Advancement of women.

The advancement of women remains an important and challenging focus topic - especially for an industrial company. Our aspiration is clear: We want to fill more senior management positions with qualified women and are aiming for a share of 30 percent in 2030 as the next step.

In 2006 Mercedes-Benz was among the first German corporations to set itself a voluntary goal to increase the share of women in senior management positions to 20 percent by the end of 2020. This goal was achieved. At Mercedes-Benz, the share of women in senior management positions worldwide is nearly 26% (Dec. 31, 2023).

For us, the advancement of women starts with the young generation: For example, we participate in numerous career information days and the annual "Future Day", which gives young women and girls in particular insights into technical apprenticeships. Mercedes-Benz has also launched the Genius education initiative. In this way, we want to get schoolchildren excited about technical professions and foster the next generation of engineers. We are also present at university fairs to attract women to a career at Mercedes-Benz. We use targeted formats to attract and promote women in the STEM areas of our company. For example, special information events on entry-level positions at Mercedes-Benz are aimed specifically at young female talents in technical areas.

Mercedes-Benz also supports women in their individual career planning: We offer a range of mentoring programs for female managers and administrators. These complement the Group-wide "Bertha's Daughters," a mentoring program that focuses on the development of women's. The name of the program is derived from Bertha Benz, Carl Benz's wife, who in 1888 took the first long-distance trip with her sons in the production model of the Patent Motor Car, thus laying the foundation for a new industry.

For all employees, we offer a wide range of opportunities for flexible working models to meet the individual life situations of our employees. Examples include remote working, reduced working hours, job sharing, family leave, sabbaticals, time off for qualification or care, and childcare at all major sites in Germany. We also use various dialog formats to draw attention to the issue of promoting women in the company. Our employee resource groups of and for women also support the exchange of female employees among each other.

Mercedes-Benz is committed to the advancement of women through various memberships and sponsorships. For example, we work with the European Women's Management Development Network (EWMD) or the Global Summit of Women. We are also committed to integrating the UN Women Empowerment Principles into our business practices.

In 2024, Mercedes-Benz continues the global social media campaign "Be one of many" for equal opportunities with three female protagonists. Alongside the author and entrepreneur Aya Jaff and the head chef and restaurant owner Dalad Kambhu the campaign portrays the manager Alexandra Straßburger, Director Global Sales Operations at Mercedes-Benz - representing the many successful women in the company.

Our Diversity & Inclusion Management refers to equal opportunities for all employees. The aim is to attract and develop the best-qualified specialists and managers for the company - regardless of age, ethnic origin and nationality, gender and gender identity, mental and physical abilities, religion and worldview, sexual orientation, and social origin.

This article was last updated in March 2024.