ABGSC Women in Finance Foundation to fund gender equality research

Above: Jan Petter Collier (ABGSC Partner and ABGSC Women in Finance Foundation Board Member), Sigtona Halrynjo (PhD Sociology and Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Social Research), Jan Erik Saugestad (Executive Vice President, Storebrand Asset Management) and Marianne Daae (Managing Director, ABGSC Women in Finance Foundation).

“Changing Gender (in)equality in Finance: Challenges and possibilities within the Nordic work-family model”, a research project to be produced by the Centre for Research on Gender Equality (“CORE”) at the Institute for Social Research in Oslo, launched on 11 September at an event in ABGSC’s offices, gathering around 45 leaders and stakeholders within the finance industry.
The new research, which the ABGSC Women in Finance Foundation is proud to sponsor, will seek to provide insight into the barriers affecting gender equality in the finance industry in the Nordics, with a comparative look at the challenges documented on Wall Street (New York) and in The City (London). The research will run from 2024 to 2025. This will be the second time that the Foundation has supported a CORE research project, having previously supported research into the issue of gender equality in the Norwegian finance industry in 2022.
During the kick-off seminar yesterday, Kristian B. Fyksen, Head of Investment Banking and CEO of ABGSC Norway, held the opening speech, Adele Norman Pran, Chair of the ABGSC Women in Finance Foundation, gave an introduction to the Foundation’s work and the background for the research project, and CORE’s Sigtona Halrynjo presented a more detailed presentation of the research. Attendees at the event included a wide range of stakeholders, including top management and HR-representatives from asset management, investment banking and bank/insurance firms, along with representatives of relevant trade unions, universities and students, recruitment agencies, and industry groups such as Kvinner i Frontfinans (KIFF) and Kvinner i Finance Charter.

Above left: Turid Solvang (Founder & CEO, FutureBoards) and Kristian B. Fyksen (ABGSC’s Head of Investment Banking and CEO, ABGSC Norway). Above right: Adele Norman Pran (ABGSC Women in Finance Foundation Board Member/Chair), Karen Spens (President, BI Norwegian Business School) and Jan Petter Collier.

The Foundation’s Marianne Daae commented that: “We believe the report’s findings will contribute to a better understanding of the possible initiatives that could increase female participation in the financial sector. Equally importantly, we believe it will be crucial to make the research available and well-known to decision makers in the finance industry, so that they can act on it. It was encouraging to see the enthusiasm from all corners of the finance industry which were represented at the launch seminar this week. We look forward to following this research project over the coming year, and we hope it can be instrumental in furthering the work of promoting gender equality in the Scandinavian financial industry”.

Above left: Therese Høyer Grimstad (“Direktør Arbeidsliv”, Finans Norge), Turid Solvang, Brita Alsos (HR Director, Norges Bank Investment Management) and Eirin Mårvik (ABGSC Investment Banking Partner and ABGSC Women in Finance Foundation Board Member) . Above right: Karin Thorburn (Research Chair Professor of Finance, NHH Norwegian School of Economics) and Sindre Støer (Managing Director, Verdipapirforetakenes Forbund).

CORE’s representative Sigtona Halrynjo, who along with Runa Brandal Myklebust will be responsible for conducting the research, commented that: “This research project will provide new analyses of the specific challenges and possibilities for gender equality in the finance industry, focusing particularly on the challenges related to time and availability and the difference between “committed time” and “time as investment”. The project will draw on Claudia Goldin’s (Economist and Nobel Prize winner) concept of Last chapter of gender equality, namely Career and Family and lack of family-friendly flexibility in time-consuming work. Research, conceptualisations, and solutions for challenges in business life are often imported from countries like US and UK. However, to understand the dynamics of changing gender (in)equality there is a risk that copying measures from US and UK may give answers to yesterday’s challenges in the Nordic countries, as the UK and US lag behind in gender equality, while the Nordic countries constitute the global forefront with the most gender equal attitudes, policies and practices in the world. Yet, even in the Nordics, there are gender equality challenges in the labour market, and especially in the finance industry, with particularly strong challenges within front-office finance. While other countries mainly experience lack of family friendly flexibility and substitutability, we have the chance to explore how family-friendly flexibility and substitutability in terms of for instance parental leave is actually used – or not used – among women and men, and examine how different practices are linked to gender equality or inequality in time, responsibility and rewards at work.”

Above: Eirin Mårvik, Madeleine Bjørnestad Røed (CEO & Co-founder, Stackx.me) and Sigtona Halrynjo.

About CORE
CORE – Centre for Research on Gender Equality conducts research on gender equality, with particular emphasis on gender equality challenges in working life.
CORE will contribute with high-quality and relevant social science research on gender equality challenges, further develop methods and models for knowledge and network building and research dissemination, with the ambition of promoting research on gender equality in Norway. CORE Norwegian Gender Balance Scorecard is conducted every second year.
It is part of the Institute for Social Research and draws on ISF’s long experience in research on gender equality and working life. The centre is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Equality.
Read more about CORE here: link