Women at the top
Published: February 8 2011 23:21 | Last updated: February 8 2011 23:21
Europe’s most prominent banker should know better. Josef Ackermann, chief executive of Deutsche Bank, was right when he said more women should be appointed to top executive roles. But he revealed how far attitudes must change by embellishing his statement with the misplaced and patronising comment that this would make boards “more colourful” and “more beautiful”.
The tone of Mr Ackermann’s remarks shows that not everyone sees the business case for challenging the status quo. Diversity is not a feminist issue – and nor is it about prettification. Failing to recruit from the widest possible talent pool is bad for a company, its investors and society at large. There is a risk, too, that a board narrow in its representation may also be blinkered or conformist in its strategy.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Editorial: Northern lights - Jun-15
Analysis: Skirting the boards - Jun-15
Getting women on board - Apr-29
Women crack glass ceiling from above - Jul-23
Women’s share of UK board seats stalls - Jun-27
Study says female directors bring added value - Jun-27
A call to raise female representation in the boardroom is welcome: in 2009, women held only 11.7 per cent of executive jobs in large European companies. That is lamentably low. Germany, home to Deutsche Bank, has a female chancellor; women are well represented in politics at both federal and state level. Yet Deutsche Bank, the largest German bank by assets, has had only one woman on its board – that was 15 years ago.
Mr Ackermann rejects a recent call by a German minister for a quota to increase the number of women in senior jobs. The FT has already stated its opposition to formal quotas, a path some European countries, such as Norway, have taken. Quotas focus on only one aspect of diversity – gender – and punish small companies. Such legislation also fails to address the lower levels in a business. Voluntary targets are preferable to regulation. And chairmen of all-male boards should explain why they think that dominance acceptable.
As for Mr Ackermann, his contract at the German bank expires in 2013. That means a board job is opening up. Is it time, perhaps, for Deutsche Bank to review its own executive recruitment?
