Germany has a new concept in order to create equality for women in the corporate world. Their idea is to fine companies up to 10 million euro or 5% of a company's annual turnover if they do not have at least 30% females on their senior management and board members. This a follow up bill that required companies to create goals on the amount of women in senior management, and explain why they did not make their goals if the company didn't make their goal. The issue with this bill was that many companies made a goal of 0% of women in their senior management because none of the current members were planning on retiring. Germany did see an increase in amount of women in senior management roles by 8.4 percentage points from the start of 2016 to 2017, but many are looking for better results. Do you think that the new bill would create positive change? Should changes be made?
https://global.handelsblatt.com/companies/germany-companies-dont-try-harder-gender-equity-fined-millions-891848
4 comments:
I think that the equality gap between male and female professionals absolutely needs to be bridged. However, I don't necessarily think that imposing quotas for senior management is the right option. I like to think that most companies are driven by efficiency and profit and if the men in the firm could do better than the women than the firm would choose to place men in senior management positions. However, if the women that are placed in those quota positions show more potential than men then I fully support the situation. Also, women in the workplace might experience a lot of backlash from their male counterparts if there was a quota imposed. Men might believe that those women only have their positions based on the quota not their merit.
Liz makes a good point, this quota could lead to a lack of respect for women in leadership companies at business that have goals. The bill has good intentions and with the lack of gender equity it seems that it is coming to the point where it is necessary to impose a policy to improve the gender equity. However, it seems ineffective in getting change if companies are allowed to set a goal of 0%.
I can definitely see how women could be less respected because of the quotas that could be put in place. However I think a contributor to the problem is the types of industries that exist. The automotive industry is a big employer in Germany. In general, I believe this is a more male centered industry because it is a big interest that men have. I think this could have an impact on the willingness for women to enter this type of industry. In Germany the female population only represents 18% of the population in the car manufacturing business. I think the problem needs to be addressed at the bottom to make this industry more attractive for females to enter.
I think this needs to be addressed far before women are making it into management roles - for instance, making sure auto shop teachers aren't snide about girls who want to be in the class, so that girls continue to develop interests in car places. This would also include encouraging girls to speak up and take leadership positions with things like the Raise Your Hand patch in Girl Scouts.
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