Business benefits through gender equality

Womentor is a tool to support companies in the techsector who want to work systematically to increase the proportion of women in management positions. The programme consists of two parts: firstly, nominating a woman in a management position to take on the role of mentee in the Womentor programme, for a period of one year. What separates Womentor from other mentorship and leadership programmes is that it is not exclusively aimed at specific individuals but instead requires that the company as a whole signs up to actively participate in the process of change. Ultimately it is about increasing the capacity of both the company and the industry as a whole to attract and retain the best talent – men as well as women. The fact that Womentor demands the engagement of company management is an important factor in achieving a successful result.

The challenges facing us with regard to the low proportion of women in the tech sector are many; partly they lie in that far too few women and girls apply for IT-related educational courses, partly in that the career and development opportunities in large parts of the sector are still not designed in a way that promotes women to the same degree as men. Womentor is one of many initiatives from Swedish Tech Industries aimed at finding a long-term remedy to the imbalance within the industry.

The companies participating in Womentor shall:

• Take an active position to engage in a process of change and at the same time to inspire others within the industry to do the same.
• Set measurable and tangible targets for achieving an increase in the proportion of female leaders in their own company. These targets must focus on women as a skills-resource and talent supply for management positions and be monitored and reported annually.
• Invite their CEO, HR and Communications Managers and other key personnel to participate in introduction days and workshops aimed at highlighting and sharing methods and tools for increasing equality and diversity.
• Appoint a person from their management group to the role of Diversity Manager, tasked with participating in workshops and developing long and short-term goals, metrics and monitoring methods and recruitment, training and development strategies linked to diversity on behalf of the company.
• Communicate actively, both to their employees and the world at large, their participation in Womentor and the importance of focusing on equality and diversity issues.
• Appoint a successful female employee, who occupies a leadership role and who possesses the potential for continued development as a manager, as mentee in the mentor program.
• Offer the names of two mentor candidates who may be appointed as mentors in the program based on a suitable match with the appointed mentees.

Why Womentor?

• By focusing on increased equality and diversity, Womentor makes the company more competitive.
• The company’s future supply of management talent is ensured by making competent women visible and providing them with professional and personal development.
• Companies with a genuine interest and engagement in promoting more women to leading management positions will benefit from the publicity of having contributed to positive change.
• Womentor helps the company to transform its own ambitions into tangible goals and activities, providing tools for implementing change and inspiration from initiatives effected by other companies.