Female representation at the corporate top (IVOR nr. 126) 2022/5.4.2.1:5.4.2.1 Types of interventions

Female representation at the corporate top (IVOR nr. 126) 2022/5.4.2.1

5.4.2.1 Types of interventions

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There is considerable overlap between the four companies in terms of the types of interventions that have been implemented. Prof.ServicesCo has implemented the largest number of interventions and the most unique interventions that were not encountered in other companies.

The most frequently mentioned reasons for implementing interventions aimed at increasing the number of women at the corporate top included: (1) diverse teams engender diversity of thoughts, which in turn ultimately improves decisions/decision-making; (2) connection with customers/clients because clients ask for diverse teams, or in order to be better positioned to fulfill the customers’ needs; (3) because ‘it’s the right thing to do’, which can be summarized as an ethical or moral reason for seeking to have a good representation of society in the business and for providing equal opportunities to men and women; and (4) talent is wasted if women are excluded.

There is no indication that an increase in the number of implemented interventions leads to an increase in the number of women at the corporate top or in the rest of the organization. All of the investigated companies agree that they have made progress over the years in terms of female representation. However, they also agree that they are ‘still not there yet’. Participants indicated that they are satisfied with the number of women on their boards but that there is still room for improvement as regards the number of women at the rest of the corporate top, i.e., management positions. The following quotes illustrate this:

“If you only look at the supervisory board and the management board, that is good. (…) If you look at the levels below, (…) the [Executive Committee] (…) it is not good there yet. (…) So, it is better at the top than it is in the rest of the organization.” (ITCo)

“At the top and where it’s most visible and where it’s most required by regulation we’ve done extremely well, but underneath [it] is still a struggle to build a strong representation of women executives.” (ChemiCo)

The reason for this could be that there is ultimately only one intervention that specifically aims to increase the number of women at the corporate top and in the rest of the organization: the numerical target. The other interventions may be supportive of women and inclusion in general, but they not necessarily aim at increasing female representation in real terms. This illustrates that although companies have interventions in place, they also acknowledge that they are still struggling to achieve better female representation at lower organizational levels. This was the case for every company, including Prof.ServicesCo that had implemented more interventions than any of the other investigated companies.

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