Hi(a) Jonas Wiström CEO at ÅF,
It's great that you personally, and ÅF, go out via DI Debatt and sign that gender equality is not a women's issue but an issue that affects us all!
The fact that you as a business leader emphasize this, and now address the men in your own organization (76% of employees!) to actively contribute to remaining an attractive employer that attracts the best skills, both men and women, is of course an important mark with great potential to achieve real impact.
Very good that you also conclude by not being satisfied with your own organization but turning to all men in the industry with the question: how can you contribute to the solution?
Because in many cases, this is precisely where the proverbial shoe pinches. It is not mainly the insight that gender equality is better for business that is missing, but knowledge of what can actually be done to succeed in becoming an equal organization and industry with the ability to attract all the best talent. Talking and thinking is easy, actively achieving requires more.
Fortunately, not least for you men who have now been asked what you can do, the subject is not as shrouded in mystery as it sometimes seems. Telling them that you have started to learn from some of the knowledge and experience that already exists can be a good enough answer. If you want to go a step further, tools for working systematically to increase the proportion of female managers are also available.
One of them is Womentor, a year-long mentoring and leadership program that differs crucially from others by targeting not just individuals, but the entire company that is actively engaged in change. The IT and telecom companies that participate, 26 of them this year, appoint a female employee in a managerial position as a mentee for the mentoring program and at the same time set measurable and concrete goals for how the company will achieve an increased proportion of female leaders. The fact that it is the company's CEO who signs the participation agreement and agrees to attend (as a minimum) the workshop for business leaders organized during the year, is perhaps the most crucial for the program to produce results.
Several of the companies that have actively and committedly participated in Womentor now have a higher proportion of women in senior positions than the industry average and are climbing in rankings of the type "most attractive employer" among both women and men. What do you say Jonas, does it sound tailor-made for your challenges? ÅF applying to be part of Womentor 2017 would be a perfect answer to the question of how you can contribute, with more than encouraging (albeit important) words?
Apply by October 28 at the latest!
(If your name is not Jonas Wiström and you are the CEO of ÅF, but you think Womentor sounds like an interesting tool for your company, you are of course also very welcome to join. All facts and registration can be found here!)