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The proportion of women in leadership positions in German companies has reached a record level, in a sign that the country is finally starting to catch up with its Western peers in improving gender equality in the workplace.
A study by consulting firm Russell Reynolds found that women now hold more than 25 percent of senior management positions in Germany’s 40 largest listed companies, an increase of two percentage points from 2023.
The study found that the proportion of women in the highest positions had increased from 13.3 percent in 2020 to 25.4 percent now, a new record.
Germany now has for the first time four female CEOs of companies listed on Dax: Bettina Orlopp at Commerzbank, Karin Rådström at Daimler Truck and Belén Garijo at Merck and Helen Giza at Fresenius Medical Care.
But a recent report by the Swedish-German AllBright Foundation found that the eurozone’s largest economy is still far behind its international peers, especially the United Kingdom.
It said women held 32.1 percent of senior management positions in the 40 largest listed companies in the United Kingdom, 30.1 percent in the United States, 28.8 percent in France and 28.2 percent in Sweden.
The foundation said that in the UK there is much more public awareness of the need for equality and diversity and that “business expectations are high”.
The improvement in Germany reflects the success of a law passed in 2020 that established a mandatory quota of women in the top management of listed companies. The move came after ministers determined that previous attempts to encourage companies to hire more female executives on a voluntary basis had failed.
The law stipulated that boards of directors with more than three members must include at least one woman. Business groups then stated that this was an unjustified interference in the functioning of companies and that, in any case, there was a lack of suitable candidates for positions of responsibility.
But in its study, the AllBright Foundation said the UK had managed to achieve better gender equality results without imposing quotas, focusing instead on measures designed to ensure many more women enter senior roles at all levels.
The AllBright authors said Germany had “wasted too much time” in the quota debate.
Russell Reynolds’ results echo those of a similar survey by the German organization Women on Supervisory Boards (Fidar), which found that 25.7 percent of senior managers at Dax-listed companies were now women , and that women made up 39.7 percent of Dax. surveillance boards.
“This shows that gender diversity is not a fair-weather issue, but is gaining importance in economically difficult times,” said Jens-Thomas Pietralla, director of the Russell Reynolds European Council.
At 12 companies, a third or more of the executive board are women, Russell Reynolds said, and at two companies (Commerzbank and Siemens Healthineers) that figure rises to 50 percent. Porsche SE is the only company that does not have women in senior management positions.
Russell Reynolds said women were particularly well represented in energy, consumer goods, insurance and financial services companies. Its representation was particularly poor in the automobile industry.
This article has been corrected to say that there are now four female CEOs of companies listed on Dax, instead of three.