The share of female shareholder representatives on the supervisory boards of Germany's largest listed companies has stagnated, with newly elected women at their lowest level this decade, according to an analysis by executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates.
The current round of annual general meetings has nudged the overall figure up by 0.1 percentage points to 38.3%. However, the share of women among newly elected representatives stands at just 32%.
The companies in question are listed on Germany's DAX index, which tracks Germany's 40 largest listed firms by market capitalization.
Until 2024, the proportion of women had grown continuously for 15 years, rising from 7% to more than 40%.
One possible explanation for the stagnation is shorter tenure among female board members. Women leaving or set to leave supervisory boards this year served an average of 5.4 years, compared with 9.5 years for men, the study found.
Jens-Thomas Pietralla of Russell Reynolds said Germany's lack of progress toward parity over the last two years ran contrary to broader European trends. Pietralla added that women also remained underrepresented in key leadership positions.
The study suggests past inequality is now feeding into current disparities.
In uncertain times, companies tend to prefer candidates with chief executive experience, Pietralla said. As relatively few women have held chief executive roles at DAX firms, the pool of eligible female candidates is smaller, he added.
At the top level, however, female representation has improved slightly. Following Sabrina Soussan's recent appointment as chair of the supervisory board at Continental, five of the boards are now chaired by women.
If Amparo Moraleda takes over the supervisory board at Airbus from René Obermann in October, that number would rise further, lifting the share to 15%.
