Women directors
Women are well-represented on Nordic company boards in the period covered by the 2024 Board Index (1 June 2023–31 May 2024). Gains towards gender parity are being made across the countries in the region.
Among the four countries under review, Norway is the only one where a specific gender quota is in place. The Norwegian Public Limited Liability Companies Act (1997) stipulates that the board must represent both genders as follows:
(i) if the board has two or three members, both genders must be represented; (ii) if the board has four or five members, each gender must be represented by at least two; (iii) if the board has from six to eight members, each gender must be represented by at least three; (iv) if the board has nine members, each gender must be represented by at least four; and (v) if the board has more than nine members, each gender must be represented by at least 40%.
Furthermore, a recent EU directive stipulates that at least 40% of the underrepresented gender must be represented on non-executive boards of listed companies, or 33% among all directors.
At the time of our research, 40% of all board members across the region are women, a slight decrease from 41% in 2023.
Consistent with previous years, Norwegian boards recorded the highest proportion of female representation with 46% (up from 45% in 2023). Swedish boards followed closely with 40% (down from 41% in 2023).
38% of board members in Denmark are women, the same proportion as last year. Finland recorded 38% (down from 39% in 2023).
Nordic countries have had great progress regarding female representation on the board in the past five years. This progress can be seen most clearly In Denmark — women’s share of board seats rose from 29% in 2019 to 38% this year.
In Sweden, the proportion has increased slightly, with 40% female representation in 2019 and 40% this year. In Finland, it rose from 34% to 38%.
Female representation on Norwegian boards relatively stable over the years, with 43% in 2019 and 46% this year.
Women in leadership positions
Leadership positions on boards include board chairs, deputy chairs, and committee chairs. Although women are now represented more comprehensively at board-level, it is important to ensure that this representation extends across all seniority levels.
At the cut-off date, seven boards (7%) were chaired by women, falling from 10 (10%) in 2023.
Three (12%) Norwegian boards have female chairs. The three are: Olaug Svarva at DNB, Gisele Marchand at Gjensidige Forsikring, and Thorhild Widvey at Var Energi. Orla Noonan left her role as chair of Adevinta in June 2024.
Denmark has two female chairs — Lene Skole at Orsted, and Deirdre Connelly at Genmab. Dominique Reiniche at Chr. Hansen left her role as chair following the company’s merger with Novozymes to form Novonesis.
Finland and Sweden recorded one female chair each. The decrease from two to one in Sweden is partly due to constituent changes.
In Finland, Sari Baldauf is the chair of Nokia. Annika Paasikivi left as chair of Uponor in December 2023, and the company was delisted in April 2024.
In Sweden, Helena Stjernholm chairs Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget. Beijer Ref and Indutrade were constituents in 2023, but not in our 2024 sample. Kate Swann and Katarina Martinson still chair the boards of Beijer Ref and Indutrade respectively.
In terms of their leadership routes, a majority of female chairs of the boards under review (four, 57%) were internal appointments, having previously served elsewhere on the board they currently chair.
| Chair |
Board |
Previous board role |
Age at cut-off date |
Main functional experience |
| Lene Skole |
Orsted |
Deputy chair |
65 |
CEO |
| Helene Stjernholm |
Svenska Cellulosa Aktibolaget |
None |
54 |
CEO & Chief Investment Officer |
| Olaug Svarva |
DNB Bank |
None |
65 |
Investment director |
| Deirdre Connelly |
Genmab |
Deputy chair |
63 |
CEO |
| Gisele Marchand |
Gjensidige Forsikring |
NED |
65 |
CEO |
| Sari Baldauf |
Nokia |
Vice chair |
68 |
VP |
| Thorhild Widvey |
Var Energi |
None |
67 |
Secretary of state |
Women in leadership positions
32% of deputy chairs or equivalent are women, a slight decrease from the 34% recorded in 2023. The highest share of female deputy chairs by country is Finland with 43% (up from 40% in 2023). Close behind is Norway, with 40% (down from 45% in 2023).
Female deputy chairs on Danish boards follow with 23%, slightly down from last year (24%). Sweden has 18%, a substantial decrease from last year (30%).
Among committee chairs, there is a notable difference between audit and remuneration chairs. Women represent 54% (55% in 2023) of audit committee chairs, a marked contrast to the 18% female share of remuneration committee chairs (close to the 17% recorded last year).
