According to a study, women have made a significant leap forward in the top echelons of the German economy. For the first time, according to the non-profit Allbright Foundation, among the 160 listed companies in the Dax family, there are more companies with a female manager on the board (94) than companies without a woman on the board (66). 37 percent of the board positions filled between September 2022 and September 2023 went to female managers.
According to the information, the proportion of women on the top floor of the 160 companies rose by a good 3 percentage points to 17.4 percent (as of September 1st). This is the second strongest increase so far in the course of a year since the evaluation began in 2016. In total, there were 121 women and 574 men on the board of directors.
The increase was greatest among the 50 medium-sized companies in the MDax, rising by a good 5 percentage points to a proportion of women of 16.6 percent. Many companies have brought a female manager onto the board for the first time. The growth in smaller companies listed in the SDax was significantly lower, at 1.9 percentage points to 12.3 percent.
Corporations lag behind in international comparison
The proportion of female top managers was once again highest in the 40 companies in the top German stock market league at 23.2 percent (plus 3 percentage points). Only at the two DAX companies Adidas and Porsche Holding was the board of directors a purely male domain as of the reporting date. In international comparison, however, Germany continues to lag behind. In the 40 largest US stock exchange companies, the proportion of female executives on the top floor was recently reported to be 32.6 percent, followed by Great Britain (29.5 percent), France (27.9 percent) and Sweden (27.2 percent). .
“We need a substantial proportion of women on the boards if we want to see a different dynamic in companies overall,” argued the managing directors of the Allbright Foundation, Wiebke Ankersen and Christian Berg. American companies are much further along and are currently the more attractive employers. “But we also urgently need more women in the crucial positions of CEO or supervisory board chairwoman so that equal opportunities are sustainably anchored in the German economy,” warned Ankersen and Berg.
The highest positions of power remain a male domain
The highest positions of power at the 160 companies are still occupied almost exclusively by men. Only seven women were at the top of the board as of the deadline, including Helen Giza at dialysis specialist Fresenius Medical Care and Merck boss Belén Garijo. Six women were chairmen of the supervisory board – two fewer than a year earlier.
When making new appointments to the board, listed companies with equal co-determination and more than 2,000 employees and more than three board members must ensure that there is at least one woman in the management team. This applies to new appointments from August 1, 2022. A law that has been in force since 2015 stipulates a women’s quota of 30 percent for supervisory boards for the approximately 100 largest listed companies that are subject to co-determination.
The German-Swedish Allbright Foundation advocates for more women and diversity in management positions in business. (dpa)