Frauen in Führungspositionen « Henkel Diversity Blog

Is a women’s quota unnecessary? / Ist eine Frauenquote überflüssig?

Thursday, June 24th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

The German Secretary for Family Affairs, Kristina Schröder recently announced to impose a quota for women in management positions, if the situation in Germany doesn’t change dramatically. For this statement she encountered resistance from many German companies. „A quota could easily turn into a PR-Tool“, for example says Grey CEO Christian Hupertz. Women in management: Yes, of course! A quota: No! This is the attitude most companies have towards quotas.

Another example is the „Deutsche Post“. They are not renowned for being very innovative, but for having a long tradition. However their CEO Frank Appel made a progressive move when he declared to remodel the executive board and include more women. Many other big companies also developed strategies to foster women in management positions.

Henkel also has individual female career path programs but is strictly against quota. In a Q+A session CEO Kasper Rorsted and our international Diversity & Inclusion ambassadors had on Tuesday, once more he emphasized, that there’s no meaning of quota for him. Quite the contrary: Kasper Rorsted sees a real sustainable and valuable progress for women in top management positions when their career developments are constantly and consistently.

But, quota back and forth: Maybe Kristina Schröder already reached her goal by threatening with a quota: More women in top management positions.

What do you think? Is there enough time for companies to develop their own female top league? [DE] (more…)

Fight your inner patriarch / Bekämpfen Sie Ihren inneren Patriarchen

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

The future is female – at least the evidences suggest so. Germany has a female chancellor, the USA have a female foreign minister. It is clear that women have changed their role model. However, role models are often deeply rooted in our minds. Our parents and our education shape our behavior, even when we’re not aware of it. Often, these behavioral patterns get in the way of women’s careers. For example they often underestimate themselves and have a low self-confidence, if their father was a dominant person. Kopp-Wichmann, author of the „Persönlichkeits-Blog“ calls this pattern the „inner patriarch“. The inner patriarch is deeply rooted in a women’s mind, that understands feminism as devotion, sacrifice and modesty. Have you ever thought to yourself „stop acting like a man. It doesn’t suit you“ or „don’t be so emotional“ you might have an inner patriach getting in the way of your success and your career. [DE]

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Leveraging Generation Y / Generation Y im Durchbruch

Thursday, April 8th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

Generation Y: young people with an excellent education who are currently entering the job market. They are totally different to generation x, they digital natives or millenials who grew up surrounded by modern technology. Within this generation, women earn the majority of university degrees. These women believe in themselves, are highly educated and aim for jobs with responsibility. They have all the skills needed for management positions. But somehow they don’t seem to fit in the picture of a typical manager: a male in his 50s.