European Central Bank plans to double number of women in management positions by 2019
The European Central Bank wants to double the number of women holding management positions by 2019, executive board member Jorg Asmussen has told German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
At present, women hold 17 per cent of middle management roles and 14 per cent of upper management positions – the ECB wants to double this to a respective 35 per cent and 28 per cent. The bank sees these figures as targets rather than quotas.
Over the past 15 years, just two women have held positions on the six-strong executive board.
The issue came under the spotlight when the European Parliament objected to the appointment of Luxembourg’s Yves Mersch (male) last year on the grounds there would be no women on the board.
Reacting to the appointment, European Parliament president said:
When key positions are filled in the future, we expect you to observe the principle of gender parity.
The FT's Alice Ross thinks the ECB is likely to appoint a woman to the high profile position of head of the single supervisory mechanism. The ECB is likely to take over supervision around September or October next year.
The ECB wants to double the number of women in senior positions, Asmussen said today. (Likely to start by appointing a female head to SSM).
— Alice Ross (@aliceemross) August 29, 2013