A significant portion of Germany’s public companies are not meeting legal requirements for female leadership representation, with 40.5% lacking clear targets for women’s roles in management. The study emphasizes the importance of transparency, revealing an average target of 28.2% for women’s representation, with notable regional disparities. Although women now hold 23.5% of executive board positions in DAX companies, Germany still trails behind other Western nations in gender equality at the executive level.
Gender Representation in Germany’s Public Companies
In Germany, a significant number of public companies are failing to set targets for female representation in leadership, despite existing legal obligations. A recent study reveals that 40.5 percent of these firms—77 out of 190 assessed—did not disclose any targets for the proportion of women in management roles during the 2022 financial year. This contrasts sharply with publicly listed companies, where only 10.7 percent were found to be non-compliant, according to a federal government report.
The Importance of Transparency and Corporate Culture
The focus of the study extends beyond top management, examining the crucial second and third tiers of management, including department heads and team leaders. These positions are vital for promoting gender equality and serve as crucial recruitment pools for elevating more women to executive roles.
In Germany, public companies that employ over 500 people are required to publish gender targets for these management levels, although these targets can be set flexibly without a mandated quota. The study highlights a concerning trend: “The reporting of target figures often still does not meet the legally required transparency standards,” said the authors. This lack of compliance could erode public trust in these organizations and their governing bodies, leading to potential reputational damage and negative media coverage.
The average target for women’s representation in these companies stands at 28.2 percent, showing a slight increase from the previous year. However, a notable disparity exists between eastern and western Germany, with companies in the East setting an average target of 34.7 percent compared to just 25.9 percent in the West.
According to the study, which is the only empirical investigation of its kind in Germany, 190 public companies were analyzed, including large firms from 69 cities as well as federal and state governments. Currently, one in four executive board members in DAX companies is a woman, but this level of representation remains low compared to international standards.
As of January 2024, women made up 23.5 percent of executive board members in DAX companies, a slight increase from 22.5 percent the previous year. While progress has been made since 2014, when the figure was only 4.7 percent, Germany still lags behind other Western industrialized nations, with the Allbright Foundation reporting a 24.7 percent representation of women in DAX executive roles as of September 1, 2023, compared to 32.1 percent in Great Britain.