Germany's Parliament today approved a quota system that will require leading companies in Europe's biggest economy to have at least 30 per cent women on their supervisory boards starting next year.
The quota will apply to more than 100 listed companies. Another 3,500 firms will be required to set targets to raise the number of female directors and women in other leadership positions.
A recent study released by the German Institute for Economic Research found that, last year, women accounted for 18.6 per cent of the supervisory board members the German equivalent of directors at the country's biggest 100 companies.
"If there are no equal opportunities at the top of companies, there are none in other areas either," Manuela Schwesig, the minister for women and families, told ZDF television. "It was important to me to start with the very biggest (companies), where most women work."
Lawmakers from Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing coalition of conservatives and Social Democrats backed the legislation today. Opposition lawmakers who argued that it didn't go far enough abstained.
"A real quota for women must apply to all companies," said Caren Lay, a lawmaker with the opposition Left Party.
The new quota won't apply to the management boards of the biggest companies or to public-sector employees, though officials are pledging to increase the number of women in public-sector leadership jobs.
The Federation of German Industries criticised the 30 percent quota as a "purely symbolic policy" and complained that the legislation foresees punishment for private companies but not for the public sector.
Starting next year, companies that haven't met the quota would either have to appoint a woman to fill a vacancy, or leave the seat empty.
Schwesig said that is an effective measure because it would affect the balance of power on supervisory boards. In Germany, those boards normally contain equal numbers of employer and employee representatives.
Norway, Spain and France among others already have quota requirements.
