Women Quota or not?

Barbara Kux has always been a high-flyer: working with food giant Nestlé where she started her career, as a Management Consultant with McKinsey, during her MBA studies at prestigious INSEAD in Fontainebleau or with the nomination into the circle of “Global Leaders of Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum in Davos. She always outshone her competitors – men and women alike, mind you.

With this it seemed only natural that Mrs. Kux got one of the most desired jobs that any big corporation has to offer, becoming a member of the Central Board. Barbara Kux is since 2008 Head of Supply Chain Management and Chief Sustainability Officer with Siemens. The only woman within the Central Boards of all 30 DAX companies.

The example of Mrs. Kux can now be interpreted in two ways:

One could argue that “If women are really good, they will reach a top management position. Same as men.”

On the other hand, one could argue that “Women in business still extensively do not stand a chance. They have to be considerably better than any man around to be promoted to top management”.

Unfortunately, the second interpretation seems to be much closer to the truth. Even though more women have better grades and are quicker to finish their education than men, they still are the odd one out in most companies.

Against this background, Deutsche Telekom has very recently set a Women-Manager Quota of 30% by 2015. Do you feel this is the right way to go? Please leave your comment on this topic – we are very interested!

More about the Women-Manager Quota at Deutsche Telekom can be found here.
More about Barbara Kux can be found here.