My thoughts about Frauenquote

I am happy that gender equality is a hot topic. Last week was International Women's Day, in the Oscars Patricia Arquette asked for the end of the Gender Gap or many celebrities have asked to Merkel to take into account that poverty is sexist when thinking of the new political measures in the G7. 
I am completely aware that the situation is incredibly thought in poor countries, and I feel lucky that I live in Europe and I could study what I wanted and work in the job I like. Maybe because I have been so lucky, and because my parents made no differences between my brother and me,  I am so shocked now about the expectations that german society has for me since I am a mother. 
I also feel no surprise when I watch the debates about why there are so few women in leading positions in Germany. During the last weeks a new law has been approved, and from 2016 there will be "Frauenquote"/ Women-quota in the boards of companies in Germany. Good or bad? The facts are:

• Very few women have leader positions in Germany (and Merkel does not count, because she does not have kids ;) ).

• The gender gap is higher in Germany than in other countries in Europe.

• The efforts of fixing this situation have failed, so another solution is needed.

So I would say it is good keeping in mind that a quota exists to disappear. If voluntarily not many women are invited to join boards, there should be a law in place. When having women in boards is the norm, a quota will not be needed anymore. And there is existing talent to fill those boards, so it is not a matter that women are not well prepared.
However, as a not-(yet)-Board-eligible-woman what is shocking for me is that there is this huge debate about the women on Company Boards. Shouldn't the debate be focus in how to make easier for any woman to make compatible a career with a family in Germany? In the end most of the women who can get to the Boards are the ones who can afford elite education or expensive childcare.
In my view, the solutions to have more working women in Germany who progress in their career (and eventually join Boards) would be:

• Education from the school. For example, programs to explain in High Schools how women can achieve great jobs or be interested in degrees like Engineering or Business. This will also minimise the Rabenmutter concept. It is a fact that german society makes a woman feel very bad when you want to go back to work. We need the women back to work and not to assume since they are young they will eventually get a minijob when kids are older!

• Krippes, krippes!! Once you are a mom, you need to find affordable daycare for your baby (or daycare at all, depending where you live). As I have been telling in this blog, I have applied to 22 Krippes in Munich and I feel blessed I got one that accepts my baby. I have to pay 820 euros per month for it. Most of the Krippes accept babies that are at least one year, and many of them only half a day. Many women can not afford a solution and they stay at home. 

• School and daycare when kids are older. I am being told that when my daughter is in Grundschule it will be even worse because she will be home at 1pm. I still did not think about this yet, but again this is another example that Germany makes it very difficult to combine work with children.

• I believe maternity leave is just an anecdote in the career life. I do not feel I have lost any knowledge in these six months of maternity leave. I would encourage men and women to take both parental leave. It is very common here that a woman takes 12 months and the man does not, when they can actually share it. It would be great if the men would also take a minimum of paternal leave, because employers will not have problems hiring women or men if they both will take the leave anyway.

• In the companies, female employees should be encouraged in their careers. To be honest, when I look around in the company I work for, I see it is an exception that a woman is a manger, and that is discouraging. Companies should not focus only to hire externally to fill the gap in the Board. The focus has to be also in middle management, in the employees. And the way to do it is not usually with a law, but with bonus to the Executives or Heads of Department to do it.

• And of course, women should be paid exactly like their men peers! THAT should be prosecuted by law: how can male and female employees be paid differently if they have the same position in the same company? How are you going to encourage a woman to continue with her career if she is paid less than her male colleagues and she has to do acrobatics to balance her life with her work?

So in summary, quota is a step but is not the final solution. I think it would be more effective that there are measures that companies pay same salary to men and women, that men take also parental leave, that everywhere in Germany childcare is offered at a fair price, and that there are programs to encourage young girls to pursue a career.