Berlin (AFP)

Germany is opening the door to more feminization of the boards of directors of large companies, by setting binding quotas, but the largest European economy still has some progress to make to be a model.

The chemicals giant Bayer, the electricity supplier EON, the leader in components for smart cards Infineon: so many jewels of the German industry which rank low when it comes to women's access to managerial functions.

All the members of the boards of directors of these groups are men, recently noted the German-Swedish foundation Allbright, according to which women only account for 12.8% of the management bodies of the 30 companies listed in Dax, the flagship index. of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Even though Germany has been ruled for 15 years by a woman, Chancellor Angela Merkel, the world of company management remains that of men.

"On a voluntary basis, little is happening and very slowly", noted the Minister for the Family, Social Democrat, Franziska Giffey.

The government has therefore decided to go through coercion, by imposing the presence of women on the boards of directors of large listed companies, according to a bill presented on Wednesday.

The progress is however considered insufficient by the defenders of parity who believe that the impact of the quota will be limited.

- "Just one step" -

According to the text, which has yet to be adopted by the deputies, at least one woman should sit on the management committees of companies with joint management (employees / employers) and having more than three directors.

In companies where the State has a majority, or even a single shareholder like the railway operator Deutsche Bahn, the participation of women will be compulsory from two seats on the board.

Social Democratic Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht, who brought the text along with her colleague from the Family, welcomed an "important signal for highly qualified women" calling on companies to "use the chance" offered by this quota.

To compare with the 12.8% in Germany, the proportion of women on the boards of directors of the thirty largest groups is 28.6% in the United States, 24.9% in Sweden, 24.5% in Great Britain and 22.2% in France, according to the Allbright foundation.

France is even the European champion of quotas for women on boards of directors thanks to a law of 2011 which allowed them to reach in 2019 43.6% of the seats of directors within the 120 companies making up the SBF 120 stock market index.

The German bill could increase the proportion of female directors in Germany's 100 largest listed companies to 16%, according to strategy consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

Germany would thus move from 24th to 18th place in Europe and in "two years we would be where Spain and Portugal are today. The quota is a step in the right direction, but just a step", BCG analyst Nicole Voigt observed.

- "I am a quota woman" -

The text was supported by Angela Merkel but met a lot of resistance within her conservative party (CDU) which governs with the social democrats of the SPD.

He is also criticized by part of the employers who denounce interference in the governance of companies.

In the home stretch to attach this achievement to its record, the center-left party had received the support of civil society which mobilized around initiatives such as the hashtag #ichwill (#jeveux) on Twitter.

The slogan "I am a quota woman" ("Ich bin eine Quotenfrau") was also the subject of a campaign carried by women from the world of politics, business and entertainment, including the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

In 2016, Germany gave companies a deadline to feminize their supervisory boards before imposing a quota of 30%, for lack of sufficient results.

The German supervisory boards are now 34% women.

A total of 73 companies would be affected by the rule change, 32 of which currently do not have a woman on their board of directors, according to the FidAR think tank, which advocates more representation of women at the top of companies.

"A snail rhythm", according to the German economic research institute DIW.

© 2021 AFP