Women to make up 38% of boards at top German firms – Consultant

 

BERLIN – The percentage of women on the supervisory boards of Germany’s 40 largest firms listed on the DAX index should reach a record 38% by the end of this year’s corporate meeting season, a personnel consultancy firm said on Wednesday.

Heidrick & Struggles noted that the 38% share is an increase of 1.8 percentage points over last year and would be the highest level to date.

The company’s predictions were based on the results of supervisory board elections as well as previously announced election candidates for upcoming general meetings.

The DAX companies are “slowly but steadily moving in the right direction,” said the German head of Heidrick & Struggles, Nicolas von Rosty.

“This development can also be seen internationally.” In 10 of the companies, there is parity between women and men on the capital side, he said.

At the top of the supervisory boards, however, the quota is significantly worse.

Von Rosty said it was “bitter” that after this year’s elections only two DAX 40 supervisory boards would still be led by women. He said in the future “a signal for more diversity” should be set in the top positions.