study
More than twice as many women on boards than in 2020
Female managers are most strongly represented on the top floors of the 40 DAX companies. photo
© Hannes P. Albert/dpa
The top floors of German companies have become more female in recent years. The proportion of female managers remains manageable.
“Although we see a stable upward trend, the proportion of women on boards remains manageable – especially in companies that are less in the public eye,” said Ev Bangemann from EY Germany. A number of companies (49 percent) were content with appointing just one woman to the board. “It makes sense to assume that the legal minimum requirements should only be met.”
When making new appointments to the board, listed companies with equal co-determination and more than 2,000 employees and more than three board members must also ensure that there is at least one woman in the management team.
Women are most represented on DAX boards
In the second half of the year, 41 new members joined the boardrooms of the 160 companies evaluated, 16 of whom were female, which corresponds to a share of 39 percent. In the first half of the year, the proportion of women among newly appointed board members was 42 percent.
Female managers continue to be most strongly represented on the top floors of the 40 DAX companies. Almost a quarter of the board members of the German benchmark index are female (24 percent). However, no other woman has been added since summer 2023. The proportion of female board members is significantly lower in the medium-sized companies in the MDax at 18 percent and in the smaller companies in the SDax (14 percent).
At the top of the board are female managers in seven of the 160 companies, including Belén Garijo at the chemical and pharmaceutical company Merck, Helen Giza at the dialysis provider Fresenius Medical Care (FMC) and Yvonne Rostock, who runs the photography service provider Cewe.