Board and management in limited companies, 1 January 2015

Private limited companies with only men on their boards make up 72 per cent of the companies. Eight out of ten boards with one or two representatives consist of men only. The more representatives there are on a board, the higher the share of enterprises that have both men and women on their boards.

More women with higher education

In public limited companies, 73 per cent of the women on the boards have a university or university college education. The corresponding figure for men is 65 per cent. In private limited companies, the share of men with a degree from a university or university college is 44 per cent. The corresponding figure for women is 51 per cent; 22 percentage points lower than in public limited companies.

Twenty-one per cent of the women on the boards of public limited companies are younger than 45, compared with twelve per cent for men. The number of young female members of the boards of public limited companies is therefore greater than the number of young male members. Also, while men aged 67 and older contributed 16 per cent to the corporate boards, women in the same age-group contributed 2 per cent. The age differences between males and females on the boards of private limited companies are similar to what is found on the boards of public limited companies, but the differences are smaller there.

Most representatives on one board

Two out of three board representatives have one board seat, whereas one out of four have two or three. Ninety-six per cent of the women and 88 per cent of the men have up to three board seats. A total of 970 men are representatives on more than 20 boards, which equates to 0.5 per cent of all male board representatives.