EU commissioner viviane reding confirmed her intention to present draft legislation in the fall to introduce a europe-wide quota for women on the boards of listed companies. Voluntary agreements had changed nothing, criticized the justice commissioner at the dldwomen in munich, which is aimed specifically at women. Only 14 percent of board members in europe are female. Women made up the majority of the graduates. "This is pure discrimination," reding shouted in front of around 600 participants at the dldwomen conference.
The commissioner spoke out in favor of a women’s quota of 30 percent by 2015 and 40 percent by 2020. She pointed to a law in france that aims to increase the participation of women in the top management of companies. The proportion of women there has now risen from 12 to 22 percent.
In the long run, society cannot afford not to use the talents of the many female academics. "We need all the available talent," reding said. "We need the women because we don’t have enough men"."
At siemens, the proportion of women in management positions is to be increased from the current 10 percent to 12 to 30 percent by 2015. In response to criticism from conference participants that this was not demanding enough, brigitte ederer, chief human resources officer of the electronics group, said it was not always easy to find the right people. "But we are very determined to do more."This is also in the company’s own economic interest: "mixed teams are more successful than teams with members of only one gender."
DLD (digital life design), organized by publisher hubert burda, was first held in 2005 and, as a platform for internet entrepreneurs and investors, focuses on current trends in the web every january. The dldwomen is an offshoot of this conference with a focus on women’s issues.