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5 Mar 2020 – Articles

Women’s International Day: We celebrate our female leaders


On Sunday 8 March, people all over the world are focusing on women's position in the world through The International Women's Day. At Danske Bank, we mark the day by putting the spotlight on some of our female leaders.

At Danske Bank, we mark The International Women's Day because we believe that gender diversity can drive other types of diversity, and that diversity is a strength and a prerequisite for offering the best customer experiences and results.

With more than 20,000 employees, just under 3 million customers and a presence in 13 countries, diversity in backgrounds, languages, gender, ethnicity, religion and perspectives is already a large part of our everyday lives.


Meet some of our female leaders and hear their view on diversity


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How we will reach our target
We have set the target that the share of female leaders shall increase from 23 % today to 35% in 2023 – equivalent to 50% more female leaders. Berit Behring, Head of Wealth Management and member of the Executive Leadership Team with responsibility for Societal Impact and Sustainability explains: 


To reach our target, we must work to integrate diversity and inclusion in everything we do as an organization and as individual leaders. We should also not underestimate the importance of role models, which consultancy firms Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey point to as a concrete measure that may help drive the change. We need to be better at showing the many female leaders we already have today and who can help inspire others.

Berit Behring

Head of Wealth Management and member of the Executive Leadership Team, Danske Bank



What about other types of diversity?
In recent years, we have focused on more women in management. Not because gender is the only important thing when we talk diversity:

“When we talk about accelerating on the broad agenda for diversity and inclusion, it is about creating an inclusive culture in which everyone is welcome and able to succeed, regardless of gender, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity or disability. An inclusive and diverse workplace creates happier employees and better results, so it is an important part of our ambition to become a better bank,” says Berit Behring.

Examples of how we work with diversity and inclusion

  • Targeted recruitment so that there is always at least one female candidate in the final field of candidates for management positions as well as in the hiring committee.
  • Strengthening our talent pipeline and making it more diverse, e.g. through mentoring and by being better at seeing different qualities.   
  • Working on our culture and competencies within diversity and inclusion by arranging events and making knowledge available. 
  • Supporting initiatives such as Copenhagen Pride and internal networks, e.g. the employee driven network, Rainbow Network.

In our Sustainability report we include an annual assessment of our work with diversity and inclusion.

Download report