A lot is being done. But there’s still much room for improvement.
In January 2021, the German government approved draft legislation for a women’s quota at board level in the private and public sectors: from 2022, at least one out of three members must be female when new board members are appointed. There is also a similar regulation for control bodies and supervisory boards, yet Germany lags behind in international comparison. Women are significantly underrepresented in management positions in this country, and even the stock market climbers among the new companies are not setting a good example here.
There are a lot of reasons for the unequal gender distribution, ranging from outdated role and modesty clichés to the so-called “glass ceiling” and arguments that no suitable female applicants are available or potential female candidates don’t want to take on management positions. This makes it more difficult for women to advance to the executive and control levels. We think: If you are not wanted, you will not be found!
Female leaders are an asset to any organization.
There is a high potential of qualified women in Germany, at the specialist level and among the next generation of managers. Numerous empirical studies have long documented the competitive advantage for companies that have women on their leadership teams: Diversely managed organizations show better economic results and more positive social effects.
As the proportion of women in management teams grows, companies’ innovation performance increases. Studies also find that the workforces of female-led companies believe more strongly in the strategy of the company’s management and are significantly more convinced of the added value of the product or service that the company sells.1
Women in leadership positions must become a matter of course.
Lasting changes in this area can only be achieved if politicians, society and companies work together. At Selaestus, we are actively contributing to this: Both in the search for and selection of executives and in our involvement through networks, associations and professional organizations, we are committed to ensuring that women are given equal consideration when filling management positions. After all, an equal-opportunity recruitment process is the first step towards achieving gender balance at the management level.
1 https://peakon.com/de/blog/peakon-news-de/die-strategischen-vorteile-von-frauen-in-fuehrungspositionen/
Read more:
Allbright Stiftung, Allbright Bericht 2020: Deutscher Sonderweg. Frauenanteil in DAX-Vorständen sinkt in der Krise. September 2020
Academia Net, No more Excuses! Spitzenfrauen in der Wissenschaft, Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH, Heidelberg.
Flabbi, L., Macis, M. Moro, A. & Schriadi, F. (2019), Do females executives make a difference? The impact of female leadership on gender gaps and firm performance, The Economic Journal 129 (622), 2390-2423.
