...The agreement, which was reached by the ruling coalition after months of heated debate, will involve the Frauenquote – or women’s quotas – being signed into law in December. Companies will have to start implementing the law by 2016. The decision will have a major impact on 108 of Germany’s largest firms, many of which have resisted the legislation...An estimated 3,500 smaller businesses will be obliged to introduce gender-equality goals and to publish these over the coming years...The women’s affairs minister, Manuela Schwesig of the Social Democrats, said she hoped the law would also promote change further down the pecking order of companies...Chancellor Angela Merkel, who initially opposed the reform, told the Bundestag on Wednesday: “It has been decided on and it is coming. We cannot afford to do without the skills of women.”...Supervisory boards are currently made up of about 22% of women, yet they hold only 12% of executive board posts...