Women reach Sweden’s boardrooms, but men keep the top jobs

The route narrows long before the final appointment. Women’s gains in Swedish management have come mainly through staff functions, while the operational jobs that feed the chief-executive pipeline remain overwhelmingly male.

Allbright’s 2025 comparison puts women at 31 percent of Swedish listed-company management teams. At the two posts with the greatest formal control, representation falls sharply: women hold 11 percent of chief-executive jobs and 10 percent of chair positions.

Allbright’s 2024 review found that women’s gains in management came mainly through staff functions. Their share of line roles such as chief executive, business-area head and chief operating officer remained at 17 percent for a fourth year.

Those roles matter because they carry responsibility for budgets, products and results, the experience boards often demand when choosing the next chief executive. Allbright says a business-area-head role can give candidates an advantage on the route to chief executive. A company can therefore add women to its board and management team while keeping the succession pool for its most powerful job largely male.

The reports count appointments; they do not prove discrimination in any individual selection. They do show where progress has stalled. Allbright calls for time-bound equality goals, transparent recruitment and explicit succession planning.

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