International Women's Day: Freight forwarding sector develops progressively

On International Women's Day on March 8, equal rights in the world of work will come into focus. But at a. hartrodt, with a 49 percent share of women, this is standard. "In recent years, even more women than men have been recruited at a. hartrodt Germany", says Claudia Brix, General Manager Human Resources at a. hartrodt in Hamburg. In 2019, 54 percent of new entries were female, including Brix herself. Since October, the business graduate has been responsible for human resources at a. hartrodt Germany and the holding company.

Women in management positions are normal

At a. hartrodt in Germany, women are responsible for a subsidiary, sales, sea freight export Oceania, finance teams and the branches at Hamburg airport, Hanover and Saarbruecken. Internationally, the subsidiaries in Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, the Philippines and Spain are each headed by a female Managing Director.

Combining family and career

For Brix, an important part of the promotion of women is the compatibility of work and family. She is herself the mother of a 16-year-old daughter and has made the experience that this works well. However, two conditions are decisive: Firstly, both parents take responsibility for bringing up their children, and secondly, family-friendly solutions are found within the company. "As a family business, a. hartrodt also wants to make family life possible. The integration of parents after parental leave has been successful in many cases," she thinks.

The International Women's Day goes back to the workers' movement of the late 19th and early 20th century. In the federal state of Berlin, March 8 has been a public holiday since 2019, in countries like Russia or Vietnam for much longer.