1.Why did you feel the need to found Women Sp3akers? There is a relative absence of women’s voices in leadership, entrepreneurship, and in technical and professional fields – in Scandinavia as well as in the rest of the world/Europe. Women have unique qualifications to take a leadership role as advocates for global challenges that require solutions across national boundaries, e.g. within ethics and social responsibility, sustainable innovation and the environment. WS can provide them with a soapbox. 2. The rest of Europe tend to see the Nordic countries as a perfect example of full equality. And yet, statistics prove that, contrary to common belief, equality is not fully acquired in the Nordic countries regarding equal pay, presence of women in top positions, gender proportion regarding part-‐time jobs, length of paternity and maternity leaves, and also domestic violence. Where do you think this misunderstanding comes from? This year’s OECD statistics put Norway in first place for gender equality in the workplace for the third year running, two female prime ministers, the quota law for women on company boards, and a high general employment rate for women ( 73.8%, compared to EU-‐wide average of 58.6%) have-‐ not surprisingly-‐ contributed to this impression. I do not agree that the perception of Norwegian equality is a misunderstanding. We have after all achieved a lot. However we still have a way to go in order to achieve full equality: !
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Norway is often congratulated for its high general employment rate. But a lot of women in Norway work part-‐time both by choice and because a lot of positions are not available full-‐time .This affects their income and contributes to the ‘gender pay gap’. Norwegian women receive a longer education than European women on the whole, but as in many other countries, Norwegian women typically study more ‘female’ subjects, such as humanities and the arts. Gender segregation across occupations in Norway is correspondingly high. So whilst women appear to be educated at the same level as men, the range of their eduactional and professional choices are much more restricted and traditional than are men's. The quota law for women on company boards has been successfully implemented, with 44% of corporate board places being taken by women. But this hasn’t trickled down. The share of women in management positions in large companies has only increased by 2%, and still stands at 20% overall. Female employees in Norway earned on average 15.9% less than male employees – and this is largely unchanged since 2006. The status of many women as part-‐time, and the likelihood of them being in certain sectors of the labour market, contributes to this difference.
The present status indicates that culture is lagging behind many of the formal structures. Going forward, we need to implement both structural and attitudinal measures. We believe WS can play an important part in this respect.
3. Would you agree that, despite the idealized image that we have abroad, Scandinavian men are still attached to certain forms of male chauvinism and inequality? Would you say they are “overrated” abroad? Norwegian men are as different as men in other countries – and as women are… But Norway is a modern social democratic, equality focused -‐society. This affects attitudes in a positive way. The fact that 68.1% of men take out their full allocation of parental leave, is an indicator that we are on the right track, however it is rarely the case that the husband will make the choice to reduce his work hours. And in lot of competitive businesses ( e.g. finance) there is still an attitude that a man making this decision would be “unusual” and “a bit soft”. Male chauvinism, abuse of women, stereotypical depictions of women (and men), sexism and control techniques are present in Norway and Denmark, as in other countries, and we have as great a need to discuss these issues. Prejudice die harder than rules and regulations and gender and equality will need to be on the agenda for many years to come – even here..