The amount of tut-tutting that followed comments by the head of Deutsche Bank about women in key business roles has drowned out the silence of inaction on the issue
Josef Ackermann, the head of Deutsche Bank, has said that having more women in senior positions would make life "more colourful and also prettier".
Mr Ackermann, whose remark last week drew accusations of male chauvinism, has not been practising what he preaches because Germany's largest bank has an all-male executive board.
It is not an exception. Only 3.2 per cent of management board members at the 200 biggest companies in Germany are women. That puts Germany on a par with India and below Brazil, China and Russia, as the minister for labour and mother of seven Ursula von der Leyen has pointed out.
When it comes to gender equality there is a gaping chasm between business and politics in Germany.
The country has a woman leader, Angela Merkel, and five female ministers in a cabinet of 16.
Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, has a female governor in Hannelore Kraft, and 32.8 per cent of politicians in the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, are women.
The reason for the lack of women in top business jobs is that Germany, despite all of the liberal values enshrined in its constitution, still has conservative attitudes towards family and gender roles.
So it is disappointing that Mrs Merkel has shot down Mrs von der Leyen's proposal to introduce a mandatory minimum gender quota of 30 per cent for the management and supervisory boards of all listed companies.
Mrs Merkel had little option but to quash the proposal because the pro-business Free Democratic Party, the junior partner in her centre-right government, categorically ruled out supporting what would be a radical government intervention in the free market.
She said she would prefer to give companies more time to honour their pledge, made a decade ago, to voluntarily improve career opportunities for women.
The problem is nothing has happened in the past decade. Boardrooms remain male bastions. Companies won't smash their glass ceilings unless the government forces them to, with strict and binding quotas.
Other European countries are leading the way. Norway, France and Spain already have gender quotas and the Netherlands is preparing one.
Not so long ago, such quotas were dismissed as feminist rhetoric. There remains a persistent mantra of arguments against them.
Critics say gender quotas damage the cause of women. They say the quotas can appear to: show women aren't being promoted on merit; discriminate against men; and cause problems for companies that don't have enough qualified female employees.
The critics add that quotas take the pressure off the government to implement the expensive and complex policies that would really help women, such as full-day schooling, reforming the labour market and providing more nurseries.
Some even point to studies that say the overwhelming majority of women don't want to climb the corporate ladder.
But it is untenable for an economy not to tap into the talent and skill of such a vast, highly educated part of its workforce. Some 51 per cent of university graduates are women.
Their lack of corporate influence in one of the world's largest economies is not only ridiculously outdated, it is also bad for business.
Surveys show management teams dominated by old boys' networks tend to be less creative, and hence less profitable, than mixed boardrooms because they are less diverse and have a narrower outlook.
Besides, Germany and many other developed economies with declining birth rates are destined to have worsening shortages of skilled labour in the coming decades. Enabling women to take a bigger role will become crucial to filling those gaps.
Quotas will speed up the pace of that necessary change. As captains of industry, women would exert more pressure on the government to reform education and the labour market. Such quotas need not be permanent.
There is some movement. The European Commission has threatened to introduce a gender quota if businesses don't come up with their own proposals by the end of this year.
The power company E.ON and the car makers BMW and Daimler are among a growing number of companies that have announced plans to introduce their own, albeit modest, quotas for women in the coming years.
But such voluntary measures haven't worked in the past. Without legislation, the necessary transition won't happen in the future either.
business@thenational.ae
The%20specs
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
UAE%20v%20West%20Indies
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Leaderboard
63 - Mike Lorenzo-Vera (FRA)
64 - Rory McIlroy (NIR)
66 - Jon Rahm (ESP)
67 - Tom Lewis (ENG), Tommy Fleetwood (ENG)
68 - Rafael Cabrera-Bello (ESP), Marcus Kinhult (SWE)
69 - Justin Rose (ENG), Thomas Detry (BEL), Francesco Molinari (ITA), Danny Willett (ENG), Li Haotong (CHN), Matthias Schwab (AUT)
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
Fatherland
Kele Okereke
(BMG)
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Match info
Bournemouth 0
Liverpool 4 (Salah 25', 48', 76', Cook 68' OG)
Man of the match: Andrew Robertson (Liverpool)
How to donate
Text the following numbers:
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*numbers work for both Etisalat and du
The bio
Date of Birth: April 25, 1993
Place of Birth: Dubai, UAE
Marital Status: Single
School: Al Sufouh in Jumeirah, Dubai
University: Emirates Airline National Cadet Programme and Hamdan University
Job Title: Pilot, First Officer
Number of hours flying in a Boeing 777: 1,200
Number of flights: Approximately 300
Hobbies: Exercising
Nicest destination: Milan, New Zealand, Seattle for shopping
Least nice destination: Kabul, but someone has to do it. It’s not scary but at least you can tick the box that you’ve been
Favourite place to visit: Dubai, there’s no place like home
Directed by Sam Mendes
Starring Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay, Daniel Mays
4.5/5
More coverage from the Future Forum
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Five expert hiking tips
Always check the weather forecast before setting off
Make sure you have plenty of water
Set off early to avoid sudden weather changes in the afternoon
Wear appropriate clothing and footwear
Take your litter home with you
Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill
Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams began recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live shows that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blends his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that made her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will use the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.
Teenage%20Mutant%20Ninja%20Turtles%3A%20Shredder's%20Revenge
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDeveloper%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETribute%20Games%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dotemu%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EConsoles%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENintendo%20Switch%2C%20PlayStation%204%26amp%3B5%2C%20PC%20and%20Xbox%20One%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Diriyah%20project%20at%20a%20glance
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EQureos%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EUAE%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ELaunch%20year%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2021%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E33%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESoftware%20and%20technology%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%243%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MATCH INFO
England 2
Cahill (3'), Kane (39')
Nigeria 1
Iwobi (47')
