Germany agrees ‘historic’ mandatory boardroom quota for women

Government moves to close gender gap by requiring 30% female membership

Germany's coalition government will introduce a mandatory quota for the number of women working as senior management in the country's listed companies, in a move hailed as a historic" step towards sexual equality in German boardrooms.

In a deal agreed on Friday evening by Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats and their junior partner the Social Democrats, management boards with more than three members must include at least one woman, reversing a voluntary system that critics argue has failed to achieve the required shift towards gender equality.