European Parliament

• Big corporations such as North Face, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Target and Kohl’s have all recently ran inclusive ad campaigns featuring Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI+) people.
• This makes sense from a business perspective, with “pink money” weighing 3.5 trillion euros globally and around 874 billion euros in the EU.
• And I can testify that diverse corporate boards are a long shot from becoming reality.
• This comes as a particular surprise given the European Commission’s recent pledges to boost opportunities for the community.

The case for diversity

• And yet, the case for board diversity is stark.
• What’s more, a truly diverse board could boost companies’ ratings in environmental, social and governance (ESG) and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
• For example, this could mean advocating for queer rights in some of the near 70 countries that continue to criminalize same-sex relationships.

Step forward

• For DEI initiatives to reach a successful outcome, there must first and foremost be reliable demographic data.
• Due to historic discrimination against LGBTQI+ people, there has long been a justifiable reluctance to self-identify.
• The findings showed that when companies are not inclusive, LGBTQI+ employees are willing to leave for those that are.
• The organization encourages out LGBTQI+ corporate directors to self-identify, be counted, and mentor qualified candidates for board seats.

Leveraging gender policies to appoint more LGBTQ+ women at the top

• After the share of CEOs in the Fortune 500 dropped by 25% in 2018, a host of European countries, including Norway, Germany, Finland, France and Spain, introduced gender quotas in 2022.
• As companies look to comply with this law, there is an opportunity to appoint women who identify as LGBTQI+.

• It is becoming increasingly evident that life in modern politics is presenting women with a stark choice – endure almost constant online threats and abuse or get out of public life.
• But the social media era has normalised ever more aggressive forms of abuse.
• The abuse against Ardern has been so intense that even in retirement she’s expected to have extra police protection.
• The Economist Intelligence Unit has reported that more than one in three women have experienced online violence.

Driving women out

• A global survey by Washington-based non-profit National Democratic Institute found that more than half of young women who posted political opinions online were attacked for their views.
• This amounts to compelling evidence that the problem runs deep, illustrating that people attempting to undermine a government have recognised attacking women as a winning strategy.
• The examples highlighted in the report don’t merely revolve around hatred towards these women.
• After years of progress on increasing female participation in political life, democracies around the world are now in real danger of regressing if women are driven out of politics.

We know the problem, we know the solutions

• Laws already exist that are supposed to protect women from this kind of abuse but they are not being vigorously enforced.
• It’s also time to rein in the tech platforms and hold them legally accountable for the toxic content they host, pushed out by their algorithms.
• And if the issue isn’t addressed, it could lead to dire consequences for democracy as women retreat from positions of power.

• The repurchase of own shares is executed in public trading in accordance with Regulation No.
• 596/2014 of the European Parliament and Council of 16 April 2014 (MAR) and the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052.
• After the disclosed transactions, Nordea holds 1,899,245 treasury shares for capital optimisation purposes and 4,787,315 treasury shares for remuneration purposes.
• On behalf of Nordea Bank Abp,
  This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange.

• The repurchase of own shares is executed in public trading in accordance with Regulation No.
• 596/2014 of the European Parliament and Council of 16 April 2014 (MAR) and the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052.
• After the disclosed transactions, Nordea holds 2,292,844 treasury shares for capital optimisation purposes and 4,787,315 treasury shares for remuneration purposes.
• On behalf of Nordea Bank Abp,
  This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange.