USD 380 billion of Nordic pension fund capital is invested in companies without a single woman in leadership

This is one of the headline findings from our recent Nordic pension fund analysis, where we analyzed the 25 leading Nordic pension funds with a combined value of more than USD 3 trillion.

The report has already sparked significant media interest.

While the report covers a wide spectrum of human capital, some gender insights stand out:

Gender representation across board and executive

The analysis finds that, on average, 35.5% of board positions are held by women, for executive roles it is 25.5%.On average, women are 39.2% more represented among the board of directors than the executive management – a gap that, on average, is consistent across all portfolios.

Similar trends are found across FTSE100 companies.

Capital exposure to companies with no women in leadership

Across the Nordics, pension funds allocate an average of 10.8 percent of total capital to companies that have no women represented on the board of directors or in executive management. This corresponds to approximately USD 380 billion invested in companies with fully male leadership teams.

Country differences across the Nordic region

Exposure to companies without women in leadership varies between markets. Danish pension funds allocate the highest proportion of capital to such companies, averaging 12%. Finland pension funds has the lowest exposure across the Nordics at 7.1%.

Variation between best and worst performers

When examining best and worst performers, the analysis shows a large difference. Best performers, meaning pension funds that invest least in companies without women, allocate 7.5% of the capital among companies without women in the executive management, while worst performers allocate 12.5% – a difference of 66.7%.The figures indicate it is possible to limit the investments among companies with no women represented, as best performers have demonstrated.

Discover the full analysis here.

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These findings demonstrate how gender metrics can reveal structural patterns within investment portfolios.

To explore related human capital insights, visit Denominator Insights.

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