Increasing diversity in the workplace also means increasing the number of women in the boardroom and management positions. So is Norway's drive to get significantly more women into the boardroom by 2005 an example for the rest of Europe to follow?

Across the continent women account for 8 percent of boardroom posts

When the initiative was first announced in 2002, the government agreed to give companies a few years to increase the number of women sitting on boards of directors from 6 to 40 percent. If the goal is not met by August 2005, a quota system will be introduced.

"We are against the law but we are definitely for having more women in the boardroom," said Sigrun Vaageng, executive director of labour and social affairs for the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO), the primary organisation for the nation's employers.

To avoid a quota system, the NHO launched Female Future, a programme aimed at developing women employees of joint stock companies for senior management and boardroom positions. By signing on to the programme, companies agree to search within their firm for high potential women, a process referred to by the NHO as "pearl diving".

Companies put forward three women to participate in a semester-long training programme, where they will learn about the intricacies of being a board member, from corporate governance to ethics to handling crisis. Participants are given an opportunity to specialise in areas such as economics. And there is also an emphasis on networking during course sessions and other meetings.

Upon completing the programme, graduates are entered into a national database which can be used by companies looking for new board members.

The key objective of the programme, said Vaageng, is to increase the variety of the workforce by increasing the number of women in the boardroom and management positions.

"There is no quick way to have women go from higher education to the boardroom," she said.

Though there are more women than men in higher education in Norway, women make up only 20 percent of the total private sector workforce. Within private companies, women account for 12-15 percent of managerial positions.

Despite such a small pool, Vaageng said the corporate interest for Female Future has been "overwhelming." Of Norway's 85 largest companies, 50 are participating. And this autumn, Female Future begins its fourth semester-long programme with 50 participants.

Among those firms participating is Telenor, Norway's largest telecommunications provider. It signed on to the Female Future programme in January and had no problem finding three women who were interested.

"We started to ask and the women said, 'Yes, yes please!'" said Beth Tungland, Telenor's director of corporate social responsibility.

Ellen-Katrine Thrap-Meyer, Telenor's compliance officer and deputy general counsel, was among those who welcomed the opportunity.

"It's high time we did something like this in Norway," she said.

Despite her advanced education and senior position within the company, Thrap-Meyer said it was important to learn how to carry out the work of a board member as well as have a chance to network with female peers.

The programme "was really broad but at the same time deep enough so that you could see the whole picture," Thrap-Meyer said. "All of the women gained something more than they could do if they would have just taken an ordinary course. They really gave us the feeling that they wanted to invest in us."

Immediately after completing the semester programme, Thrap-Meyer was offered a board position by Norwegian Film Production AS, a company owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Cultural Affairs. Thrap-Meyer believes she would have been given and accepted the offer even if she hadn't participated in Female Future. However, she said, the programme "helped me to accept [the position] because now I know so much more."

"I'm not afraid," she said. "I know I can do it. I know I can do a good job. And lucky you chose me."

Though Telenor surpasses national averages in terms of the number of women in board positions, some at the company say there is still more work to be done to advance women within the traditionally male-dominated industry.

"We have a long way to go," said Tungland. "In managers and leaders inside the organisation, we need more diversity… not just gender, but ethnicity and age."

The steps Norwegian companies such as Telenor are taking appear to moving in the right direction. By July of this year, women in Norway accounted for 20 percent of the boardroom, said Vaageng.

The pan-European picture is less encouraging. Across the continent women account for 8 percent of boardroom posts, according to a survey of 200 companies commissioned by the European Professional Women's Network.

Nordic countries such as Norway and Sweden have the highest numbers of women in the boardroom while Italy – with 2 percent – ranks the lowest.

Despite Norway's leap from just a few years ago, the number of women in the boardroom will have to double within the next year to avoid a quota system being introduced by the government. 

"Instead of talking about gender equality, we're talking about mobilising talent," Vaageng said. "And that's different."

Visit http://www.eiro.eurofound.eu.int/2006/02/feature/no0602102f.html for updates on the Norwegian Women on Boards initiative.

October 2004

Jennifer Hamm is a freelance journalist based in the Netherlands.