Denmark is a world champion in equality”, “it takes a man to be a leader”, and “there are simply not enough talented women “. Myths like these are alive and well in Danish society and contribute to the basic assumption that Denmark is a front-runner when it comes to gender equality and that no further efforts are needed on this area. Sadly, this is far from the truth.
In recent years, Denmark has fallen further down on the world’s equality rankings, which is primarily due to the low share of women in management positions.
According to DI, only 12% of CEOs in Danish companies, with more than 50 employees, are women.
However, numerous studies show that diverse leadership teams outperform those with less diversity in leadership in terms of profit margins, return on equity, revenues generated from innovations, and are more proficient at navigating a world characterized by an extreme pace of change.
In recent years, Denmark has fallen further down on the world’s equality rankings, which is primarily due to the low share of women in management positions.
According to DI, only 12% of CEOs in Danish companies, with more than 50 employees, are women.
However, numerous studies show that diverse leadership teams outperform those with less diversity in leadership in terms of profit margins, return on equity, revenues generated from innovations, and are more proficient at navigating a world characterized by an extreme pace of change.
Click play on the video above and watch Mai-Britt Poulsen, Managing Director & Senior Partner, and Matias Pollmann-Larsen, Principal, from BCG discuss gender equality in Denmark.
We, therefore, need to promote gender diversity. But the myth of equality in Denmark hampers efforts, so it is important that we nip it in the bud and get rid of the many prejudices.
That’s why Mai-Britt Poulsen, Managing Director & Senior Partner, and Matias Pollmann-Larsen, Principal, from Boston Consulting Group have teamed up with Thomas Thune, Chairman of the board at Ørsted, and Pernille Erenbjerg, Chairman at Millicom, to write the book “The Queen’s New Clothes”, which addresses nine specific myths about women in management.
Let us already break some misconceptions with a sneak peek of three myths from the book:
Denmark is a world champion in equality
A part of the reason we think Denmark has mastered equality is due to the Danish parental leave system, which is much more generous compared to other countries. However, the system actually seems to hinder the Danish equality. Because of cultural norms, most women today still take the majority of the long parental leave, just as women often become the child’s primary contact person. This results in an uneven role distribution of parenting tasks and creates inequality between genders both professionally and privately – an inequality that could be remedied by mandatory parental leave for men. In addition, recent numbers from BCG show a strong coherence between the number of women in leading positions and the length of men’s parental leave.
It takes a man to be a leader
There is a general assumption that men are better disposed to leadership and are naturally endowed with greater stamina than women. This is because people in general consider the leadership role as being masculine. But in reality, many studies confirm that women’s leadership skills at least are on par with men’s. In addition, it is important to emphasize that both men and women possess qualities that are understood as “feminine” and “masculine” and that both genders are capable of managing these qualities, but that it is often only men who are perceived as ambitious and goal-oriented. In contrast, women with masculine traits who exhibit the same behavior are often viewed negatively.
There simply aren’t enough talented women
Many believe that the low number of female leaders is an expression for not enough qualified women. In reality, this is far from the truth. Denmark has an overwhelming number of well-qualified and highly educated women – in fact, 56 percent of all university students in Denmark are women. The real challenge lies in the fact that today’s leaders mainly are brought in from studies concerning economics, business management, and engineering. Common to these study areas is that for every 100 student there are on average only 30 women. The reason for this might be found in our cultural biases regarding women being bad at numbers, data, and mathematics, even though data and research shows a completely different story. This sadly impacts our choice of study and pursue us throughout life. We need to challenge our current perspectives on gender diversity, and in doing so, we must mark inspirational female role models within these fields.
To read the rest of the myths, find a link to the book here
