Progress toward gender equality in Nordic media companies has stalled. This is shown by a mapping conducted by Nordicom, which examined gender equality in the 25 largest media companies in the Nordic region. Compared with a corresponding study from 2023, no clear changes can be seen, either in the gender composition of company boards or in management teams.
“It's noteworthy and shows that gender equality is not an issue that resolves itself, but one that requires continued active governance and accountability”, says Ulrika Facht, media analyst at Nordicom and author of the mapping.
Gender equality does not reach executive level
A key finding of the study is that gender equality often stops at the boardroom level. Of the 25 companies, 17 had gender-balanced boards according to the 40/60 principle, and the average share of women on boards was 39 per cent. At the same time, only nine of the companies were led by a female CEO, and only seven had gender-balanced management teams.
“In several cases, the owners of the media company have taken a step toward greater gender equality in the appointment of boards, but it is clear that this does not automatically lead to change in operational management”, explains Facht.
The gender of the CEO also has a significant impact on how gender-balanced the executive management team is. When the CEO is a woman, the likelihood of a gender-balanced management team increases. When the CEO is a man, the management team lacks gender-balanced representation in 14 out of 16 cases.
“The relationship is clear and consistent over time. CEO recruitment emerges as a decisive factor for gender equality higher up in the organisation”, asserts Facht.
Read more
The mapping is presented in full in the factsheet “Gender balance and the 25 largest Nordic media companies”, compiled by Ulrika Facht and published by Nordicom, the Nordic centre for media research at the University of Gothenburg.
Contact
- Ulrika Facht, media analyst at Nordicom, phone: +46 31 786 13 06, e-mail: ulrika.facht@nordicom.gu.se
More key findings from the study
- Counting all board members, the Nordic region’s 25 largest media companies have gender balance (39/61). Nine of the companies had a woman CEO.
- Counted at company level, 17 companies have a gender-balanced board, and eight do not.
- Boards with balanced gender representation appointed a woman as CEO to a significantly greater extent than unbalanced boards, while they also appointed men as CEO.
- Companies with a majority of men as board members appointed a woman as CEO to a much lower degree, appointing mostly men.
- If the CEO was a woman, the probability was much higher that the company’s management team was gender balanced. If the CEO was a man, the management team did not have gender balance in 14 out of 16 cases.
- Many of the companies had a management team that was not gender balanced; 16 companies’ management teams consisted of more than 60 per cent men, while only two had more than 60 per cent women.
- In this study, no improvements regarding gender balance in company boards nor in top management teams were noticed compared with the study in 2023.