Germany Sets Quota for Female Execs

More than 100 of Germany’s biggest companies will be required to have at least 30 percent women on their supervisory boards starting next year. The German parliament approved the quota system Friday and will require an additional 3,500 firms to set goals for raising the number of women in director and leadership positions. “If there are no equal opportunities at the top of companies, there are none in other areas either,” Manuela Schwesig, Germany’s minister for women and families, told ZDF television. “It was important to me to start with the very biggest [companies], where most women work.” The measure was backed by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party and the Social Democrats. Opponents, who said the quota system didn’t go far enough, abstained.