Germany passes new law which requires 30 Pct of women in top boardrooms

Germany is making some sweeping changes in the workplace. The country's leading companies will be required to have at least 30 percent women on their supervisory boards from 2016, according to a new directive being adopted by the government, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday.

Firms that have not implemented a quota of female directors will have to leave some vacancies unoccupied.

This new law will affect 108 of the country's largest companies. Businesses who don't comply will face sanctions and will have to leave some board chairs open in order to meet the quota. Another 3,500 firms will in future have to publish gender-equality targets.

"This law is an important step for equality because it will initiate cultural change in the workplace," said Chancellor Angela Merkel, who initially was against the reforms, according to the BBC.

"Stiff quotas are not the way to bring women into leadership roles," said a speaker for the medical company Fresenius, which currently has no women in its executive positions.

"We fill positions based on qualifications and not on sex," said someone from Bayer, according to The Local.

"A quota like this ignores that the crucial criteria is professional qualifications," said the German Employers' Association (BDA). "It is constitutionally questionable to dismiss a candidate because they are the wrong sex."

According to the group "Women on the Board", there were only 316 women filling the 1,669 director positions of 160 DAX-traded companies. They noted that 27 of those companies already meet the quota, including Deutsche Bank, Henkel, Lufthansa, Adidas and Deutsche Telekom.

Germany has lagged far behind other European countries in terms of female representation in the boardroom. Norway, Spain, Iceland and France already have similar quota requirements.