Gender Quotas: How German Firms Help Women Get Ahead

[unhappycamper]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/gender-quota-preparations-at-top-german-companies-a-935505.html



Germany's plans to introduce a gender quota will cause fewer problems for companies than some critics are willing to admit. Many firms have already made changes, promoting female talent and bringing women into management.

Gender Quotas: How German Firms Help Women Get Ahead
By SPIEGEL Staff
November 26, 2013 – 12:41 PM

Something exceptional must have happened for Annette Widmann-Mauz to see her name mentioned in the online edition of the New Yorker. The German lawmaker from the southwestern city of Tübingen, a member of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), is the parliamentary secretary of state in the German Health Ministry, a position that doesn't garner much recognition outside professional circles.

But last Tuesday, the magazine quoted the politician after negotiators for the CDU, its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) had agreed to a statutory gender quota during their coalition talks. Under the agreement, 30 percent of open positions on company supervisory boards are to be reserved for women, beginning in 2016. The agreement, says Widmann-Mauz, marks a "a cultural shift in the corporate sector."

If the howls of protest immediately following her statement are any indication, Widmann-Mauz is probably right. According to corporate executives and business associations, the government-imposed quota constitutes a substantial intrusion into corporate freedom and fails to reflect the unique aspects of certain industries.

They also protested that the new rule would impair competitiveness because there are simply not enough qualified women. The chief lobbyist of German industry, Federation of German Industries (BDI) President Ulrich Grillo, even went so far as to say that management positions, including those on supervisory boards, should be "filled on the basis of suitability and performance."

Oh really?

[libodem]

1. Sad

That this article sat here since November without comment. It was a very interesting topic.