19. March 2025
Equality and diversity are a strategic priority for Danish Standards – both internally in the organization and in the standardization work supporting the Danish business community. Therefore, it is with pride that Tina Helsted Vengsgaard, Director of Standardization, can announce that Danish Standards has been certified to the equality and diversity standard.
– We want to be a diverse workplace that reflects the community which we are a part of. Therefore, we are proud to have obtained certification for our work with equality and diversity – an effort we will continue to develop and strengthen, says Tina Helsted Vengsgaard.
Last week the EQUALIS institute published its Diversity Barometer 2025 showing that the proportion of women managers and chief executives in Denmark has not increased. One of the reasons may be that other agendas – such as digitisation, green transition, and geopolitics – play a relatively bigger role in the strategic work of enterprises.
And that is why it is more important than ever to maintain equality and diversity as a key priority. Because, after all, equality is not just a question of ethics and democracy – it is a business-critical factor that creates value for enterprises and society alike.
– It is necessary that more enterprises and organizations work focused on equality and diversity – and that they formulate concrete goals, policies, and efforts, so that we actually succeed in creating equal opportunities for all, says Tina Helsted Vengsgaard.
The Danish standard for equality and diversity, DS 5001, provides a structured framework for organizations wishing to work strategically with this area. The standard has been developed as a management system and can be used by workplaces across all industry sectors, regardless of type and size of enterprise.
It requires a structured and measurable approach to equality and diversity by showing how organizations can initiate, document, and continually strengthen their efforts. The standard is structured on the same principles as well-known management standards, such as ISO 9001 for quality management and ISO 27001 for information security.
Based on the Plan-Do-Check-Act principle, the standard creates a dynamic process, where organizations continuously evaluate and adjust their work to implement equality and diversity.
– The standard functions as a flexible framework – it does not need to be fully implemented to create an effect. Even a partial implementation can contribute to anchoring equality and diversity as a natural part of the organization's DNA, explains Tina Helsted Vengsgaard.
In addition to integrating equality and diversity in the organization, Danish Standards also has a responsibility to ensure that these principles are incorporated into European and international standards. This applies in the fields of test methods, product sizes and safety.
Two concrete examples are car crash tests and the fire protection equipment, which are primarily based on the size of men, although women also use them. Work is also being carried out on how workplaces can support women at all stages of life – e.g. in relation to menstrual pains and menopause.
– At Danish Standards we constantly focus on how to create equality in standards. Therefore, we have also signed up to the European collaboration which is looking into how to make this a fixed part of new standards, and when to revise the old ones, Tina Helsted Vengsgaard concludes.
