Minimum Participation Bid
Before new regulations come into effect: more women on executive boards
A woman is standing in an office and holding a smartphone. (Iconic image) Photo: Annette Riedl/dpa
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From August, large companies will have to have at least one woman on their board of directors. The Fidar organization is now observing a clear trend.
Even before the new requirements for more women on the boards of large companies take effect, the proportion of women in the management floors of the companies concerned has continued to rise.
As the organization Fidar (women on the supervisory boards) announced on Monday, of the 66 listed companies with equal co-determination that fall under the new so-called minimum participation requirement, 49 have a woman on the board. When the corresponding law was passed last summer, there were still 42 companies. Fidar constantly follows the development of the filling of supervisory and executive board positions and has long advocated for greater participation of women.
The Bundestag and Bundesrat introduced the law in June. It stipulates that in future at least one woman must sit on the board of directors in listed and co-determined companies with more than 2,000 employees and more than three board members. From August 1 of this year, this must be taken into account when filling positions. The so-called second management position law creates new dynamics, according to a statement by Fidar. Since the plans became known in autumn 2020, 13 companies have brought a woman to the board. “The numbers show that legal requirements work,” said Federal Minister for Women Anne Spiegel (Greens).
The rules for executive boards complement the existing requirements for supervisory boards. With the first Management Positions Act of 2015, companies above a certain size – usually more than 2000 employees – were obliged to fill vacant positions on the control body with women until at least a proportion of 30 percent was reached.