Germany’s listed companies have increased the share of women in leadership positions in the past year, easily. In the 160 companies listed in Dax, MDax and SDax, women make up 8.6 percent of the members of the management Board. At the beginning of 2018, there were still 7.3 per cent. The absolute Figures show, however, how slowly this change takes place: In the past year eleven women with leadership responsibilities were added just once, in total, there are now 61.

Since 2013, the consulting firm analyzed the EY (formerly Ernst & Young) twice per year, as the Board members of the corporations put together in the three stock market indices. The current proportion of women is the highest since the beginning of the investigation. The Dax-companies: Here is where 14.5 percent of Executive jobs are now filled by women, an increase of 2.1 percentage points. Of the 30 largest German companies, 23 now have at least one female Board member.

Chairman of the Board, inner in the Dax companies, however, is not. Only in the SDax index, to belong to the smaller enterprises, now stands at four companies have a woman CEO. The majority of companies omitted the top level continues to be completely on the participation of women: 67 percent of Germany’s top companies have no women on the Board.

it is Noteworthy that commercial companies find it difficult to transfer women into management tasks. Although, in this industry especially, many women are working, their share in the boards of only three percent. Much better for logistics companies (12 percent) and in the financial sector (13 percent). Top of EY surveyed companies in the telecommunications industry with a Board of Directors, women’s share of 16 percent.

“women in German boards of Directors are still a rarity”, writes EY-expert Ulrike Hasbargen the results of the investigation. Preponderance with a male Executive could be the Problem, it warns: “at first It may be a bit more strenuous, to work in mixed Teams, but the friction, which arises here, the discussions and the meeting of different points of view lead also often to new solutions and more innovation.”