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The proportion of women in leadership roles in German companies has reached an all-time high, a sign that the country is finally catching up with Western countries in improving gender equality in the workplace.
Women now hold more than 25% of senior management positions at Germany’s 40 largest listed companies, an increase of 2 percentage points compared to 2023, according to research by consultancy Russell Reynolds.
According to the study, the proportion of women in top jobs rose from 13.3% in 2020 to 25.4% now, a new record.
In Germany, a Dax-listed company has had three female CEOs for the first time. They are Bettina Orlop of Commerzbank, Karin Radström of Daimler Trucks, and Belen Gariho of Merck.
However, a recent report by the Swedish-German Albright Foundation found that the eurozone’s largest economy still lags far behind its international peers, particularly the UK.
According to the report, women hold 32.1% of senior management positions at the 40 largest listed companies in the UK, 30.1% in the US, 28.8% in France and 28.2% in Sweden.
The foundation said public awareness of the need for equality and diversity was much higher in the UK and “expectations from businesses are high”.
The improvement in Germany reflects the success of a law passed in 2020 mandating quotas for women in senior management positions in listed companies. The move comes after ministers determined that previous attempts to encourage companies to hire more female executives on a voluntary basis had failed.
The law stipulated that a management committee of three or more members must include at least one woman. Business groups said at the time that this was an unwarranted interference in business activities and that there was a lack of suitable female candidates for senior positions in any case.
However, the Albright Foundation found in its research that the UK achieved better results in gender equality by focusing on measures designed to get more women into management positions at all levels, without imposing quotas. He said he could.
The Albright authors said Germany had “wasted too much time” debating quotas.
Russell Reynolds’ results echo those of a similar study by Germany’s Women in Supervisory Boards (Fidar). The survey found that women now make up 25.7 percent of senior management positions at Dax-listed companies and make up 39.7 percent of Dax’s female employees. Audit Committee.
Jens Thomas Pietrala, Head of Russell Reynolds’ European Board of Directors, said: “Gender diversity is not a smooth sailing topic and has become increasingly important in economically challenging times. “
According to Russell Reynolds, 12 companies have more than a third of their boards held by women, and two, Commerzbank and Siemens Healthineers, have as many as 50% of their boards. Porsche SE is the only company without a woman in its top management position.
Russell Reynolds said women are particularly well-represented in energy, consumer goods, insurance and financial services companies. Their representation in the auto industry was particularly bad.