Among audit chairs, the proportion of women ranges from 61% (Finland) to 44% (Sweden). For remuneration chairs, it ranges from 29% among Norwegian boards to 7% among Danish and Swedish boards.
Our perspective: Where are the female chairs?
Gender diversity has long been an important topic in Nordic boardrooms and women are well represented on boards across the region. However, the fact remains that so few board chairs are women, with only seven among the 100 companies featured in this Board Index and the trend remains stagnant.
One potential explanation is that female board members have less senior-level executive leadership experience compared with their male counterparts. While 69% of board chairs have CEO experience, just 32% of female board directors have group CEO experience compared with 53% of male directors.
Given the importance of gender diversity in the boardroom, female non-executives are in high demand. We have seen many women giving up their executive careers early in order to focus on non-executive board roles. But the downside of leaving the executive world behind before acquiring P&L experience (i.e. as a CEO) is that doing so may hinder an individual’s ability to step into a board leadership role.
While there is no question that plenty of women possess the necessary gravitas and leadership skills to chair a board effectively, many boards still prefer their chair to be a former CEO — someone who is able to relate to, and hence more effectively spar with, the CEO.
Additionally, since a common route to becoming CEO is through having served as CFO, COO or in a P&L role, many women who have pursued careers in HR, communications, or marketing have found themselves at a disadvantage. This raises an important question: how to assess chair candidates in a way that looks beyond their executive career experience and focuses on the necessary intrinsic qualities for chairing a board?
We believe that the pipeline of female leadership talent is getting stronger and that more women will be considered for board chair roles over time. More women are occupying CFO and COO roles, potentially leading to more women being appointed CEO.
We also see more women sitting on listed boards, including in board leadership positions: the proportion of female vice chairs has significantly increased from last year, and women dominate as chairs of audit committees. In many companies, serving as CFO is a route to the CEO position once the CFO has gained sufficient executive leadership experience. Hence, there seems to be a clear opportunity to do the same for boards.
Foreign directors
We define foreign directors as having a nationality that differs from that of the company. On this basis, foreign directors account for 37% of all board members, slightly down from 38% in 2023.
Denmark has the highest share of foreign directors with 50% foreign directors, a slight decrease from 56% in 2023. Finland’s share is the next-largest, with 38% foreign directors (2023, 36%).
Foreign directors make up 28% of Norwegian boards, a decrease from the 39% seen in 2023.
Sweden records the least diverse boards in terms of foreign representation on average, with 24% (2023, 26%).
20 chairs (20%) in the region are foreign, of which 12 are in Denmark. There is a slight decrease from the figures noted in the 2023 Board Index (25%). Three chairs (12%) in Norway are foreign. Finland has three chairs who are foreign (13%) and Sweden has two (13%).
Background and experience
The most common functional experience among the cohort of board members under review is that of group CEO (43%), followed by P&L leaders (general manager / regional or divisional president) (19%). Functional leaders account for 13%, followed by group CFOs (9%).
Similarly, the most common functional experience among female board directors is group CEO experience (32%), followed by P&L leaders (general manager / regional or divisional president) (21%). Functional leaders make up 18%; group CFOs account for 11%.
In terms of sectors, an industrial background is the most common, making up 37% of all board profiles, irrespective of gender. It is followed by financial services (22%) and TMT&S (15%).
|
All |
New |
Female |
| Industrial |
253 |
102 |
34 |
| Financial services |
154 |
48 |
23 |
| TMT&S |
99 |
47 |
11 |
| Consumer |
66 |
29 |
7 |
| Business & Professional Services |
25 |
12 |
2 |
| Education & Social Impact |
28 |
16 |
2 |
| Healthcare |
58 |
20 |
5 |
This breakdown is in line with the number of companies in each sector in our sample. 46% of companies fall under the industrial sector, and 19% and 12% are categorised as financial services and TMT&S, respectively.
On average, over half the board (58%) tends to have a main industry background that is related to the industry the board operates in.
Breadth of diversity in the boardroom
While boardroom diversity cannot be captured exclusively by quantitative measures, hallmark indicators are useful to highlight those boardrooms where the greatest diversity is evident.
As well as previous functional and sector experience, female and foreign representation on the board are important indicators of diversity. Younger directors may also add a different perspective to boardroom discussions.