role. In Germany there has been little progress over the past ten years since Merkel took office. In fact the percentage of women making it to senior positions has dropped from 16% to 12%. In Denmark the improvement has been negligible, rising from only 13% to 14% over the past seven years. Contrast this with China and Russia. Both are staunchly led by men, but fewer than 5% of companies have no women in senior positions.
Alarmingly neither Germany nor Denmark looks likely to make much progress anytime soon. In Denmark only 5% of businesses intend to hire or promote women into senior management over the next 12 months. The figure in Germany is only 3%. This compares to a global average of 14%.
German policy makers are taking direct action. Legislation has been passed stipulating that 30% of board positions of companies listed on the DAX must be filled by women by 2016. A number of German business leaders are claiming that women of requisite experience and skill are simply not available, and a few specialist multinationals might have a point. But in a society where two-thirds of businesses have a complete absence of females from their leadership teams, how are these women supposed to gain this experience or hone these skills?
Quotas might help address the persistent lack of women in senior roles, but they need to be paired with other reforms. Supportive measures like affordable childcare, mentoring programs, and equal recruitment from male and female graduate pools are essential. Currently, only 20% of graduates recruited globally are women. By addressing these issues, women in senior positions can become a more common reality.
Francesca Lagerberg is global leader for tax services at Grant Thornton