"Everyone should feel like they have the same opportunities" – ABB CEO Björn Rosengren on women in engineering

Today's International Day for Women in Engineering highlights the need for greater diversity in the workplace and the need for girls and women to study STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) subjects

ABB CEO Björn Rosengren and Chief Human Resources Officer Carolina Granat share their thoughts on empowering women on the ABB Decoded podcast

As a strategic pillar of ABB's ambitious 2030 Sustainability Strategy, gender equality is a key goal for social progress

On this year's International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), ABB CEO Björn Rosengren and Chief Human Resources Officer Carolina Granat discussed the importance of fostering an inclusive culture and encouraging diversity in the latest episode of the ABB Decoded podcast.

INWED aims to encourage and support young women to build their careers in engineering. This ambition is strongly reflected in ABB's 2030 Sustainability Strategy, which places the advancement of society as a key strategic pillar, with gender equality as an important factor. As part of this strategy, ABB aims to double the number of women in senior management positions to 25 percent.

"Everyone should feel like they have the same opportunities" – ABB CEO Björn Rosengren on women in engineering

As a global technology company with engineering at its core, ABB has a long history of advancing STEM education and professional development, especially for girls and women, in line with ABB's 2030 Global Diversity and Inclusion Strategy. ABB has partnered with more than a hundred universities around the world and offers numerous mentorship and scholarship programs.

In a new episode of the ABB Decoded podcast, Björn Rosengren shares his thoughts on the way forward to empower women and attract the best talent in the market. "We talk about diversity, but to create diversity, it's actually inclusion, and it's important — people feel like they're part of the company and have really the same opportunities," Rosengren said.

ABB recently adopted the United Nations Principles for Women's Empowerment (UN WEP) to promote gender equality and women's empowerment in the workplace, in markets and in communities. The UN WEP is the primary tool for businesses to work on gender equality in the 2030 Agenda and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

"From my point of view, I think it's important that ABB will always attract the best talent in the market. When I say that, it means that we need to have a broad recruitment base. This is important. Therefore, people who work in the company should have the same opportunities, and people who want to join should also feel that ABB is a company where you can succeed. Performance is all that matters, and that gives you the opportunity," Rosengren added.

Diversity trumps homogeneous teams

The latest episode of the ABB Decoded podcast also explores why gender diversity is critical to ABB's success. "I really believe that a diverse team trumps a homogeneous team, and I think that's especially important when you're a company where innovation plays an important role, and that's true for ABB," says Carolina Granat. "International Women in Engineering Day gives us an opportunity to discuss what factors in our culture might be holding everyone back from having a career, and we can all ask: 'What can I do differently to support this?' As an employee, it's also an opportunity to feel supported. ”

In the context of this year's International Women's Engineering Day, ABB once again highlighted the need to further strengthen gender equality in the workplace and society, and to raise awareness among employees about unconscious biases, stereotypes and discrimination. More than 7,500 ABB senior executives have participated in unconscious bias training.

"Everyone should feel like they have the same opportunities" – ABB CEO Björn Rosengren on women in engineering

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