Frauenquote « Henkel Diversity Blog

Hypo Vereinsbank Women’s advisory board launches Mentoring Programm / Frauenbeirat der Hypo Vereinsbank startet Mentoring Programm

Thursday, July 15th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

Hypo Vereinsbank was the first bank in Germany to start its own Women’s advisory board in October 2009. The Women’s Council consists of 30 female managers and entrepreneurs. Its aim is to launch own initiatives, addressing female customers, employees and women in general. The first initiative is a mentoring program. Members of the council support selected women and junior managers on their career path. In a personal dialogue, the mentors help their mentees to recognize their own strengths and to develop skills they will need in management positions.

At Henkel we have a very agile and powerful women’s networking group that also support women in their career. In different working groups topics like mentoring and training programs were initiated and established. Once a year the networking group organizes a huge event for all female leaders within Henkel Germany – the Women’s Networking Day. [DE]

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Publisher Springer sets a good example / Springer Verlag geht mit gutem Beispiel voran

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

There’s something going on. One by one, companies commit themselves to a higher share of women in management positions. The German Telekom announced the introduction of a women’s quota in March this year.

A few days ago the publishing house Axel Springer decided to increase the share of women in management positions from 16 percent to 30 percent in the next five to eight years. Currently, the company is dominated by men. Friede Springer is the only women on the supervisory board. To achieve the objective, the company focuses on improving the working conditions for women by offering flexible working hours, parental leave alternatives and childcare support. [DE]

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Women’s opion on quota? / Frauen über Frauenquote

Friday, July 2nd, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

The majority of German companies refuse a quota for women in management positions. But what’s about the women themselves? What do women think about a quota? The newspaper Handelsblatt interviewed three successful women:

Liz Mohn, member of the Bertelsmann supervisory board, believes that a temporary quota could prepare the ground for a change. Ann-Kristin Achleitner, professor of business administration, rejects a quota. She believes, women would constantly have to justify themselves and prove they got the position because of their achievements, not because of a law. Maria Furtwängler, actress and wife of publisher Hubert Burda, is the patron of DLD women. Her mission is to change the attitude in Germany towards women in management positions. She believes that Germany is a few steps behind, compared to other European countries. Therefore she supports the idea of a quota. [DE]

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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…)

40 percent quota for Germany?/Eine 40 Prozent Quote für Deutschland

Thursday, June 17th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

A quota for women in management or board positions is a controverse topic. The German Corporate Governance Commission recently recommended a 40% quota for supervisory boards. Some Germany companies were not very enthusiastic about this idea. They want to be independent in their decision to choose the most qualified candidate for an open position. One company even called a quota an indirect discrimination against women. Other companies, for example Lufthansa or Siemens, are open for the commissions’ recommendation but don’t want to make a commitment yet. Many companies, Daimler among others, have already set objectives to increase the number of women in leading positions, but without a quota.

We at Henkel also think that the introduction of a women’s quota is just to correct the effect but not the course. To be sure that we have the best people on the right positions we have to be unconditional. Careers at Henkel are made by performance and not by quota.

What do you think? Does a women’s quota really changes the business world? Or is it just another face-lifting to conceal on the surface what’s substantial not really there? [DE]

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As the 21st century is the century of women, more women will be on management boards in the future . Change is needed ! Where?# AM