GERMANY: Can do a lot better - Building Gender Balanced Business

How would you describe the work-life balance situation for women in Germany?

I can describe the situation in one sentence: German women usually do not balance a career and a family. Those who do manage to do so usually have a husband working freelance from home who is able and willing to care for the children. Where women are trying to cover work and family alone, they are most likely facing burnout or already planning for their sabbatical. The few exceptions are either women who work in the public services or those that are a little tougher than the average. For example, there is a small group of women managers – those that contribute to what is laughably called diversity in Germany. They are often “lone ranger types” working in dead-end jobs, sometimes referred to as the “ walking dead”. They are not the best role models for other women to follow.

What are the principal barriers to the advancement of women in business?

First, there is the role of men and women in German society. Equality between men and women is not a reality. Most German women are financially dependent on their husbands, their family or the State. Similar to rural Turkey the women in Germany often stay at home as housewives or just earn pocket-money with a side job. They contribute often to the family’s income by gaining it tax breaks as a result of not working – a practice that is known as “Ehegattensplitting”.

A second barrier is government influence. The German Government proudly presents statistics that indicate that 63% of women are working. But this figure conceals two important facts. First, the percentage figure includes women who are out of work on three-year maternity leave, and second, many of the others have “mini-jobs” (where the Government allows people to work tax-free provided it is for about 10 hours a week and generates earnings of no more than €400). In fact, more than 70% of such jobs are occupied by women. Therefore, the more realistic estimate of the proportion of women in full-time work is more likely to be 44%, which is an optimistic figure.

Women also must start to see the need to drive change. But so long as they are not integrated into the country‘s economic activities, they will not be able to advance to the top positions. Currently, there are more women in leading positions in Turkey than there are in Germany.

“Most German women are financially dependent on their husbands, their family or the State. Similar to rural Turkey the women in Germany often stay at home as housewives or just earn pocket-money with a side job.”

Are business leaders aware of the need to promote more women to senior management positions?

I have listened to many business leaders who talk about the need for more women in management positions during diversity conferences. But most of these enlightened leaders are from outside the country. I have not heard of any meaningful discussions taking place between German leaders and women with leadership potential.

How high a priority would you think gender balance is to leaders in Germany?

Again I have to shake my head. It is not a high priority at all. But what do you expect from a country where the two sexes still live in very separate social worlds? Take a look at the German media coverage which is extremely bipolar. We have so-called women‘s magazines, which largely cover fashion, beauty and health. The rest of the media has a masculine focus.

A 2005 study of the main media in Germany by the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) found that only 22% of the people mentioned in the main news were women. It also found that 47% of these are mentioned as victims. Der Spiegel, a magazine aimed at the well-educated, is mainly read by and written for men. Gender is internally evaluated as “off topic”. But Der Spiegel is not the only medium that ignores the fact that more than 50% of the German brain pool is female. Most women don’t seem to challenge this notion. Almost all of the letters to editors to Der Spiegel are written by men.

How are women responding to the challenges?

Women dominate in the secondary schools and in the universities, but knowledge itself does not give them greater influence and money. And, more to the point, they don’t challenge this lack of progress. They seem to accept it.

Most women quit their job as soon as they have children and do not get back to their previous job position. Lots of off-ramping but no on-ramping. In urban areas some of them work part-time when their children are aged around 2 or 3. Only a few women engage child care support or hire a nanny and return on a full-time basis, which means at least 45 hours per week plus commuting.

From listening to many “working mums” and housewives, it would seem that most of them are unhappy with their fate. Either their position and salaries are low or they fear that they will have poor job prospects in the future. The small band of full-time working mothers is stressed by their absence from home every day, the social isolation and the husbands who typically do not help in the house or with the children. One common response to all this is for women to become self-employed, earning a low income for lots of working hours in the evenings.

German society does not offer any other approved role for women, other than being at home. Those few women who could lead the change live an exceptional life that is not accepted by society.

“Women dominate in the secondary schools and in the universities, but knowledge itself does not give them greater influence and money. And, more to the point, they don’t challenge this lack of progress. They seem to accept it.”

What are the future trends?

Women are as intelligent as men, maybe even more intelligent – they dominate in schools and universities. They have closed the educational gap. But what good is a Master of Economics when you cannot generate an above-average income?

Since intelligence has many different dimensions, we have to analyse what types of intelligence women ignore too much. Maybe it is the more practical side such as “entrepreneurial IQ” or it is financial intelligence? Maybe women should take energy away from some fields of responsibility, like their role as a “perfect German mother”, and have more courage to call for half of the economic cake? Perhaps, the belief that a good education will pave the way to fulfilment and good job prospects takes away women’s capacity to imagine a different future and fight for it.

In Germany, the feminist movement (Frauenbewegung) is split between those who chose to resist by dropping out altogether and those who have accepted their lot as housewives. One group, the drop-outs, exaggerates the problem and the other group, the housewives, gives up altogether.

I hope that the small number of women in leadership positions can act as a catalyst for a more modern ideal for German career women based on independence, influence, money and awareness.

What role can government play in improving women´s ability to pursue a career and have a family?

The Government frames the attitude of a country. It is hard to say where the tipping point of change is located. Currently the German Government neglects its responsibilities concerning childcare and education. For example, the 20 billion euros spent on tax breaks for sole-earner households would be better invested in schools. Our social system needs several big reforms. A tax reform would encourage women to earn their own income. Earning money is the only solution for another big problem that German women face in their retirement age: no old-age pension.

A woman was appointed to the governing body of Siemens AG recently (Barbara Kux) – the first time a woman had reached such a position in the company’s 161-year history. Was that a positive sign of things to come?

Well, yes, it is a good sign that [CEO Peter] Löscher made this appointment. But it is hard to say if it was a single act by a wise business leader or the beginning of a new trend. He knows perhaps the sort of governance qualities a woman can bring to the boardroom discussions –- an issue of great importance to him as he sets about cleaning the company up after its earlier corruption scandal.

Pia Bohlen-Mayen is the founder and CEO of Femity.net, a social network for German businesswomen. She is also CEO of the Internet agency XBYTE and a speaker and publisher on how women, supported by Internet technology, can be successful.