PRESS RELEASE NO. 06/2020 IG Metall calls for the expansion of the women’s quota to include executive boards

Berlin – IG Metall welcomes the federal government’s plan to expand the gender quota regulations for supervisory and executive boards. “Only one in eleven executive board members is female. Without quotas, the proportion of women increases only in homeopathic doses. An expansion of the quotas and sanctions for non-compliance are therefore necessary,” said Christiane Benner, Second Chair of IG Metall, on Wednesday in Berlin during a conference with supervisory board members and works council members on the topic of quotas. A “zero target quota” must be ruled out in the future. “There are enough qualified women,” Benner emphasized.

The statutory gender quota for supervisory boards in publicly traded and co-determined companies, which has been in place since 2015, is having a positive effect. “The quota is working. Over the past four years, the proportion of women on supervisory boards has risen by 12 percentage points to 34.9 percent, even in the male-dominated areas of responsibility within IG Metall,” said the Second Chairwoman.

It is necessary to extend these regulations to other companies. IG Metall welcomes the consideration of including non-publicly traded companies. “The most sensible approach would be an adjustment that lowers the threshold for companies subject to co-determination to 1,000 employees,” Benner noted. This would also significantly increase the number of companies required to meet the gender quota. “The gender quota is a tool to encourage companies to consistently integrate the advancement of women at all levels into their planning. This boosts overall economic success and is a matter of fairness,” said Benner.

Note to editors:

In support of IG Metall’s demand for more women in specialized and leadership positions, conference participants adopted the attached resolution titled “If You Want the Best, You Can’t Do Without Women.”

To the resolution

Further information