Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, and Manuela Schwesig, the minister of family affairs who helped a law requiring more women on corporate boards clear legal and political hurdles in Germany.
Credit Soeren Stache/European Pressphoto Agency

BERLIN — Germany on Friday became the latest and most significant country so far to commit to improving the representation of women on corporate boards, passing a law that requires some of Europe’s biggest companies to give 30 percent of supervisory seats to women beginning next year.

Fewer than 20 percent of the seats on corporate boards in Germany are held by women, while some of the biggest multinational companies in the world are based here, including Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler — the […]