In Germany women's quota in management positions stands at 24.1%

The quota of women in management positions in Germany is currently 24.1%. The assessment looked at just under 2.5 million management positions in 1.2 million companies. In March 2021, the proportion was slightly higher at 24.6%.

When talking about women's quotas, the eastern German states continue to play a leading role. Brandenburg leads the way with a 29.6% quota of women in management positions, followed by Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (27.9% each), Thuringia (26.4%) and Saxony-Anhalt (26.0%). Bremen (19.7%), Baden-Württemberg (22.3%) and Hamburg (22.9%), in particular, have some catching up to do in terms of the proportion of women.

As the size of the company increases, the average proportion of women in top positions declines steadily and then rises again among large companies. While more than one in four executives in small companies with up to ten employees is a woman (27.6%), the proportion of female bosses drops to 12.3% in companies with 101 to 500 employees. For large companies with more than 10,000 employees, the proportion of women in management positions is 16.9%.

The female quota in companies behaves similarly in relation to turnover. Companies with sales of less than one million euros have the highest proportion of women in management positions (25.9%). For companies with sales of more than 100 million euros, the proportion of women in management positions is 12.4%.

In terms of creditworthiness and solvency, on the other hand, women-led companies come out top. The risk of insolvency is lower for companies with only women at decision-making level than for companies managed exclusively by men. Here, the proportion of financially weak companies is 7.3%. In contrast, the proportion of companies at risk of insolvency that are managed by men is 8.9%.

In addition, CRIF examined the companies in terms of the creditworthiness index and gender differences. For companies run by men, the average creditworthiness index is 2.55. For companies led by women, on the other hand, the index has an average of 2.47. A lower creditworthiness index predicts a lower probability of default and should therefore be interpreted more positively.

In an industry analysis, healthcare delivers the highest value with a female quota of 36.9%. However, women also occupy management positions with above-average frequency in retail (26.2%) and publishing (24.4%). Meanwhile, there are fewer women in management positions in construction (9.7%), mechanical engineering (9.8%) and energy supply (11.2%).

Women are severely underrepresented on supervisory boards. While the proportion of women on supervisory boards is 19.4%, only just over one in ten supervisory board chairs is held by a woman (11.3%). Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (26.4%) and Brandenburg (25.2%) lead the way in terms of the proportion of women on supervisory boards. Saarland, on the other hand, reports the lowest proportion of female supervisory board members, with 17.1%. A detailed analysis of the positions held by supervisory board chairs shows that the proportion of women on this body is highest in Brandenburg (19.3%) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (18.5%). In Baden-Württemberg (8.4%), Lower Saxony (8.9%) and Bavaria (9.3%) the proportion of women at the top of the supervisory body is below 10%.

The picture is similar for the executive boards of stock corporations. The proportion of female executives on boards is just 10.4%. Berlin leads the way here with a share of 12.5%.

For the analysis, CRIF evaluated approximately 2.5 million management positions in 1.2 million companies (as of March 4, 2022). The positions include managing directors, supervisory board members and chairs, managing partners, and board members and chairs. Approximately 64,000 executive positions were analyzed for supervisory board members and just under 15,500 for supervisory board chairs. In the analysis of executive board members in stock corporations, 15,900 positions in Germany were evaluated.