Gender diversity in the Danish C25 companies

In terms of the statistics for each level:

• The boards of the C25 currently have an average of 39% female, about equal to the prior 2 years. 79% of C25 stated a clear goal and 70% of those have achieved their goal, up from 63% in 2022.
• The executive management level has, on average, only 16% female (but up from 10% in 2022). 58% of the companies have no women on this team. However, there is a positive development in setting a gender goal for this team: 92% of C25 do this, up from 25% in 2022. 32% of those who have a goal have achieved it (vs 0% in 2022).
• The senior leadership level has, on average, only 22% female (up from only 18% last year), but 17% of the companies still have no women, though this is a big improvement from 29% last year. 100% of the companies have now set a goal for this level (vs 25% last year), and 25% have achieved the goal (none had achieved it last year). This level is especially important, as it represents the pipeline for future top management and boards.

We commend the progress that has been made, but we see there is still work to be done to ensure the targets are clear enough at each required level and that they are defined in a way that is easy to monitor. Companies do not always clearly define their various management levels to the public, but the new law requires that they report on gender statistics for three clearly defined management levels by the end of 2023 (more on that later in this article).

Some highlights

% Female

This year, 18 companies (up from only 3 / 13% in 2021) have published targets for % / number female, for at least three groups – the board, executive management, and the senior leadership level. Here’s how the situation looks at each level:

Companies to be celebrated

Many companies are already doing well in terms of having women on each level.

Here are the top companies for this year:

Important note

2023 is a critical year of transition regarding the topic of diversity at Danish companies. During this year, recommendations are being replaced by a new Danish law, and companies need to adjust their reporting. The new law requires that the central management body of all large public companies must, for the accounting year starting 1 January 2023, report on gender statistics for three clearly defined management levels. Read more about the law and the board’s responsibility in our article.

You may or may not be aware that the board of directors is responsible for reviewing, EVERY YEAR, what actions the company is taking to ensure relevant diversity at the different management levels. Some boards are more active with this task than others, and performance will only improve with more active board involvement. Be sure it is on the annual wheel of agenda topics at your board meetings.

If you’d like more information on how we did the research, or detailed findings for each company, don’t hesitate to contact us here: reception@leadershipadvisorgroup.com