Even if someone would argue that women's entry into the board, executive director, and non-executive director levels has been too slow, it cannot be denied that company boards today are more gender diverse than ever before. Having both women and men around the table when making critical decisions determines the success of a company.

It is fair to acknowledge the progress that has been made over the past few years. The world has witnessed a slow but steady increase in the proportion of females serving in leadership positions. The efforts institutions have made to attract and hold on to women for these positions can be clearly seen in the rise in leadership.

As we discussed earlier, in recent years more institutions have begun to prioritize diversity, due to growing collective pressures that heavily emphasize diversity.

We are encouraged that the female representation on both non-executive and executive boards of listed Swedish companies increased slightly this year. The representation of females in leadership is increasing as stakeholders and shareholders demand a greater degree of commitment to progress on gender equality in firms.

A recent study of the Female Representation Index for 2021 by the national pensions buffer fund AP2 showed that the proportion of female board members in companies listed on Nasdaq Stockholm is increasing again and now amounts from 33.7% to 34.5%.

Not only that, the proportion of women in listed companies' management groups has increased, from 24.3 to 26.0 percent, which is the largest measured in percentage points since the surveys began in 2002.

This shows that Swedish owners and companies are good at working with the issue of a more even gender distribution. They deserve credit for taking important initiatives toward preventing gender imparity that is now paying off. Today, women are enjoying longer, more satisfying, and more leadership roles. However, there's a lot more work needs to be done to get more than just incremental growth within the next decade.

Having a larger number of women in the C-suite creates a positive, or threefold, effect on the number of women in senior leadership.

According to MERIT500's recent report, diverse companies and teams are more productive and on average 30% more likely to outperform on profitability.

Conclusion

Gender Balance is important to capture the skills, ideas, and perspectives that each gender has to offer. Nowadays, people want to deal with those companies that prioritize diversity and inclusion. And for that, it is important to take steps towards promoting gender equality in Board and Management. MERIT500 has the most developed Gender Balance algorithm, using a unique seven-level gender index scale. The Advanced database of MERIT500 provides rich and valuable untapped information, especially about women which helps you in promoting Gender Balance in your company.