Individual Competence and Official Support: Women on Company Boards in Finland

Abstract

Women’s position on the boards of listed companies is a tricky issue in Finland. The situation of women is silenced, undermined and promoted at the same time.Three anecdotes illustrate this. The recently retired manager in banking and a member of the board of two listed companies, Eira Palin-Lehtinen, reflected on the situation of women on boards in Finland in her 60-year birthday interview in the country’s leading newspaper.Over ten years ago she had forecast that women would enter the managerial positions of listed companies in great numbers, particularly in banks. Now she says she was wrong, and that this is ‘absolutely a disappointment’.