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Manager Hiltrud Werner: "Men also benefit"
Photo: Michael Löwa / laif
Hiltrud Werner has a sad monopoly at Volkswagen.
The legal officer, in office since 2017, is the only woman on the automaker's top committee.
In the company's almost 84-year history, it is only the second to have made it this far.
And the first to hold its own there to some extent.
Her predecessor Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt, after all a former Daimler board member and ex-federal constitutional judge, lasted just a year.
She had lost a power struggle with her male colleagues.
But now everything should be different.
The car manufacturer wants to cut the old men's teams and give women equal opportunities in the future.
When it comes to “career paths”, “gender should no longer play a role,” says Human Resources Director Gunnar Kilian, and relies on a quota for women.
For the next few years, the Group is mandating its managers to fill the management levels with more female top staff.
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The proportion of women in the first management level at Volkswagen AG - divisional and departmental heads as well as brand managers - is expected to increase from a good 11 to 13 percent in Germany by the end of the year.
VW is aiming for at least 20 percent by 2025 across all brands and management levels worldwide.
These are more like triple steps, but even for that, the VW men's shop needs special incentives.
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