Commitments to Promote the Participation of Women in Leadership Positions at BASF SE

  • Minimum quota on Supervisory Board, target figures for Board of Executive Directors and top management

The supervisory board of a publicly listed European stock corporation (SE) that is composed of the same number of shareholder and employee representatives must, according to section 17(2) of the SE Implementation Act, consist of at least 30% women and 30% men. Since the 2018 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting, the Supervisory Board of BASF SE comprises four women, of whom two are shareholder representatives and two are employee representatives, and eight men; its composition meets the statutory requirements. On conclusion of the 2018 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting, the departing Supervisory Board member Ralf-Gerd Bastian was succeeded by Tatjana Diether, who was personally chosen to replace him as early as late 2013 until the end of the 2019 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting.

As a target figure for the Board of Executive Directors, the Supervisory Board determined that, in accordance with section 111(5) AktG for the second target-attainment period after the law’s entry into force, which began on January 1, 2017, the Board of Executive Directors should continue to have at least one female member. With eight members of the Board of Executive Directors, this represented 12.5% on the date the target was set, and today represents 14.3% with seven members. The Board of Executive Directors also decided on target figures for the proportion of women in the two management levels below the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE: Women are to make up 12.1% of the leadership level directly below the Board, and the level below that is to comprise 7.3% women. This corresponds to the status at the time these target figures were determined. The deadline for achieving the goals for the second target-attainment period was set for December 31, 2021.

BASF views the further development and promotion of women as a global duty independent of individual Group companies. We set ourselves ambitious global goals for this and made further progress in 2018. BASF will continue working on expanding the percentage of women in its leadership team. The company is carrying out, and constantly enhancing, worldwide measures to this effect.