ORS Annual Report 2020 English

ADVISORY BOARD
Our Advisory Board is a professional body that advises ORS on current and future migration
issues. It recommends approaches for implementing the strategy and developing
the business. It is composed of prominent political figures, entrepreneurs and migration
experts from the DACH region:
Rita Fuhrer: accompanying ORS on the
Advisory Board
As a teenager, Rita Fuhrer wanted to become a handicrafts teacher. Then a job at a
health insurance organisation took her into politics and, from 1995 to 2010, she served
as a parliamentarian for the canton of Zurich, where she was responsible for social and
security policies. Political setbacks and health issues did not prevent her from campaigning
for greater subsidiarity between the public and private sector. Since 2017, the
ex-politician has served on the ORS Advisory Board, along with five other individuals
from the worlds of politics and business.
Ruth Metzler-Arnold (President)
Former Federal Councillor (CH),
Minister of Justice and Police, President
Switzerland Global Enterprise,
member of several boards of
directors, member of the University
Council, University of St. Gallen (CH)
Erwin Jutzet
Former member of the cantonal
government of Fribourg, Department
of Security and Justice and
the National Council (Switzerland)
Thomas Bäumer
CEO of Colosseum Dental Germany,
former CEO of Adecco Germany and
Austria, committee member of the
Confederation of German Employers’
Associations (BDA, DE)
Dr Michael Spindelegger
Former Vice-Chancellor and Foreign
Minister of Austria (AT), General
Director of the International
Centre for Migration Policy Development
(ICMPD)
Rita Fuhrer
Former member of the cantonal
government of Zurich, Department
of Social Affairs and Security (CH)
and former Minister of Economic
Affairs (CH)
Dr h.c. Fritz Schramma
Former Lord Mayor of the City of
Cologne and President of the German
Association of Towns and Municipalities
(DStGB).
What motivated you to join the Advisory
Board?
I have been very familiar with the issues involved
in supporting and accommodating
asylum seekers ever since I began working
as a parliamentarian back in 1995. Since
then there have been huge developments
– from a legislative point of view, from the
point of view of the support organisations’
human resource requirements, in the individual
nature of the support and in the attitude
of society. These developments are still
ongoing. The challenges remain gargantuan.
So I am happy to help wherever I can.
Are there any areas of your work that you find
particularly challenging as a woman?
I have always had to prove that I am just
as strong and experienced as a man. I have
battled to try and ensure that a woman’s life
experience and professional experience are
respected as a matter of course. Why should
having been in the military and led a platoon
of recruits prove your management
skills but having brought up three sons, as
I have, apparently doesn’t?
As a general rule: can women do more to influence
decisions?
A person’s perception has a lot to do with
their own experience. That’s why women
and men can listen to the same issues but
hear different things, set different priorities
as a result and often prefer different solutions.
When you look at it like that, I can
have a major influence on decisions if, as a
woman, I view my own suggestions as just as
valid and correct as those of a man and am
prepared to back them up with conviction.
If you could change anything in the course of
gender history and equal rights, what would
it be?
Any change takes time. Despite the fact that
equal rights have been enshrined in law for
some time now, they’re not always reflected
in everyday practice. The genders don’t
have to be exactly the same, but it is important
that they respect and value one another.
When my daughter-in-law, who can
manoeuvre any vehicle with a large trailer
better than most men, takes her car to the
garage because of a faulty turbo cable and
the car mechanic explains to her that she’s
probably just jammed the floor mat under
the accelerator, that’s down to a lack of respect
not a lack of equality.
So if I could change anything, I’d demand
honest acknowledgement of other people’s
life experiences and unprejudiced respect.
That would have made the journey towards
the goal of equal rights simpler and shorter
and, of course, it would have prevented a lot
of distress.
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