Gender equality research funded by the ABG Sundal Collier Women in Finance Foundation released at event in Oslo

Above, from left: CORE researchers Runa Brandal Myklebust and Sigtona Halrynjo, Foundation Board Member and Chair of the ABGSC Board Knut Brundtland and Foundation Managing Director Marianne Daae.

On 16 December, a group of leaders and stakeholders from the finance industry gathered at ABG Sundal Collier’s Oslo office to mark the publication of new research that aimed to provide insight into the barriers affecting gender equality in the finance industry in the Nordics. The research report, produced by the Centre for Research on Gender Equality (“CORE”) at the Institute for Social Research in Oslo, was titled “Availability and substitutability in finance: Gender equality challenges when the dynamics of the global financial market meet the Norwegian work-family model”.
The new research, which the ABGSC Women in Finance Foundation sponsored, took a comparative look at the challenges documented on Wall Street (New York) and in The City (London) versus those in the Nordic countries. The researchers aimed to examine the paradox of a finance industry in Norway that is gender balanced overall, but in which women are still under-represented in client-driven “front-office” roles, despite increasing awareness of the gender imbalance and recent initiatives to recruit more women into these roles.
During the event, Knut Brundtland, ABGSC Women in Finance Foundation board member, delivered the opening speech, welcoming the researchers from CORE and the attendants from all corners of the finance industry. The Foundation’s Chair, Adele Norman Pran, introduced the Foundation’s work and the background for the research project by highlighting its importance in relation to the Foundation’s goal to increase female participation in the financial sector. CORE’s Sigtona Halrynjo, co-author of the report (along with Runa Brandal Myklebust) then presented a detailed summary of the research. She explained how their analysis shows that the gender imbalance in “front-office” roles is perpetuated due to how such roles are incentivized: individuals are motivated to work long hours, be maximally available, and deliver work as expediently as possible in order to compete for new business, bonuses and advancement. In this context, time and availability become commodities. But for women, whose availability and flexibility are often disproportionately impacted by the demands of family life, this dynamic limits their ability to compete. The researchers therefore concluded that structural change is needed to allow individuals to better balance the demands of family life alongside those of front-office finance roles, which would have the effect of benefiting men, as well as women.

Above, from left: The Foundation’s Marianne Daae (left) congratulates CORE researchers Sigtona Halrynjo and Runa Brandal Myklebust; Knut Brundtland.

Event attendees included top management and HR-representatives from asset management, investment banking, private equity and venture capital, as well as bank/insurance firms, in addition to representatives of relevant trade unions, media, universities, recruitment agencies, and industry groups such as Kvinner i Frontfinans (KIFF), Kvinner i Finance Charter and Women Investor Network (WIN).
This is 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. The Foundation’s agreement with CORE is built on the principles of academic freedom, independent research and publication of findings.
The full report can be accessed here.

Above, clockwise from top left: Turid Solvang (Founder & CEO, FutureBoards, Co-Founder & CEO, Kvinner i Finans Charter); Kine Burøy Olsen (Partner and Owner, Levantor) with the Foundation’s Marianne Daae; Julie Ytreland (CEO, Nordea Finance Norway, head of Kvinner i Frontfinans) with Camilla Andersson (Cofounder & CEO, WIN Women Investor Network); Jan Petter Collier (ABGSC Board Member and Investment Banking Partner, Foundation Board Member) with Victor Smith Solvang (ABGSC Investment Banking) and Tuva Prestegaard (Summa Equity); Nadia Næss (CIO – Financial Investments, Torvald Klaveness) and Marianne Daae; Marianne Daae with Paal Sprakehaug (Diversity & Inclusion Expert, Nordea).

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 aims to produce high-quality and relevant social science research on gender equality challenges and 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 is part of the Institute for Social Research, which is organized as a foundation and has, since its establishment in 1950, played a vital role in the development of Norwegian social research. The institute has almost 60 permanent employees and its goal is to be a leading research community on the topics of society, politics and working life.
Read more about CORE here.