Northern European leaders discuss role of women and the elderly

Feb 9, 2012, 18:04 GMT

Stockholm - Nine prime ministers from northern Europe, among them Britain's David Cameron, held informal talks in Stockholm on Thursday on how to increase the number of women entrepreneurs and on how to keep senior citizens in the labour force.

'We can't afford not to focus on this resource,' Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said.

Extending citizen's working life and increasing the size of the labour force is seen as necessary in societies with ageing populations, which put a strain on the welfare system.

More women in top management meant companies took less risks and there were 'less problems with corruption,' said Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, who hosted the Northern Future Forum.

Reinfeldt and the leaders of Britain, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania and Norway earlier took part in round-table discussions with academics and business leaders.

Among the topics discussed were improving childcare, tax benefits for household services and increasing the number of women in boardrooms.

To raise the number of women in boardrooms, Norway legislated a quota system for big companies that took effect in 2008, stating that 40 per cent of the boardrooms of big companies should be women. In 2003, when the bill was first adopted, the proportion stood at less than 10 per cent.

In Sweden - which does not have a mandatory system - women have a quarter of the boardroom seats, compared to 15 per cent in Britain.

Iceland plans to introduce a similar quota system to Norway's later this year, said Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir, who noted her cabinet had more women than men.

Cameron said he 'didn't favour quotas' and preferred good examples instead.

On the issue of extending working life, the prime ministers underlined the need for flexible pension and labour rules.

Sigurdardottir, who turns 70 this year, quipped that she planned to emulate her grandmother, who was active in politics until the age of 100.

Iceland's legal retirement age is 67, the highest among the nine countries represented at the meeting.

Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen said there was a need to tackle perceptions of senior citizens in the work force, saying societies are 'not healthy if we don't respect experience.'