BMW against Merkel's female board member quota in Germany
 

<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/euro/" rel="tag">Europe</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/government-legal/" rel="tag">Government/Legal</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/bmw/" rel="tag">BMW</a></p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-26/germany-backs-legal-quotas-for-women-on-company-boards.html"><img alt="German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks w" data-caption="German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks while visiting a plant of German carmaker BMW in Leipzig, eastern Germany, 05 November 2010. BMW are expanding its Leipzig plant for the production of the newly-developed Megacity Vehicle, a zero-emission car featuring an extremly light plastic bod, and is to be produced in Leipzig from 2013. AFP PHOTO / POOL / PETER ENDIG (Photo credit should read PETER ENDIG/AFP/Getty Images)" data-credit="AFP/Getty Images" data-mep="583895" src="http://o.aolcdn.com/dims-shared/dims3/GLOB/crop/2870x1905+72+0/resize/628x417!/format/jpg/quality/85/http://hss-prod.hss.aol.com/hss/storage/midas/f3d3dce1861a571dc66d14bcd 63052ef/201153074/106560991.jpg" /></a><br />
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There may soon be more women in power positions in the world of German business under a proposed law from Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government. If passed, the law would force large, publicly traded corporations to have female members make up at least 30 percent of their supervisory boards (which are responsible in part for business strategy) by 2016. In addition, all companies would have to increase the female proportion on their management boards, which conduct regular business.<br />
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The law seems likely to pass next month. <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-26/germany-backs-legal-quotas-for-women-on-company-boards.html">"We've decided to do this and it will happen," said Merkel in a speech about the new rule</a>, according to <em>Bloomberg</em>. Women currently have just six percent of management board seats in the country.<br />
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Big businesses in the country aren't on board with proposed law, including automakers. "<a href="http://www.autoblog.com/bmw/">BMW</a> as a company doesn't believe in quotas," said spokesperson Jochen Frey to <em>Bloomberg</em>. "While we hold that opinion, we want and strive for diversity in our workforce in terms of gender, ethnicity and age." Currently, 25 percent of Bimmer's supervisory board is female, a bit higher than the national average in Germany of 22 percent.<br />
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German car companies are hardly alone when it comes to having a paucity of women in positions of power. <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/honda/">Honda</a> only added <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2014/02/24/honda-board-first-woman-foreigner-report/">its first female member to the automaker's board of directors earlier this year</a>, and <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/toyota/">Toyota</a> and <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/nissan/">Nissan</a> showed similarly low numbers. A 2013 list from <em>Fortune</em> <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2013/11/26/most-powerful-women-in-autos-mary-barra/">ranked many of the most powerful women in the auto industry</a> as coming from North America.<p style="padding:5px;backgr ound:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;"><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2014/11/28/bmw-against-merkel-female-board-quota-law/">BMW against Merkel's female board member quota in Germany</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.autoblog.com">Autoblo g</a> on Fri, 28 Nov 2014 14:01:00 EST. Please see our <a href="/rss-term-of-use/">terms for use of feeds</a>.</p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2014/11/28/bmw-against-merkel-female-board-quota-law/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.autoblog.com/forward/20999402/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2014/11/28/bmw-against-merkel-female-board-quota-law/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>

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