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Ownershift sheds light on the current status of and structures around ownership in our society.
Ownershift sheds light on the current status of and structures around ownership in our society.
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Ownershift’s research group consists of Emma Heikensten, Anna Nordén, Johan Karlsson and others.
Emma Heikensten has a PhD in Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics and has researched issues in behavioral economics and gender differences, including gender economics, at the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard Kennedy School. She currently works as a strategic researcher and analyst at SEB.
Anna Nordén has a PhD in Economics from Göteborgs Universitet. Her fields of specialization are environmental and behavioral economics, and sustainable development. Anna currently works as an assistant professor in economics at Jönköping International Business School.
Johan Karlsson has a PhD in economics from Örebro University, where his thesis had a heavy emphasis on the use of Swedish microdata to identify ownership structures in companies. His research focuses on business growth, family ownership and barriers to growth. Today, Johan works as a quantitative analyst with a focus on business development at Svenskt Näringsliv and is an affiliated researcher at the Center for Family Entrepreneurship and Ownership (CeFEO) at Jönköping International Business School.
In the picture to the left Dr. Johan Karlsson, Dr. Anna Nordén and Dr. Emma Heikensten, Ownershift research leads.
The report is based on extensive empirical research in the fields of economics, finance, social psychology and business administration.
Over the course of this study, however, we noted that certain aspects of ownership were understudied. For example, studies of ownership from an intersectional perspective (i.e. the interplay between gender and factors such as ethnicity, functional variations, age, sexuality, socio-economic status, and religion) were limited.
By understudied, we mean that the issues have either not been examined, that there are no studies based on large and trustworthy datasets, that hypotheses have not been tested repeatedly in different contexts, or that existing studies have not been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. This means that there is not enough evidence for us to be able to draw precise conclusions.
To wit, there is a large amount of research on topics such as the drivers of entrepreneurship, and participation in the stock market, but significantly less research on the drivers of owning forests and land. There is also a lack of studies that explore gender and ethnicity and how these work together to create different conditions for ownership. We can conclude that gender matters, and that more studies aimed at understanding the interaction between gender, ethnicity and ownership need to be implemented. Given the current state of research, it is thus difficult to draw conclusions about whether and how, for example, ethnicity reinforces the gender differences we have identified. Therefore, this report focuses only on the gender dimension.
Ownershift is a not-for-profit, non-partisan think tank with the aim of affecting societal power structures in favor of women’s autonomy through women’s ownership. We focus on the role of being a knowledge hub for women's ownership - compiling, creating, packaging, and spreading facts and research. In addition, we are an active player in driving opinion in favor of women's financial autonomy with the focus on ownership as well as an accelerator of the movement for powershift through ownership.
Ownershift's goal is to enable women's autonomy through a measurable increase of women's ownership within the span of a lifetime.
The central issue Ownershift is working towards is increasing women’s access to ownership. By lowering systemic barriers and spreading knowledge as well as changing norms we will increase women’s ownership and financial autonomy. We bring about a powershift for creating a platform for equal lives and societies. Ownershift believes that representation is super important, but the power that comes with ownership is also needed to truly change power structures that can bring about the equality needed to create fair, sustainable, and lasting change. A supporting but absolutely central correlating goal, is the need for assessing what measurements are taken in regards to ownership and advocating for the measures we find missing. We agree with this quote: “Not having data on a certain area, behavior or society means that you cannot design the right policies, you cannot track progress, you cannot evaluate. You are basically not accountable.” - Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Ownershift was co-founded March 8th, 2018 by entrepreneurs Linda Waxin and Charlotte Sundåker looking to make an impact on women’s ownership. They brought in experts Dr. Emma Heikensten, pr-pros Elin Hammarbergs & Jennie Sinclair, lawyer Caroline Snellman, and investor Louise Samet during the spring, which formed the initial experts and the first members of the organization which was formalized by general meeting in November 2018. The first report: “Who owns Sweden?” was launched on March 8, 2019.
A crew of committed members of the organization on a non-profit basis including the Board of Directors, a hired Secretary General, a dedicated research- and report team, many on the ground volunteers and all backed by sponsors and numerous supportive individuals. Read more on our “About Us” page.
Today Ownershift has long-term sponsorship from S.E.B., as well as project specific sponsorship from real estate organizations Magnolia Bostad, Slättö Förvaltning, and Hufvudstaden. Projects are funded in part by limited-term sponsorships and individual contributions. Currently, Ownershift receives no governmental/public funding. Would you like to join the list of sponsors helping to bring about change in women’s ownership? Contact charlotte@ownershift.se to start the conversation!
The next report is scheduled for release early 2024. See our latest on our "Reports" page!
First and foremost you are probably already supporting the Ownershift movement. Being an Ownershifter is to encourage women to own, to learn how barriers and norms prevent equal access to ownership, and use or spread the knowledge through your life. In more concrete terms, spread the word of the importance of women’s ownership for equal societies and women's financial autonomy, say it’s not enough with boards, leadership positions and representation, real power needs to be more equally distributed and societal systems need to start supporting that change! Send our reports to anyone in a position to change systems or their own lives.
Currently, we do not have open memberships that you can be a part of. However, we are working on an open membership or backer model since we know many of you are asking for this! Keep up to date by following our Instagram and LinkedIn accounts!
Follow Ownershift on Instagram and LinkedIn to keep up to date on the latest with Ownershift and share, share, share!
Ownershift has its headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, at the centrally located Cecil CoWorking in partnership with Hufvudstaden.
We are currently working on making this process a lot easier through our website. However, until we get that up and running you are welcome to email our Secretary General Linda@ownershift.se to request information on Ownershift lectures for your organization.