Top German female journalists want 30 percent of executive posts filled by women

Germany’s top female journalists have organized to demand media outlets introduce a quota system assuring that at least 30 percent of the executive positions in the media industry are filled by women.

In a letter to 250 editors and publishers, hundreds of women journalists complained that only two percent of all editor-in-chiefs at Germany’s 360 daily and weekly newspapers are women, and just three in 12 bosses of public service broadcasters are women.

“Don’t be afraid of quotas. I’m a quota woman,” said Ines Pohl, editor taz newspaper, where women occupy half of the staff positions. “For me it’s no problem. Because of taz’s women target, I have been able to finally show what I’m made of. I’m sure the same would be true for many other women.’

The letter by a group called Pro Quote was prompted in part by the introduction last year of a 30 percent quota of women at Handelsblatt, a well-respected financial daily.

“Women are not the problem, but the solution,” Gabor Steingart, the male editor-in-chief, told the Guardian. “It’s not just about fairness but it also makes economic sense.”