Telco Deutsche searches for more women
Deutsche Telekom wants to support women’s careers and has introduced a quota system to ensure a third of its upper and middle management positions will be held by women by 2015.
“Having a greater number of women at the top will quite simply enable us to operate better,” said chief executive Rene Obermann yesterday.
“Taking on more women in management positions is not about the enforcement of misconstrued egalitarianism,” he said, adding it was a matter of social fairness and a categorical necessity for the company’s success.
Some 60 per cent of Germany’s business graduates are female, but engineering group Siemens is the only blue-chip company that has a woman on its managing board.
Some countries, such as Norway, legally require listed companies to ensure 40 per cent of top management is female.
Deutsche Telekom said other European countries are considering following Norway’s example.
Later this week the company will unveil to investors what has been dubbed “Strategy 2.0” as it searches for solutions to long-term questions such as the turnaround of its US business and the threat of cable operators.