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Chapter 4ASCENT OF WOMEN

Over the past thirty years, women's achievements in science, medicine, education, business, and leadership have been nothing short of spectacular. There are amazing statistics that we will review in this chapter on what women globally have achieved in advanced education and leadership positions. Many men and women are unaware of women's achievements, particularly in advanced education, and the intent of this book is to raise that level of awareness.

While writing this book, we learned of Germany's decision to adopt a quota of 30 percent women on supervisory boards in that country's hundred largest companies. In addition, thirty‐five hundred large German firms will be required to announce public targets for increasing the number of women in management roles. Should we be pleased to see this decision in Germany, or saddened by it?

On the one hand, this will finally get German companies to do something they should have done anyway. On the other hand, we have the oversight of government once more intervening in business because society believes there has been a market failure. There's little indication that German companies would have done this anyway. A former executive at Deutsche Telekom was quoted as saying, “Those issues were not at the core of the discussion. Everybody thought that's a wave that is going to pass.”

Many men do not yet see a reason to change. They see gender diversity as a fad—just as the Deutsche Telkom executive said.

Time, though, ...