Director General Arni Hole Ministry of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion Societal Development through Gender Equality

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Director General Arni HoleMinistry of Children,
Equality and Social Inclusion Societal
Development through Gender Equality the
Norwegian Experience

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Status of women in the economy in Norway

• 80 of women between 25 and 66 are working
• 40 work part-time (13 men work part-time)
• Norway has appr. 90 coverage of early child
  care to a maximum tax (up to six years of age)
• 43 women on company boards
• 62 women in university education, though only
  20 female professors
• 27 female top managers in the State sector
  (ministries etc), 47 middle managers
• 20 female top managers in private sector
• 36 female middle managers in private sector
• 42 female top managers in Municipal sector
  (though only 18,4 head of Municipal councils)

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Statistics, continued

• Parity in the Cabinet
• 39.7 women in Parliament
• Appr. 40 on an average in the elected Municipal
  bodies (430 Municipalities)
• Paid Parental leave 56 weeks with 80 refunding
  of your salary (either parent), or 46 weeks with
  100 refunding, up to a certain level.
• 10 weeks mandatory for the fathers, appr. 90
  enjoy this non-transferable quota
• 2008 26,7 of the fathers share more of the
  whole period with the mothers which is a most
  wanted trend

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From EUs conference on GE and Economic growth
and employment in 2009

• There is a positive relation between GNP and UNs
  index for GE.
• A EU-report from 2009 says the EU nations have a
  growth potential on 27 , given GE in the labour
  market.
• In the EU women have filled 6 million of the 8
  mill new jobs created since 2000

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Goldman and Sachs says

• GNP will grow with increased female participation
  in the formal labour market
• Leaving all other things equal,G-S. calculate 21
  growth in GNP in Italy, 19 in Spain
• Considerable growth in GNP in the Asian Region if
  closing the gender gap in work life
• The combination of an ageing workforce and a more
  skill-dependent economy means that countries will
  have to make better use of their female
  population
• More women than men, world wide, tend to finish
  their higher education, university level
• By 2011, 2.6 mill.more women than men will be
  studying in American Universities

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Modern economy includes Gender Equality Policies
, and it deals with both genders.

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• Talents are divided evenly among the genders no
  nation nor private enterprise, can afford to
  loose out on talents
• Tax-income to be redistributed, will increase,
  when both genders are producing values and paid
  decent wages
• Decent wages, also for women, combats poverty.
  Jobs paid with decent wages empower persons
• To be able to engage all grown persons in gainful
  work, one needs to invest in provisions for the
  families, like Early Child Care , parental leave
  and flexibility in work life

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Concensus in politics on family-work life
provisions build upon GE, demands killing off
some stereotypes

• All cultures and traditions carry stereotypes and
  mental images of what is a women, a man, a boy, a
  girl or family life
• Every country must scrutinise their own cultures
  and traditions to identify and eradicate
  stereotypes that reproduces unwanted inequality
• Inequality in the labourmarket, in business life
  and in the families, is the enemy of
  modernisation, value-creating, innovation,
  profitability, reputation-building

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Human Rights and international law are parts of
the politics

• Alliances with experts in international law is
  needed
• Use the HR-conventions to wash trough national
  laws
• Use a distinct gender perspective to assess
  national laws ,regulations and measures in all
  sectors

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Some simple reflections.

• How can any firm or enterprise afford not to
  engage all the creativity it can lay hands on ?
  To catch the best people to sustain diversity,
  will give a competitive egde
• The market is diversified and represents many and
  very different stakeholders. Strategic decisions
  must be made by a board and a leadership that
  mirrors this complex diversity
• How can any industry or sector, loose the
  opportunity to build a good reputation in the
  market by not including both genders and
  recruiting for diversity ?
• Is there a board room gene expressed only in
  males ?

