You have been General Manager of Advance for almost a decade. Can you describe its core mission in a few words?
Advance is committed to driving gender equality in business. We aim to achieve a sustainable minimum of 30% female representation at all management levels across our member companies by 2030. Why? Because we firmly believe that a gender-equal workplace is a win-win for everyone – individuals, businesses, our economy and society – especially in times of skills shortages. It has been proven that companies with diverse teams perform better, are more innovative and are likely to generate higher profits.
You once said: “The career game needs equal rules for men and women”. How exactly does Advance support its members in driving meaningful change to help them reach their diversity and inclusion goals?
We pursue our mission on four levels: We have a dedicated programme to empower female talents in member companies and help them thrive. We raise men’s awareness and educate managers to adopt an inclusive management style. With almost 150 member companies, we bring people from different environments together, offering them a change of perspective and platforms for cross-company dialogue. And finally, we strive to shape public opinion by providing facts and figures on diversity and inclusion in reports, whitepapers, national initiatives and campaigns.
The 2024 “Gender Intelligence Report” produced by Advance in collaboration with the Competence Center for Diversity & Inclusion at the University of St. Gallen turned the spotlight on the distribution of power within companies. It found that women are still often heavily underrepresented in top management. When it comes to breaking this glass ceiling, which industries are performing best and which have the most catching up to do?
The pharma and medtech industries already have 37% women in top management. That is an excellent result and shows that those sectors have solid talent management measures in place, allowing women to move up the career ladder. In banking and consulting, the glass ceiling is still very thick, with female representation in top management at only 18% and 17%, respectively. Those sectors clearly need to improve when it comes to using the potential of female talents. It is interesting to note that in all industries, the non-management level is gender equal but even at the lowest management level, the balance already swings in favour of men. Why are we losing so many talented women on the way to the top? This is the issue we need to solve.
In terms of fostering equal gender representation in business, do you think mandatory quotas for female Board representation are helpful – or do they lead to criticisms that women are being promoted for reasons other than merit?
Let’s not call them quotas, as this term is very polarising. I prefer “gender targets”. I am convinced that we need to have quantitative targets that are regularly monitored by managers, and they need to be held accountable for achieving them. Ideally, those targets should be linked to remuneration and bonus systems. It is a matter of countering blind spots and unconscious bias, which exist everywhere. I often hear people say: “We do not care if the candidate is a man or a woman; we just want the best person for the job.” Far too often, this “best person for the job” ends up being a man.
In Switzerland, people are often still guided by traditional role models, which dictate that women usually stay at home to raise children while men continue to work. As a result, the decision to start a family generally has a much more detrimental impact on the careers of female professionals. What do you see as the solution? And which countries are doing a better job in this respect and why?
Those role models are deeply embedded in our society. As is always the case with historically engrained stereotypes, there is not one single solution; we need multiple approaches. We certainly need more role models – fathers and mothers – who publicly commit to their role as employees and parents. On an individual level, partners should draw up a plan for the equal distribution of paid work and childcare, ideally before having children. Fathers should insist on taking their two weeks of parental leave and being involved in their kids' upbringing. This gives women a fair chance to pursue their careers without being labelled a “bad mother”. Interestingly, we don’t hear men being called a “bad father” simply because they want to go out and work.
On a societal level, we need structures that allow people to balance work and family life – be it day schools or other childcare solutions. Advance has dedicated two whitepapers to this subject in collaboration with McKinsey and Company. The first, “Kids or Career? Switzerland’s Unnecessary Dilemma”, explores what needs to be done to lift Switzerland’s female leadership ambition beyond career breaks and part-time work. The second, “It Does Take a Village”, analyses the structural frameworks that parenthood and childcare need in today’s world. Every discussion about childcare and work/life balance invariably points to Scandinavia, with its well-established childcare system and very high female participation in the workforce. And yes, sometimes I wish we were at the same advanced stage.
Let’s talk about the gender pay gap. In Switzerland, the right to equal pay for work of equal value has been enshrined in the Federal Constitution since 1981 and yet women still earn around 18% less than men*. In fact, the country has a higher gender pay gap than the EU average. Why is it lagging behind in establishing equal pay practices?
Legislation alone cannot resolve deep economic and social inequalities. For one thing, women are heavily overrepresented in low-paid professions, while men occupy the majority of higher-paid positions. Next, women more frequently take career breaks to care for their family, impacting their long-term earning potential and career progression. Part-time work is another driver of this imbalance: Swiss women are more likely to work part time, especially when they have children, which reduces overall earnings and limits career advancement. Finally, unconscious bias plays an important role, as hiring and promotion practices often subtly place women at a disadvantage, with gender stereotypes influencing leadership and compensation decisions. We published a whitepaper in collaboration with KPMG on this very subject entitled “The 1 Million Franc Gap” in which we highlight concrete solutions to close this gap.
Women face multiple challenges when seeking to accumulate wealth. Should financial institutions go further in delivering gender-specific solutions and advice to help women address the financial pressures they face?
Absolutely! And not only financial institutions but employers in general. We need to motivate women to take control of their finances. It is only by being financially independent that they can lead a self-determined life. Deciding to work shorter hours or stay at home to care for children has huge financial implications in the long term, with more than 67% of women being financially dependent when they reach retirement age. Financial literacy is one of the main topics on our agenda for 2025. We have produced a video explaining whether working part time or paying for childcare is better. There is also a roadmap for financial independence and an online tool “Cash or Crash” to calculate how certain decisions will affect your financial future. It is sobering to see the figures! So yes, we regard financial literacy as a very important step towards equality.
What was your greatest professional or personal achievement in the decade since taking over the reins of Advance?
One of my proudest moments was when I saw the huge exhibition “Equal?!” displayed for the first time in Zurich Main Station in 2023 to mark the 10th anniversary of Advance. It made me realise that with this exhibition, we had left the corporate world that we usually operate in and were addressing a much broader public. In fact, we were influencing Switzerland, creating awareness of the advantages of gender equality and aiming to change the gender stereotypes in our heads, like the one saying men should be the ones who go out and work to feed the family, and women should take care of the family.
What will you do on 8 March 2025 to mark the 50th International Women’s Day?
We will hold our International Women’s Day celebration at Advance on Friday, 7 March, and we will mark it with the motto “Wake up the changemaker in you”. It will be a huge event with inspiring keynotes, panel discussions, interviews, hands-on workshops and networking opportunities. So, on 8 March, I will probably still be on a high after all the inspiration and energy of our flagship event.
If you could pick one inspiring woman from the past or present to have a conversation with over dinner, whom would it be – and why?
You know what always bothers me? There are tons of famous men, but if I look for famous women from the past, only a few names come to mind. In history, just as in today's business world, women lack role models. So I would love to go far back and meet Athena, the goddess of wisdom in Greek mythology. Maybe she would have an idea about how to make this world a gender-equal place!