By 320 votes to 277, the German parliament rejected a proposal to introduce mandatory quotas for women's representation on boards of companies. The proposal allowed for the introduction of mandatory quotas for women's representation on supervisory boards of the largest German companies in the amount of 20% by 2018 and 40% by 2023. The British server telegraph.co.uk informed about that at the end of last week and also pointed out that Germany has one of the lowest representation of women in top management of companies within developed economies - only 4%.
The debate on the bill was as escalated as the nationwide debate on female quotas which has been shaking Germany in the last few months. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, leader of the opposition Social Democrats (SPD), emphasized that at the current rate, 40 % of women would not be on supervisory boards of German companies until the half of the century. His colleague Eva Hoegl then continued with a warning statement that "career in companies is decided at the men's toilets".
Christian Democrats of Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) as well as their coalition partners from the ranks of Free Democrats (FDP) and the Christian Social Union (CSU) were against the proposal. Nevertheless, Angela Merkel was forced to promise a compromise - the introduction of quotas of 30% by 2020. The strong economic wing of the CDU, however, criticized this step very sharply.
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