The same statistics beat us, this year as last year. As much as 99 percent of all venture capital is invested in male entrepreneurs. 83 percent of day-to-day managers in Norwegian limited companies are men. Men own 79.1 percent of the private share values on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The CORE Top Leader Barometer shows that at the top of Norwegian business, only 15.5 per cent of managing directors are women. In one of the world’s most equal countries, women still lag behind men in pay, management and ownership.
Development is so slow in this area that it is like watching paint dry. Or not really. Paint that dries is much faster than that!
There are several reasons why this is so, but unfortunately there are more and more reasons why it may remain so. You almost have to have inherited a fortune or be rich from before, in order to run a business going forward.
With both increased wealth tax and increased dividend tax, it will be more difficult to be an entrepreneur in Norway. As you know, wealth tax must be paid on the assets of the company, regardless of whether you make a profit or not. Despite the fact that the left almost makes it a problem that people are rich in Norway, unfortunately there are not that many people who have so much money in their account that they can pay the tax bill without further ado when it comes. If they have to take out dividends, draining the company of money, to pay the tax bill, the company has less equity left to invest in new technology or new employees.
When it has traditionally been men who sit on capital, often because of historical biases that have prevented women from receiving inheritance or from working, then these biases are propagated for generations. This despite the fact that women now make up the majority at higher studies and perform as well or better than boys. So much better, in fact, that now it has become a problem for the boys to drop out. When the girls performed worse at school, it was dismissed as simply not smart enough.
In one place we are overrepresented, namely in health and care.
A little digression. Until 1959, girls were given fewer lessons in Norwegian and maths at school so that there would be room for housekeeping in the timetable, but they were still exposed to the same tests. When they performed worse, it added water to the mill that women were not suitable for theoretical subjects. They were expected to perform better despite less instruction. Imagine that!
Women are underrepresented in the studies of the STEM subjects (abbreviation for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), which may explain why we are also underrepresented among technology entrepreneurs, the branch where the great opportunities and great fortunes are created today. But in one place we are overrepresented, namely in health and care.
With the imminent wave of elderly people, this should also provide great opportunities, because the needs in health and care are only going to increase, while at the same time there will be fewer of us of working age who participate in working life and can staff to meet the need. Because we get fewer warm hands, we need more wise minds to solve these challenges. And we like to build on what we already know. Thus, we should have a flood of female entrepreneurs ready to think new things in all parts of the care sector. It was noticeable that there were far more often female managers and board members when private kindergartens emerged in the 2000s. Through consolidations and acquisitions, many of these kindergartens are today in larger chains where they benefit from the advantage of having capital behind them, access to updated pedagogy and internal training that makes them less vulnerable. The women are still represented, but the founders are often bought out. Why don’t they reinvest the money in something new?
If they do, they often end up on the list of welfare profiteers. While men can sell their technology and services at a profit to the public sector without problems, the sector where women dominate with their knowledge and expertise is stigmatized and unwanted. Why sacrifice reputation and capital to deliver quality services to young and elderly people in need of care, when the risks you take and the work you do are so little appreciated?
The government is now investigating how they can get rid of private companies in health and care services, or at least ensure that they do not make a profit (and thus reduce their opportunity for innovation and new thinking). Women have less capital than men, but should not be allowed to withdraw dividends from the companies they found or work in. In addition, they are branded as welfare profiteers in the political debate.
The government will extend the requirement for women in listed companies to apply to ordinary limited companies. This despite the fact that the aim of having women on ASA boards was not to fill a statutory 40 percent quota, but that these should contribute to more female managers in the companies. The number has barely moved. So a policy that has not worked in the ASAs will now be extended to limited companies. In this way, we tie up talented women as board members, instead of pushing them up and in where they can influence organisation, management, recruitment and organizational culture – namely as managers of the companies.
Those who speak loudest about equality are pursuing counterproductive policies with completely wrong means. Had it not been for the fact that they simultaneously pursued a policy that scares the wealthy and heirs out of Norway, one would almost believe that it was only this group they wanted to see at the top in Norway. Because even if women are cheered on in the debate, they are not cheered on in their natural arenas or given the financial opportunity to be able to stand in ownership.
Do we really want women at the top?
(Voices is ABC Nyheter’s debate section. Here regular and occasional contributors write about current news topics. We also have a collaboration with the political online newspaper Altinget.no . If you are burning with an opinion or analysis, you can send the text to stemmer@abcnyheter.no, and we will consider it).
