The first female department head at Bosch

In 1970, Ursula Blaich became the first woman to head a corporate department – the HR department at the company’s headquarters on the Schillerhöhe in Stuttgart. The ascent to senior management was a long climb for women, and equal opportunities for women were unheard of for a long time.

By 1910, three percent of Bosch manual workers and ten percent of the office staff were female. When war broke out at the start of August 1914, women made up a good 14 percent in total. As more and more men were called up for military service, creating a shortage of manpower, the proportion of women increased, reaching 65 percent by August 1918.

In manufacturing, women were employed as semi-skilled labor. At the end of the war, however, soldiers returned to their day jobs, and by March 1, 1919, the proportion of women in the workforce had dropped to just 30 percent. A similar trend occurred during the second world war.

On October 1, 1950, the first six female apprentices began working at Feuerbach, one of whom was Ursula Blaich, who said: “In 1950, the daily newspapers reported that Bosch would also start taking on female school leavers as apprentice industrial clerks.

Back then, that was considered rather progressive. This was one of the reasons I applied, and I also found technology interesting and exciting.”

Once she had qualified, Ms. Blaich started work in the Frankfurt sales office. “That was by no means a matter of course at the time, and it wasn’t easy for me at first. On the phone, the Bosch Service owners usually first asked to speak to the boss, because they simply couldn't imagine a woman might understand technical matters. You had to be pretty thick-skinned.”

“For many years – 15 at least, I would say – I was the only female department head at Bosch. I was the only woman at meetings, seminars, and conferences. When I was present, the group was always addressed as “Ms. Blaich, gentlemen…” – I didn't particularly like that, and I even found it embarrassing sometimes. So I was overjoyed when more women took on leadership positions,” she explained in an interview.

An agreement on equal opportunities for women was ultimately concluded in 1988, which soon became known internally as the “equal opportunities plan for women” and aimed to recruit more women and make it easier to combine career and family life. In 1994, the board of management set up the working group “Women in leadership positions,” which gave rise to the women’s network one year later. In 1997, a project was set up at Bosch to advance women that became known as the “Equal Opportunities” project in 2004.

In 2011, the advancement of women was expanded into diversity management, focusing on the aspects of gender, working culture, generations, and internationality. The following year, the Bosch Group was named the most family-friendly large corporation in Germany and presented with first prize by Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and Federal Minister for Family Affairs Dr. Kristina Schröder for its exemplary efforts to help associates combine career and family life.

Worldwide, the proportion of female executives across all management levels in the Group has risen to 17,2%; the target is 20%. Since January 1, 2021, Filiz Albrecht has been a member of the Bosch board of management — the first time a woman has held this position. In order to increase the proportion of women even further, flexible working-time models are being expanded and worldwide mentoring and training measures are being used to advance women in leadership positions. Bosch has been a signatory to the German diversity charter since 2007.

Author: Kathrin Fastnacht