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The Danish gender equality paradox in leadership roles
Literature Item
Author Information:
Name: The Diversity Council
Email: None
Website: None
Abstract:
This research has been conducted and the report written in the period February to May 2022 in a joint collaborative effort led by The Diversity Council and involving numerous Danish companies and public organisations. This report aims to contribute to a better understanding of the current state of gender equality in managerial and executive jobs in Denmark and possible levers to accelerate women’s careers in leadership roles. The report departs from establishing an apparent paradox where women are significantly underrepresented in managerial and executive roles, despite Denmark being a frontrunner in having equal opportunities across genders and having led the way forward towards a more gender-equal society across numerous dimensions such as universal healthcare, access to education, voting rights and freedom of speech. To understand this paradox, the problem was studied from several lenses in a unified framework. First, researchers established four critical steps over the career lifecycle – inspire, attract, promote and retain. Then they investigated i) macro-level factors across Nordic and other European countries leading to the gender equality paradox in leadership roles, such as cross-country differences in policies, historical background and societal norms and ii) micro-level drivers within organisations throughout critical steps of their career journeys. Men and women are equally ambitious to become leaders, however, women face greater challenges on their way to climbing the career ladder due to established gender norms in society, a higher degree of household-related work and caregiving responsibilities and less career support. The report finds that men and women are interested in becoming leaders or executives to the same extent, however gender-specific norms shape differences in the motivation and discouragement of taking on leadership roles. Women appear to be more discouraged about managerial roles due to a perception of too pronounced office politics2 and challenges in combining family responsibilities with increased job demands compared to men. A representative Nordic survey also shows that Denmark appears to have relatively more traditional gender norms, where women are more often perceived as the preferred primary caretaker, compared to its Nordic peers with Sweden being the most progressive.
Keywords:
women in leadership roles, gender-balanced leadership, impact of social factors, report about gender equality paradox in Denmark
Dates:
Jan. 6, 2022 - None
Source Specificity:
None, None, None
Website:
https://www.thediversitycouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/The-Danish-Gender-Equality-Paradox-Report-JUN-2022.pdf
Power Domains:
Social
Methods Tools:
Awareness-raising, Monitoring
Country:
DK
City:
Copenhagen
Implementation Scale:
regional
Language:
English
Other Links:
https://www.thediversitycouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/The-Danish-Gender-Equality-Paradox-Report-JUN-2022.pdf
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