8th Symposium: Gender Shift in Business
On April 21, 2018, the time had come again: The now 8th Denkwerkstatt for Managers Symposium took place at our premises in Mannheim. And it was the first time that we were asked in advance, "Do you really want to venture into this topic?" Yes, we wanted to and are addressing the topic of "Gender Shift in Companies" with 25 representatives from business and politics.
Dr. Martina Nieswandt, co-founder of Denkwerkstatt for managers, started with an introduction to the topic. In doing so, she explored the question of why, in the 21st century and the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in Germany, we should still be concerned with issues of equal treatment at work. And our unconscious preconceptions that influence us were also discussed. Conclusion: More work is indeed needed to make organizations places where true gender equity prevails.
However, gender shift must not lead to new injustices under reversed signs or tempt women to adopt male behavior patterns. Rather, everyone should work together to make companies a better place for all stakeholders. Already after this introduction, a lively discussion started with our guests. It should be noted that our guest selection was 50/50 in terms of gender.
This discussion-rich introduction was followed by two contributions on the women's quota. Barbara Limbeck, Denkwerkstatt for Manager Consultant, argued that a quota is not needed. Sabine Hockling, journalist and founder of the blog "die Chefin", argued for the women's quota. It was particularly interesting that in some cases almost identical arguments were used for the respective other conclusion. Here, too, there was an extremely lively discussion among the guests afterwards. Over lunch, one participant later remarked, "I never thought I'd argue for the quota."
As always, Andreas Stolze from Die Partyplaner took care of our physical well-being with his excellent cuisine (the order was: "light Palatinate cuisine") and his great service.
Freshly strengthened, we went into the afternoon - after such a good meal generally a special challenge, especially since it is one of the traditions of the Denkwerkstatt for Managers Symposia that the weather is always excellent, i.e. very warm. This challenge was solved excellently by Britta March from AOK Baden-Württemberg. The expert in the field of nursing and recognized throughout Germany gave everyone extremely interesting insights into "female" nursing, whose important management positions are, however, consistently occupied by men. The topic of "care" affects us all, and so the discussion took on a personal aspect, which the participants also took up.
Unfortunately - for the first time since the symposia began - a speaker had to cancel on short notice. This gave Dr. Roland Geschwill (co-founder of Denkwerkstatt for managers) the opportunity to provide another perspective. He explored the question of how digitization will change learning and learning culture in companies in the future - a topic that we will explore in depth in our next book - and what opportunities this has for women and families. A rounded conclusion to a very exciting event.
The question remains why this year's theme releases so many emotions - even more than other themes. Perhaps because this theme (like few others) touches on our own values, convictions and life choices in partnership, and challenges us to think critically about our own attitudes. And that can sometimes hurt. But perhaps the discussion is also so charged because there is so far little meaningful numerical material that fundamentally examines the effectiveness of measures that have been taken.
The approach of making measures for the female workforce in companies tangible through measurements as well as looking at their target achievement is pursued by Denkwerkstatt for managers, among others, with its offers on Gender Shift - or Gender Justice.
