In Sweden, as in many other countries, most managers are men. In 1993 the Swedish government commissioned an inquiry[1]in order to find out to what extent men dominated management positions in Swedish business life at the time. The study also focused on measures taken in order to increase the proportion of women at the top. The empirical material consisted of an extensive survey among organizations and interviews with people that worked with the issue of increasing women at executive levels (in the study referred to as change agents) (Höök 1995, Wahl 1995). Descriptions given by these agents supplemented the statistics from the survey and enhanced the picture of the work for change, which despite, or because of, men’s dominance at management level, still went on in many organizations. Nine years later a follow up inquiry[2]was commissioned in order to once again measure the distribution of women and men at different organizational levels and the existence of work for change (see Regnö 2003a, 2003b). Once again, the change agents were interviewed (see Höök & Wahl 2003) in order to receive up-to-date descriptions of the work for change carried out by them, and their reflections on how the work has developed since the previous inquiry was carried through. In both government inquiries, the empirical findings were interpreted and discussed in relation to existing research on organization and gender.
[1]SOU 1994:3 “Mäns föreställningar om kvinnor och chefskap” (published in English with the title “Men’s perceptions of women and management” (Wahl 1995)) included contributions by Anna Wahl and Pia Höök.
[2]SOU 2003:16 “Mansdominans i förändring” (Male dominance in transition)