Diverse teams are more successful, but Germany still needs a law for more women in management positions. Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Intervention or necessity? The second management position law (zFG) aims to increase the proportion of women in management positions. It provides binding requirements for the economy and the public service and also has an impact on the insurance industry.
The core of the law is that listed stock corporations with more than 2,000 employees must appoint at least one woman to the board of directors if it consists of more than three people. This is an attack on entrepreneurial freedom, explain numerous employers’ associations and reject the law.
However, there are good reasons for the law like Michael Niebler, Managing Board Member of the Insurers as Employers (AGV), in the editorial of the industry magazine Vis-a-Vis explained. As early as 2015, a law was presented that basically required what has now been poured into the legal text.
A minimum participation requirement of one woman applies to board members with more than three members of listed companies with equal co-determination. Over 70 companies will be affected, 31 of which currently have no women on their management boards. It is important that in future companies must justify why they set themselves the goal of not appointing women to the board. Everyone can look forward to these reasons. Companies that do not report a target value or do not provide a reason for the target value zero will in future be “more effectively sanctioned”.
Chancellor Angela Merkel declared in the Bundestag in July that it considered it “absolutely inadequate” that there are still listed companies that do not have a single woman on the board. “This is a condition that cannot be found sensible.”
That is also the opinion of Tijen Onaran, CEO and founder of Global Digital Women, a network for “female digital pioneers” to which partners such as Gothaer and Axa belong. “In recent years we have seen where voluntary commitments lead – nowhere. A quota does not cause an ad hoc change, but it is the right and important means to change the status quo in the long term. ” If companies present the “target size zero” as a declared goal for women on the executive board, this is not a goal, “but an attitude”.
The zFG is “a first step in the right direction”, but “far from sufficient”. To bring about real change, it takes real equality. “No company in the world can and can afford to do without half of the population”, explains Onaran. Diversity must have the same value and importance in every corporate goal as every innovation program. Therefore, in addition to the political instrument with regard to women in management positions, there is a need for “clear entrepreneurial and measurable goals” against which managers and their personal success are measured. “Anyone who focuses on diversity is betting on innovation,” she concludes.
She is not alone in her opinion, according to McKinsey Germany boss Cornelius Baur explains that mixed teams make better decisions and are more successful. The language expert and diversity trainer also has the strength of diverse teams Barbara Materne already clearly explained. “In my vision of an ideal working environment, teams and management therefore consist of people from different individual life situations, ethnic and social origins, and of different ages and genders. The more diverse, the better, ”she explains.
Misogynes Germany?
Thinking outside the box shows that other countries are further ahead than Germany, emphasizes Niebler. If you compare the proportion of women on the executive boards of leading companies in Germany, France, Great Britain, Poland, Sweden and the USA, “Germany comes last”. In the USA, for example, the proportion of women is 28.6 percent and is “continuing to rise”.
The AGV has been campaigning for more diversity in the industry for years, emphasizes Niebler. The proportion of women on executive boards in the insurance industry is constantly increasing, from 5.7 percent in 2012 to eleven percent in 2019. With initiatives such as insurwomen@networks the AGV wants to stay on course.
The General Manager of the General Association of the German Insurance Industry, Jörg Asmussen, explains for his association: “Since the last general meeting we have two qualified women in the presidium and we are actively looking for a female substitute for me. In my opinion, these are welcome steps on the way to normalcy. “
Munich Re explains that in-house there is a “special focus” on women in management positions. “By 2025, 40 percent of management positions below board level should be filled by women.” This is the “group position”. At the moment there is still something to do there is currently only one woman out of nine board members. However, like any other company, Munich should be given the time to gradually adjust the board.
Intervention or necessity?
Many employers’ associations and the FDP party refuse to intervene in the executive boards, saying the state should stay out of business issues. Niebler also writes that he “personally reject” binding female quotas for management, but that he now has doubts about his point of view.
Onaran does not accept the reference to the state interference. “More than ever, companies have a social responsibility and not interfering with entrepreneurial freedom would be irresponsible. Because: don’t we want to be competitive and innovative as a German economy? This requires diversity. ” From their point of view, diversity is the driver for creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. Anyone who does not follow this social responsibility will be “not sustainable”.
When it comes to diversity, Germany still has work to do. This is shown by the fact that politics has to dictate the path by law.
Author: Maximilian Volz
The editorial by Mr. You can find Niebler on the subject here.
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