Finnish pension company Varma has conducted a review of gender equality on the boards of the listed companies in which it invests.

The share of women on the boards, weighted by the value of investments, was around 36 per cent.

For Finnish listed companies that Varma is invested in, approximately 40 per cent of people on boards were women.

Around 1 per cent of the listed companies examined had boards of only one gender.

Under the EU directive (2022/2381), large listed companies are required to have the underrepresented gender on boards to be at least 40 per cent by 2026.

The same requirement for equal representation is also included in the Corporate Governance Code of the Securities Market Association.

While the share of underrepresented genders in board positions was close to the requirement, equal representation was still not achieved in more than half of the Finnish listed companies Varma invests in.

Fewer than half (49 per cent) had a board composition that was in line with the EU directive.

Furthermore, women were still significantly underrepresented as chairs of boards, with only around one in 10 of the Finnish companies examined having a female board chair.

Across the entire dataset, one in four companies had female representation below 30 per cent.

Gender equality across regions varied, with European companies having a higher proportion of women on boards compared to other regions.

The 2026 report assessed 680 listed companied Varma is invested in, of which 108 were Finnish, with the proportion of women on boards remaining fairly stable year-on-year.

“When the board has diverse expertise, experience and different problem-solving styles, decision-making is not limited to a single type of thinking,” commented Varma director of sustainability, Hanna Kaskela.

“A diverse board is better able to seize new opportunities, assess changes in the operating environment and identify risks. It also supports the company's ability to renew itself.”

---