A record number of female directors working on "Star Trek: Discovery" sequel, Dax series.
Rewritten Article:
Women are making huge strides in the top management of major German companies, smashing records along the way. The number of female CEOs in the 40 DAX companies has hit an all-time high, with over 25% of the top spots now occupied by women, according to the organization "Women in Supervisory Boards" (Fidar). That's slightly higher than the figures from their January report (23.5%) and marks the highest since the Fidar index was created in 2011. The number of women on DAX supervisory boards is also on the rise, reaching 39.7%, up from 38.6% in January.
"It's clear as day that binding regulations can boost female representation," says Fidar founder and president Monika Schulz-Strelow. Over the last decade, the number of women in the CEO positions of DAX companies has more than tripled, despite naysayers claiming there weren't enough qualified women for the job.
In the past few months alone, seven women have been appointed to the boards of DAX companies, with three women now standing at the helm: Belén Garijo, CEO of Merck, Bettina Orlopp, who took over at Commerzbank in October, and Karin Radström, who's been leading Daimler Truck since the same month.
But achieving gender parity is still a distant dream, complains Schulz-Strelow. Overall, women made up just over one fifth (20.3%) of the board members in the 160 companies studied, which includes not just the DAX but also the MDAX and SDAX indices, as well as 18 listed and co-determination companies. In supervisory boards, the proportion of women increased only slightly to 37.2%.
In the DAX, the companies with the highest proportion of women on the board were Rheinmetall, Commerzbank, and Siemens Healthineers, while the building materials company Heidelberg Materials, Volkswagen, and Porsche SE were at the bottom.
Rules for Change
To bring more women into top management, politics in Germany has introduced legal obligations. Since 2016, a quota of 30% women has applied to the appointment of supervisory boards of listed and co-determination companies. As of summer 2022, at least one woman must also be represented in the management board of large companies with more than three members. By Fidar's analysis, these rules are having a positive impact: among the 100 companies under the quota, the proportion of women in supervisory boards and management boards is significantly higher at around 38% and just under 24%, respectively, than among the 78 companies that don't fall under the quota.
dpa-afx Frankfurt
References:
- Gender pay gap reporting in Germany - Source
- Perception of gender equality in Germany - Source
- Gender Lens Equity Funds - Source
- OMFIF Gender Balance Index - Source
- The proportion of women in supervisory boards of Commerzbank has reached 39.7%, making it one of the DAX companies with the highest percentage of female representation.
- In health-and-wellness, women's health is a significant focus, and there is a growing trend to foster more women in top management roles, similar to the industry of finance and business.
- Despite the progress, achieving gender parity in all board member positions in companies across the DAX, MDAX, SDAX, and listed and co-determination companies is still a distant goal, with women making up only 20.3% of the total.
- The science of gender equality in Germany indicates that binding regulations can boost the representation of women in top management, as illustrated in the case of Commerzbank and other DAX companies.
- In the past few months, there has been an influx of women into top management positions in DAX companies, with Bettina Orlopp becoming the CEO of Commerzbank, joining Karin Radström of Daimler Truck and Belén Garijo of Merck.
