Diversity
18. Jan 2023
By Claudia Burger
The 200 companies with the highest turnover (top 200) in the country have more women executives (16%) and supervisory boards (31%). Above all, the Dax companies increased. However, the increase was lower than before. According to the DIW, Germany is above the EU average for the first time.
Diversity at the top of the company: The direction is right, the proportion of female executive and supervisory boards is increasing. But there is a drop of bitterness: The dynamics of this development have weakened, says the DIW in the Managerinnenbarometer.
Photo: anthermedia.net/ Dmitriy Shironosov
The proportion of women on the executive and supervisory boards of large companies in Germany increased once more last year. In late autumn 2022, the 200 companies with the highest sales (top 200) in the country had an average of around 16% women on their executive boards and around 31% on their supervisory boards. Compared to the previous year, however, the increase was small at just under one or half a percentage point and significantly lower in the executive boards than in the previous year. This is the result of the female manager barometer of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), in which researchers from Freie Universität Berlin are also involved.
Statutory minimum participation provided momentum, momentum has decreased
According to the DIW, following the statutory minimum participation for board members in 2021 had provided momentum, many companies apparently slacked off in their efforts. If one considers only those companies within the top 200 group that have to adhere to the minimum participation, the proportion of female board members was slightly higher at a good 19%. The requirement currently applies to around 60 companies that are listed on the stock exchange and have equal co-determination and a board of directors made up of at least four people. “The statutory minimum participation requirement for board members works,” says Katharina Wrohlich, head of the Gender Economics research group at DIW Berlin. “But even with the legal requirements, gender parity is not a sprint, but rather an endurance run.”
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DAX-40 and companies with federal participation stand out positively in 2022
The proportion of women on the executive and supervisory boards of more than 500 companies was surveyed in the DIW Female Managers Barometer – including the 200 companies with the highest sales, 160 companies listed in the Dax indices, 100 banks, 60 insurance companies and 69 companies in which the federal government holds shares . According to the barometer, the proportion of women in the top committees varies depending on the group of companies, but the general picture is relatively comparable: women are much less frequently represented on executive boards than on supervisory boards and the increases in both committees were rather small in the past year. The Dax 40 companies (for the first time more than 20% women on the board) and the companies with federal participation (for the first time more than 30% women on the board) went ahead with larger increases. “The Dax companies are in the public eye and there are generally higher expectations of federal companies,” points out Virginia Sondergeld from the Gender Economics research group at DIW Berlin. “But that should not detract from the more positive development in these groups – it is important that they lead by example.”
Companies at different speeds in their equality efforts
The two management position laws (FüPoG I and II) would have got things rolling. “But we’re still a long way from achieving gender parity,” says Wrohlich. “Now it’s the companies’ turn: In addition to more women on management and supervisory boards, it is also important to have the right corporate culture, a climate that promotes equality and promotes an inclusive work culture.”
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As another analysis as part of this year’s Female Managers’ Barometer shows, two speeds emerge with regard to the equal opportunity efforts of companies. Anja Kirsch and Philipp Alexander Thompson from Freie Universität Berlin, together with the DIW team, examined more than 500 annual financial statements of companies that were represented in the DAX-30 and Dax-40 from 2009 to 2022. Accordingly, the companies implement the statutory reporting obligations very differently. The amount of information on women in managerial positions has increased significantly in recent years. On the one hand, according to the researchers, a gender-oriented group of companies can be identified that documents specific measures for more women in management positions in the reports required by law. On the other hand, there is a compliance-oriented group that seems primarily interested in meeting the legal requirements. The equality-oriented group has a significantly higher proportion of women on the supervisory board and greater dynamism on both the management board and the supervisory board. “The statutory reporting requirements have demonstrably increased transparency,” sums up Kirsch. “In addition to numerical requirements, the requirements for reporting also contribute to increasing public attention and thus further paving the way to gender parity.”
