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Big German companies will be forced to have women in at least one third of their executive positions following a decision by the government to introduce a new law.
The agreement will involve the Frauenquote – or women’s quotas – becoming law in December and companies will have to implement it by 2016.
Some of Germany’s 108 big businesses, including car manufacturers, have resisted the legislation and threatened to relocate their production. They will be forced to keep positions vacant within their company because the law states that they cannot argue there were not enough suitable women candidates for that particular position.
Voted the world’s most powerful woman by Forbes this year, Angela Merkel initially opposed bringing in the law but she told the Bundestag on Wednesday: “It has been decided on and it is coming. We cannot afford to do without the skills of women.”
The move by Germany follows a report by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency in Australia this week, which shows that women are under-represented in key management positions in Australian workplaces. It prompts one to ask the question, should Australia follow Germany’s lead? Let’s look at the facts.
Just 26.1 per cent of women are considered key management personnel (KMP), while 17.3 per cent are CEOs. One-third of employers have no female KMPs, and 31.3 per cent of employers have no ‘other executives or general managers’ who are women.
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency Director Helen Conway said: “the vast majority of employers do not have the required strategies in place to create a level playing field and ensure women and men are equally represented, rewarded and valued in their workplaces.”
Last year, the Business Council of Australia announced that it wanted members – those from 120 of our largest companies – to increase the number of women in senior roles to 50 per cent by 2023.
The BCA president, Tony Shepherd AO said in a letter to members: “Achieving this goal brings with it several significant benefits to the economy, business and the community”.
“While Australian women have been graduating from university in greater numbers than men since 1985, and women now make up around 46 per cent of the Australian workforce, they remain under-represented at board levels.”
So is it time for the government to step in and enforce companies to have women at the top of the business chain? Perhaps we women have climbed the ladder to the ceiling, but now we need a tool to break the glass.
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