There's only a single DAX company lacking a female representation in its board of directors.
The progress of female representation in Germany's top corporate management is moving at a snail's pace, whereas Britain and the USA have significantly advanced. Only one DAX titan, a car industry conglomerate, still lacks a female board member.
As of September, women account for one-quarter of board members in the 40 DAX-listed companies. However, a recent report by the Allbright Foundation reveals that Germany lags behind other Western industrialized nations. The UK, the frontrunner, boasts a third of female board members in its 40 largest listed firms. The US (30.1%) and France (28.8%) follow closely, with Sweden trailing slightly behind (28.2%).
The trend appears more positive in the supervisory boards of DAX companies, where women represent 40% of the members. It's worth noting that just one DAX board remains devoid of female representatives: Porsche Automobil Holding, where four males sit on the top management team. This conglomerate is the largest shareholder of Volkswagen AG and holds a significant portion of its ordinary shares. The Porsche and Piëch families control the holding company.
In terms of female representation within boards, the disparity between Germany and other nations becomes even more striking. British, American, and French companies consistently surpass the 88% mark by having at least two females on their boards, whereas only 42% of German companies manage this feat. British companies frequently surpass the 30% threshold for female representation, but German firms fall short, achieving this target only in 30% of cases.
"Germany has lost ground in the quota debate," commented Wiebke Ankersen, CEO of the Allbright Foundation, in an interview with ntv. "Should companies be legally obligated to hire women to their boards and supervisory boards?" The conversation has focused too much on this issue and has since stalled, while the UK has maintained a different discourse, focusing on strategies to promote women's advancement at various levels.
Ankersen underscored the importance of companies setting the goal of increased female representation in leadership roles. However, she stressed that this requires the company leadership's understanding of why diversity is beneficial to them and why they need a mixed-gender leadership team during these times.
In Germany, lack of childcare facilities, working hours, and talent management continue to pose barriers, as well as bias towards men for promotions. Women often require outside assistance, such as headhunters from other companies, to advance their careers.
By September, the proportion of women in board positions among the 160 Frankfurt Stock Exchange-listed companies included in the DAX, MDAX, and SDAX indices had increased to slightly over 5%, up by 2.3 percentage points from the previous year. However, this progress was slower than in the previous study. Currently, about two-thirds of the top-listed companies have female representation, but half of these companies have only one woman in the committee's larger committees.
The number of women occupying top positions remains low, with only seven female CEOs and ten female chairs of the supervisory board as of the reference date, a figure unchanged from the previous year. By October 1, an additional two women joined the executive board: Karin Rådström at Daimler Truck and Bettina Orlopp at Commerzbank.
The German-Swedish Allbright Foundation, as per its declaration, is a politically neutral and non-profit organization based in Stockholm and Berlin. It advocates for women and diversity in leadership positions within the economy.
Despite the progress made in increasing women's representation in supervisory boards of DAX companies, with 40% of members being female, only one DAX company, Porsche Automobil Holding, fails to have any female representatives on its board. This conglomerate, controlled by the Porsche and Piëch families, falls behind its competitors in terms of female representation in leadership roles.
Moving forward, companies like Porsche Automobil Holding need to recognize the benefits of diversity in leadership and actively work towards increasing female representation in their top management teams, as seen in more progressive nations like the UK and USA.
