Joint employer-employee working group Finance Norway, the Norwegian Employers' Association for the Financial Sector and the Finance Sector Union of Norway collaborate through a joint group in order to obtain balance between women and men in executive positions in the industry.

The group also aims at documenting  that a more even gender balance contributes to effective decision-making, enhances the industry's repute and makes the industry an attractive employer for highly qualified personnel.

Futura - developing women leadership talents

Futura, a programme for developing women leadership talents, was launched in 2006. Until now 100 of the industry's most talented women have taken part in Futura.

The career development of the first three cohorts was recently measured: 34 per cent have gained positions at a higher organisational level, 53 per cent have more responsibility for personnel, 45 per cent have more budget responsibility, and 50 per cent have greater operational responsibilities than before entering the programme.

A "Futura movement"

In 2009, the Futura concept was further developed.  A website was launched (futurafinans.no), and Futura Alumni was established. The alumni organisation is a closed membership network for talents and mentors.

The intention is to facilitate a "Futura movement" providing publicity to the talents as well as to the programme itself. Futura Alumni also offers the possibility to maintain interpersonal networks.

Improved gender balance 2004-2009

Comprehensive surveys among a large number of financial industry employees were conducted in 2004 and 2009. The main results show that the gender balance in management improved significantly from 2004 to 2009.

In 2004 there were 36 per cent women and 64 per cent men in leading positions. In 2009 the proportions had changed to 42 and 58 per cent respectively. This change can be attributed to a number of factors. In recent years, the financial industry has put great effort in improving the gender balance through various programmes, including Futura.

There has also been considerable media focus on legislation aiming at increasing the share of women on boards of directors. This has contributed to a heightened general awareness of the gender balance issue and may have encouraged highly qualified women to seek greater responsibility and visibility.

Still traditional divisions

Women's access to managerial positions still depends on professional field and the distribution of men and women in the various business areas is still traditional. Women dominate in retail and human resources departments, whereas men are dominant in corporate markets and insurance.

Women managers recruit more women to management

The enterprises with the largest overall proportion of women seem to have the largest number of women managers. Also, women managers have about 10 per cent more women in their managerial groups than their male colleagues.

This indicates that women lead to more women. The reason may be that women managers recruit women more often than men do and it may be easier for women to become managers in groups with a large proportion of women.

Little knowledge of company goals

39 per cent of the respondents to the 2009 survey claimed they did not know whether their company had gender equality goals. This is a very high figure given that the majority of companies do in fact have such a goal.

The survey also shows that men and women have discrepant perceptions of the goals and measures the industry employ in gender equality policies. More women than men state that they are familiar with these goals. This may be explained by the fact that women in general are more concerned about equal opportunities than men are. It could also be that women take equal opportunitie goals for granted without verifying that their company actually has such goals.

Special initiatives needed

It is generally agreed that increasing the share of women managers requires special initiatives. However, these should be of a gender-neutral character. Few women are comfortable with company initiatives focusing on gender rather than capability or measures that apply to women exclusively. According to our survey, the following approaches appear to work:

• Companies - top management in particular - should motivate their staff to work for equal opportunities  
• Career-promoting programmes should be introduced for all employees, irrespective of gender 
• Women should be made aware of what it takes to embark upon a career in management 
• Women should be encouraged to take on managerial positions

The survey shows that making recruitment processes more formal improves gender balance. For example, formal announcement of all vacant managerial positions at all levels in the company have a good effect on recruiting women.

The survey results will serve as input to the promotion of the financial industry as an interesting and future-oriented employer for highly qualified  persons - women as well as men.