Crown Princess Mary gave the opening speech at this week’s Womenomics Nordic Business Conference, which aims to discuss and debate women’s impact on the global economy.
“For many years, the Nordic countries have fought for gender equality around the world, which makes me, and I’m sure many of you, proud,” Crown Princess Mary said.
“And when I speak about gender equality to different audiences, I often refer to Denmark as an example of a country that has gender equality and continues to work for greater gender equality globally. And as a society, it is anchored for its progress and its role model status.
“Even though we see ourselves as a progressive country in this agenda, our global position no longer reflects how we see ourselves. According to the World Economic Forum’s latest Gender gap report, Denmark has fallen from a position of 14 last year to 29 this year.”
Crown Princess Mary added that companies must work to change themselves so that they can advance gender equality, and touched upon the ways the coronavirus pandemic has affected gender equality in business, noting that more women are balancing homeschooling duties along with their work than their male equivalents, or that their jobs are being downsized more than men’s.
She said that this past year has stressed the importance of discussing diversity, inclusion and equity in the business community among its leaders.
The Nordic Business Conference counted over 500 business leaders, experts and politicians in attendance this week, all of whom gathered to “debate the latest reports and solutions in the field of gender equality and share concrete cases from the business community,” per the Royal House.
Crown Princess Mary was previously honoured by the conference in 2017, receiving the Womenomics Global Impact Award for “her work to help women improve their conditions and utilize their full potential in Denmark and abroad.”
Crown Princess Mary’s full speech can be viewed here.
