The Vienna Philharmonic did not accept female musicians to permanent membership until 1997, far later than comparable orchestras (of the other orchestras ranked among the world's top five by "Gramophone" magazine in 2008, the last to appoint a woman to a permanent position was the Berlin Philharmonic, which did so in 1982.) As late as February 1996, first flutist Dieter Flury told Westdeutscher Rundfunk that accepting women would be "gambling with the emotional unity () that this organism currently has". In April 1996, the orchestra's press secretary wrote that "compensating for the expected leaves of absence" of maternity leave was a problem that they "do not yet see how to get a grip on" in ongoing consultations with the Women's Ministry of the Austrian Republic about women in the orchestra.