Swedes Impede Female Lead(ership)

Sex equality hits glass ceiling in Sweden. To (t)wit:

Men may be losing their grip on Swedish politics, but they're clinging to power in corporations from Volvo to Ericsson -- undermining the nation's image as a world leader in gender equality.

Though Sweden has one of Europe's highest rates of women in the work force -- 79 percent -- and half of the Cabinet is female, the nation has one of the worst records in promoting women to managers. That imbalance was a big factor behind the launch last week of Sweden's first feminist political party.

Some blame a generous welfare system that was designed to help women combine work and family life, but paradoxically hurts their chances for promotion. Others see male-chauvinist attitudes in the corporate world that are out of step with the rest of Swedish society.

"The question is not how to get women into the board rooms, it's how to get the men out," said Gudrun Schyman, co-founder of the new party Feminist Initiative, which has already prompted Sweden's major parties to raise women's work issues higher on their agenda.

A 2002 study by the European Union's statistics agency found only 3.1 percent of Sweden's female workers are managers. Twenty of the 25 EU countries had better records in the survey, which was topped by Ireland at 10.9 percent and Britain at 9.7 percent.

Another survey, commissioned by the government in 2003, found 42 percent of Swedish companies had not a single woman on their executive boards. Excluding union representatives, only 8 percent of all board members were women.

"We note with concern the slow process of achieving equality on corporate boards," said Jens Orback, minister for gender equality.

He added that the ruling Social Democrats are now seriously considering introducing gender quotas on boards and penalties against companies that don't fulfill them.

Swedish women do much better in the public sector and in politics, occupying 11 of 22 Cabinet posts and 45 percent of seats in Parliament -- the highest level of political representation in Europe.

It seems, however, that the democracy that helped women advance in politics has little place in corporate life.

"In companies no one cares about fairness," said researcher Anna Wahl, who led the 2003 study.

Interesting comment, that last one. Read more here.

The idea that Sweden has done reasearch on this point, that Swedish women have pulled together a feminist political party to address the inequity, and that the government is considering penalties against companies that continue to disregard this discrepancy places Sweden in a realm light years beyond the United States in its political philosophy of equity, agency, and aptitude. This presumes something about women and "women's work" that would require a mud fight on the Senate floor here.

The top three Republicans in Congress: DeLay, Frist, Santorum. Somehow, just somehow, I can't see that we're going to enact legislation that ensures gender equality. Maybe we can hire Sweden's Minister for Gender Equality (!) as a consultant? Looking at that list of Republican "leaders," I wonder if Sweden's ability to face these issues head on is related to its attitudes about and personal practice of religion. If women's abilities are recognized in the public sphere -- and promoted in the public sphere -- then it's very difficult to go back to, Sorry, sister, you need just be a handmaiden, or hysteria over nipples, or "Pharmacists Rights."
 

Comments

[corey]

I read somewhere that there was a correlation between voting system and women representation.

http://www.cfer.org/learn/womenandPR.html

[ae]

Right on, Corey. Thanks for the link.