It is vital to get all talents in play – both women and men. It contributes to better results, creates a flexible labor market and ensures that companies employ the best qualified for the job. The #leadthefuture campaign has been running for three years, and focuses on female role models who, through their personal stories, can inspire young women to see the ways a STEM degree – science, economics, technology or mathematics – can equip them to ‘lead the future’, and have real impact.
These stories and insights are shared with young women at events at selected educational institutions and on social media, where the young women can learn more about the role models and their companies.
Learn more about the campaign, events and role models on the Lead the Future website
Denmark has some of the world’s most well-educated women and one of the highest percentages of women working, but there is still a significant imbalance when it comes to the number of female executives, and it’s only slowly improving.
There are several reasons why the proportion of female leaders is low. The gender-split in terms of university degrees and labor market is a significant part of the explanation. A recent Danish survey shows that 60% of managers have higher educations within the areas of economy, business and engineering. Yet, only about 30% of the students on these courses are currently women. Therefore, it is necessary to start initiatives early so that ambitious and talented young women choose educational programs, and an employment path, that can empower them for leadership.
As such, this joint role model campaign has been launched to inspire young women to strive to become leaders, by selecting relevant degrees and career paths. It is about strengthening the future pipeline of female talents and leaders at an early stage.
For this year’s International Women’s Day, Lead the Future worked with Maersk to create this film with young Danish school kids, highlighting the need to ‘redraw the balance’, breakdown stereotypes associated with different careers and promote more female role models.
