Board Gender Quotas in Germany and the EU: An Appropriate Way of Equalising Participation of Women and Men?

Abstract

The professional equalisation of men and women has become one of the most discussed topics in politics over the last years. As a solution to this problem many European countries have introduced regulations which ensure special quotas for women on the managing boards of companies. The main problem concerning such gender quotas is that the equalisation of men and women is primarily a sociopolitical objective which might result in a possible conflict with national and European constitutional law. Consequently, the current legal situation in Germany and the EU needs to be analysed critically. Therefore the different ways of incorporating gender quotas into the existing legal system must be compared with each other.