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Methods and tools

• What kind of ambitions does a nation or an
  enterprise have, as to reach GE and thus A
  family friendly worklife ?
• The ambitions will define the methods and tools
• Promoting equal chances for men and women, boys
  and girls can be done by legislation securing
  formal rights and through campaigns, action
  plans and advocacy
• However, securing equal outputs/ real and
  material GE, demands affirmative actions and
  sometimes quotas by law
• Norway has used a mix of both the last 50 years.
• Norway has worked hard to change values,
  cultures and traditions and employed lots of
  agents

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Stereotypes

• No one is free from stereotypes gender biases
  are carried by both genders, and by different
  social groups towards each other
• It is part of beeing human to carry cultural
  codes , simply to be able to navigate in a
  complex world
• However, sometimes the codes/stereotypes are
  harmful to what we want to achieve as human
  individuals, as an enterprise, as a nation
• It is all about changing values !
• Politics must be based upon values suited for
  today and tomorrow.

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Stereotyping is done everywhere.

• Avoid the fallacy in believing that only men
  carry stereotypes, not women.
• Still women speak of the husbands helping out in
  the house and with the children. Again,
  exclusion of the men, or men as mere assistants
  in the house. As if the house work is not a
  shared responsibility, regardless of gender.
  Women must let go, too.
• When Parliament voted for gender balance quotas
  on boards of private companies in 2003, the elite
  men of the upper echelons of economic life in
  Norway exclaimed Able women cannot be found, the
  women will not take on such responsibilities, our
  firm will be broke or have to flee Norway as to
  prosper etc etc.
• - None of this was of course true. It was
  stereotyping
• Many men in decisionmaking positions speak of
  typical female workplaces or jobs. There are no
  such things. There are only historical and social
  traditions that have made women and men choose
  different occupations and professions.

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Norwegian basic values

• GE is seen as an intrinsic part of labor policies
  and the social dialogue between the State
  /Cabinet and the partners in work life.
• The tripartite cooperation between the State,
  Employers Federations and the Unions is conducted
  through the Main Agreement. GE and family
  issues has been lifted into this social dialogue
  since the 5oties
• Our National Insurance Scheme, covering almost
  all welfare issues like minimum pensions for all,
  sick insurance, unemployment benefits, parental
  benefits, reproductive rights and gender issues
  is a result of the tripartite cooperation, and
  of course the legislation passed in
  Parliament.(The financing is also tri-partite)
• Strong Gender Equality Law (cross-sectorial and
  governing also private sector) Continued

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Quotas

• 1993 The Parental Leave Scheme (in the National
  Insurance Act) was enlarged to 42 weeks of which
  4 weeks was mandatory leave for fathers, not
  transferable to the mother. Unless the fathers
  take his leave, the family will loose the
  refunding of his salary. This is a typical quota
  (heavily debated at the time in business circles)
• 90 of the fathers with the right to a quota,
  enjoys it (2008).
• This quota is enlarged to 6 weeks in 2005 and 10
  weeks in 2009. With 56 weeks in total, 9 weeks
  are obligatory for the mother, 10 for the father
  and the remaining can be shared between them.
  Both have to qualify through work life before
  birth.

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Quotas.

• 1981 21 in the Gender Equality Law states that
  every public appointed committee, council,
  working group and delegation, shall have no les
  than 40 of each gender
• 1993 The Municipal Act, requiring that all
  committees appointed by the politically elected
  Council, shall have a 40 -60 gender balance.
  Affirmative action by law. (Overseen by County
  Governors).
• 2003 4 laws amended in Parliament
• The Public Limited Company law (the large
  enterprises noted at the stock exchange and with
  a wide spread of shares), the law governing the
  wholly State Owned Companies , the
  inter-municipally company law, and the Companies
  ruled by specific laws.
• A very strong affirmative action, the
  requirement of a 40 quotas of the underrepr.
  gender in the boardrooms. Smart economy and
  democratic/fair.
• (Overseen and with sanctions by the National
  Business Register)

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The most radical quota ever.

• Norway was the first country to use affirmative
  action in this manner (Spain, Netherlands have
  followed suit, France and UK is discussing,
  Sweden put i to a halt)
• Why quotas ?
• Quotas worked well in other sectors
• Women were increasingly filling top positions in
  politics, academia, management, public services
• But NOT in the powerful boardrooms of private
  enterprises
• Cross-party agreement that Norway needed a
  redistribution of power within the private
  sector, to make use of all talents, heads and
  competence

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Quotas..

