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International Women's Day with the minister: more women in leadership

Recently, an invitation arrived for International Women’s Day on 8 March: Anne Spiegel, Minister for Women in Rhineland-Palatinate, invited me to breakfast with selected women leaders. As a role-model entrepreneur, of course I wanted to attend! I always enjoy stimulating conversations with women colleagues from the Rhineland-Palatinate business world. We were indeed a select group of eleven women: leaders from very different fields, including construction, a sports association and Deutsche Rentenversicherung. Different generations were represented too, such as an experienced marketing specialist and her daughter, who was just joining the family business. And from politics, of course, Anne Spiegel, who leads a ministry with a broad remit.

Supporting women on their way to the top

How can we best support potential women leaders on their way up? This central question of Female leadership was the focus of our conversation. We agreed that leaders have a particular responsibility to support motivated women. Another essential point: family-friendliness needs a greater role in Germany’s corporate and leadership culture!

Removing career barriers 

But one woman also raised a critical question: should it not be up to every woman to decide whether she wants a career? Of course some women would rather devote themselves full-time to their family. That is a personal choice every woman should be free to make!  But how free is a decision made out of resignation and frustration?  The fact is that women pursuing leadership careers face obstacles throughout their lives. To name just a few:
  • Even in childhood and adolescence, less emphasis is placed on teaching girls competitiveness and assertiveness. In sport, for example, they are expected to be cooperative and quiet, and far less often to be strong team leaders.
  • There is still a shortage of female role models, especially in leadership. On entering the workforce, women encounter leadership requirements implicitly framed in male terms.
  • Career women who become mothers are repeatedly held back by the difficulty of combining family and work. Germany’s “bad mother” myth, inflexible workplaces and difficult returns from parental leave sadly make children a career risk, particularly for women. 
Much remains to be done to give women genuine freedom to choose their lives.

Intensive exchange and a shared concern

That makes supporting young, ambitious women all the more important. The Minister for Women emphasised this too, highlighting the vital role-model function of women in leadership. Spiegel was remarkably approachable. I could tell that this issue truly mattered to her. Overall, it was a morning of intensive, stimulating discussion among committed women leaders. Even if equality seems officially to be old news, our society — especially business — still has much catching up to do. We women entrepreneurs in particular are called upon to act. “Because,” Spiegel stressed, “experience shows that a woman in the top job brings other women into leadership positions too.” I am personally committed to this too — whether through my keynote speeches on female leadership, where I discuss women’s leadership strategies, or through my coaching and seminars specifically on female leadership, which give women leaders the right tools for success. There is still much to do — let’s get to work!