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WIPR Influential Women in IP 2019
www.worldipreview.com
female employees is key to our own success, and we
are committed to supporting the professional goals
and aspirations of our female colleagues. In 2018, in
India, our graduate diversity hiring improved to 49%
from 40% in 2017.
Nokia has been collaborating with Greenlight for
Girls (G4G), a non-profit focusing on driving girls’
interest for STEM through interactive science and
technology workshops.
Last year, Nokia hosted several G4G-events to
drive the interest of 11 to 15-year-old girls for STEM,
inviting 1,500 girls to experience a day of science at
Nokia, hosted by 400 Nokia volunteers.
The ages of 11 to 15 are important. At that stage,
boys and girls decide what is cool to study. We need
to get our foot in the door and show them how much
fun STEM can be, but also how the world can become
a better place if we have a diverse pool of people
defining how their future will look.
What is Nokia doing to increase the retention of
women in STEM?
We look at this holistically. Our goal is to create
a working place that is attractive for women in
STEM, that shows our industry cares about them and
their input.
It’s about being an attractive employer for women,
recruiting the best people and retaining them through
providing interesting opportunities and development.
We have invested in an inclusive culture which
respects the individual, but also gives them the
challenges they need to develop.
What is the StrongHer initiative?
Initiated and led by employees for employees, this
award-winning initiative contributes to women’s
empowerment, helping them unleash their potential
and magnify their business contribution, and increase
the representation of women at all levels and in all job
functions in our company.
The network is a grassroots movement, created in
2011 by six female employees in France and is open
to all employees. Members want a company where
women have the same opportunities as men and are
well represented in all business domains and functions.
StrongHer advances gender diversity by offering
networking opportunities, personal development, and
a think-tank on leadership and management. It also
provides exposure to diverse role models for women
and men, along with business contacts within and
beyond the technology sector.
For us, StrongHer has been an eye-opener on the
many causes for low representation of women in the
ICT industry and in leadership roles. I’m pleased
to share that as of January this year, StrongHer had
more than 3,000 members in 70 countries across
five continents, with 43 active chapters and around a
quarter of the members being men. l
aria Varsellona has served as Nokia’s chief
legal officer since May 2014. Four years
later, she was appointed as president of
Nokia Technologies. She spoke to WIPR
M
about her role and her company’s strategy towards
increasing diversity.
What’s the gender dynamic at Nokia?
In both organisations that I lead, the Nokia Technologies
business and the legal and compliance group, the gender
balance is higher than for Nokia overall, but we are not
yet fully reflecting the balance of the world around us.
In Nokia Technologies, two of my four direct
reports are female—Eeva Hakoranta, who heads our
IP team and serves as general counsel for Nokia
Technologies, and Jenni Lukander, who leads the
patent business, our patent licensing organisation.
Why is it so important to have gender diversity at
a company?
We believe it’s a smart thing to do. At Nokia we know
that a diverse workforce makes innovation, performance,
and execution easier. We’re making progress.
Bloomberg included Nokia in its 2019 Gender-
Equality Index for our transparency and commitment
to women’s equality. But we know that we can still
do better.
Today, women represent less than a quarter of our
employee population. We also need to do more to
close the pay gap. I’m happy to share that our group
leadership team is acting to address these issues.
What are Nokia’s aspirations for gender diversity?
That’s very simple. As a company, our ambition is to
have a gender balance that reflects the world around
us, and a workplace where men and women have
equal opportunities to succeed in every function and
at every level.
What more can STEM industries do to encourage
the participation of women?
It boils down to accountability. Nice words are not
enough. Companies need to hire more women,
develop them in a similar way to how men are
being developed and give them more opportunities
to progress.
We also need to understand why they choose to
leave our industry, to consistently remove any barriers
or setbacks they have encountered.
What is Nokia doing to encourage the
participation of women in STEM?
Nokia is committed to participating in building
a long-term female talent pipeline within the
ICT sector.
In the India region, we have introduced various
initiatives focused on recruiting diverse talent, at both
the lateral and the graduate level. The success of our
Women in STEM—
Nokia
SHUTTERSTOCK / RISTOH
1,500
11 to 15-year-old girls
experienced a day of
science at Nokia in 2018,
as part of a series of
Greenlight for Girls events
aimed at driving their
interest for STEM.