• 2005 A new law governing cooperatives in
  agribusiness, forestry, consumers and housing
  coops. A requirement of 40 women when the
  business has 1000 members or more.(the same
  sanctions as for the public ltd companies)
• 2009 Quota introduced for small companies where
  municipalities hold 2/3 of the stocks, demanding
  40 -60 gender balance on the boards. (Several
  1000 companies produce welfare and services to
  the public, and should therefore mirror the
  population). Typical affirmative action.

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Quotas work ! Mental images of gender will
change !

• From 2003 to 2009 we saw an increase from 7
  women to 4 1 , on the boards of the Public
  Ltd. Companies (as mentioned above). On an
  average 43 women in all the 4 mentioned types
  of companies. The Coops are soon there. The
  women were not hard to find
• These quotas has changed the mental images of
  womens abilities and possibilities forever
• Research shows that diversity pays, at the bottom
  line of business. Strategic work in boardrooms
  needs to mirror the diversity outside the
  complex markets and different demands. Half of
  the consumers are women, with their own purse
• The male roles and models of masculinity changed
  forever after introducing the fathers quota in
  the Parental Leave Scheme. After 16 years in
  action we can tell by research, that this law
  also has changed the womens and mothers roles
  and how they perceive the balance between work
  and family life.

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New research 201 companies with 50 50 000
employees

• Morten Huse (Oslo Business School)/Sabina Nielsen
• (CopenhagenBusiness School) 2010 The
  Contribution of Women on Boards of Directors,
  accepted for publication in Corporate Governance
  An International Review, shows
• Boards with gender balance use more time on
  strategic controll mechanisms
• The same boards put heavy priorities on the
  boards own team-development
• They have to a larger extent developed
  instructions for good board governance
• They put more effort into competence building
• They have a lower level of conflict making the
  board more effective

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Prerequisites for using affirmative actions

• Use of quotas can only be valuable if women are
  visible, their competence seen and valued.
• A society planning for women to be visible, needs
  parental leave systems, flexibility in work life
  for parents with small chiildren, full coverage
  of kindergarten places to an affordable price,
  public care for the elderly, sector-crossing
  gender equality law, a strong working environment
  law, equal pay for work of equal value and strong
  actions against family violence.
• Unless such systems are in place, there will be
  less chance of women beeing visible and eligable
  for high positons

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Campaigns and programs work

• The National Employers Federation set up (2004)
  Female Future. A program to recruit and train
  women to board-room work that has been very
  successful. (Won a European Price).
• Similar programs are set up in the public
  sectors, in the financial sector (The programme
  FUTURA since 2007) , with great success.
• Several databases have been set up with womens
  CVs to pick from, when you look for able women
  to be nominated for election to your board or to
  invite to compete for top management positions.
• Many different mentor-adept programs have been
  set up the last 15 years, most of them very
  successful
• Research and measurement is done to investigate
  the effects of diversity
• The University Act requires all colleges and
  universities to have a Gender Equality Action
  plan.

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In any effort, program, action, measure or legal
system, accountability rules

• Who is accountable and what are the sanctions
  when targets are not met ?
• One will never change the world with merely
  hopes, good intentions.
• Who /what could be positive models and set
  examples ?
• The road from well-meant rhetoric and dinner
  speeches - to material results, is hard and
  demand devoted and systematic work. It takes
  time.
• You need Cabinets, local Governments and boards
  with distinct political will.
• You need able partners for change, like Employers
  Federations, Trade Unions, NGOs and
  International cooperation.

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Using the media when advocating

• Whenever launching a project, a program, a
  campaign,a research result on GE/family policies,
  use the media
• Whenever an enterprise or a public institution is
  measured as to GE status/family friendly work
  life , involve the media
• Sell good stories on GE /family policies
  exclusively to well known media houses or
  television
• Train the media people in GE and gender budgetting

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Mission not yet accomplished in Norway

• Or in any other country
• Let us work together and share experiences and
  lessons learned this and other projects are good
  examples
• Let us do bench-marking
• GE /Family work-life balance means modernising a
  society, and it is good for business !