Target Figures to Satisfy Gender Quota Laws
SUITABILITY AND PERSONALITY ARE DECISIVE
The German "law for ensuring equal appointment of men and women to managerial positions in the private and public sectors" obliges listed and co-determined companies to set target figures for increasing the proportion of women on the Supervisory Board, Executive Board or Board of Management, and for the two management levels below. The first targets had to be set by 30 September 2015. By 30 June 2017, new target figures had to be defined for the new reporting period, which has been set to five years by the bodies and boards of R. STAHL. A new five-year period began on 1 July 2022; it will run until June 2027. This law applies to R. STAHL AG and R. STAHL Schaltgeräte GmbH.
R. STAHL is a technology company in the field of electrical engineering. The electrical engineering degree programme in Germany traditionally has a very low proportion of women (academic year 2020/2021: 14.8 % (source: Destatis)). As part of our promotion of young talent, our training department has been working for years to inspire and recruit women for technical professions. Our commitment begins with projects in kindergartens, continues with "Inventors' Weeks" for primary school pupils in the second and fourth years, cooperation with secondary schools and extends to offering technology- and practice-related courses of study. In this way, we have succeeded in achieving a 17% share of women in the training sector (as of 1 July 2022). All avenues to leadership positions are open to these female employees. However, it will of course take some time before they will progress to management positions in the company. External female applicants in the technical field, however, are hardly available on the labour market.
When appointing members to boards, bodies and managerial positions, R. STAHL takes only candidates' professional skills and personality into consideration. Gender is not a factor. If positions need to be filled and suitable female and male candidates are available on the market or internally for this purpose, they will be considered in the same way.
Against this background, the Supervisory Board and the Executive Board of R. STAHL AG, as well as the shareholders' meeting and the management of R. STAHL Schaltgeräte GmbH, have intensively dealt with the issue of possible target figures.
Earlier information about "Gender Quote"
