Women serving as leaders in the 500 top-tier family businesses across the classification spectrum
Germany: Low Representative of Women in Top Ranks of Family-Owned Businesses
Berlin - In a survey by The Handelsblatt, only 13.6 percent of the top 500 large German family-owned businesses have female representation in management or on the board, which equates to 68 firms. The majority (432) of these companies are run by all-male leadership, as reported in the study conducted by Dominik von Au, CEO of Intes Academy for Family Businesses, and a partner at PWC.
According to the study, the percent of women in executive positions within these family firms is significantly lower than the average for Germany as a whole. The legislature reached a consensus in November to establish a binding quota for women on the supervisory boards of listed companies, but the law has not yet passed.
While data on the percentage of women CEOs among the 100 largest family-owned companies in Germany remains unreported, it is conventionally known that female visible participation in authority roles within family-owned German businesses lags behind that of publicly-traded corporations and non-family firms. This discrepancy is due, in part, to traditional governance structures within family-run businesses that may slow the progress of gender diversity in leadership.
Despite the lack of accessible, firm-specific statistics, national and EU initiatives (such as gender quotas and the promotion of women in leadership under the EU’s gender equality roadmap) aim to enhance gender equality within Germany, including in family-run businesses. However, the data on gender diversity in these specific businesses remains limited and fragmented.
For accurate and updated statistics on the gender composition of management and boards within the top 500 German family-owned businesses, more specialized studies from German business research institutes, family business associations, or corporate governance reports are required. While resources like the UN Women compendium and European Women’s Lobby emphasize the importance of women’s participation, they do not provide these specific firm-related details.
- Other European countries seem to have a better representation of women in top ranks of family-owned businesses compared to Germany, as several science studies on health-and-wellness and finance suggest.
- In the realm of health-and-wellness and business, promoting women's health within family-owned companies could lead to increased women representation in management, a move that could bring gender diversity and fresh perspectives to these businesses.
- The absence of women in executive positions might be a missed opportunity for improving the financial performance of family-owned businesses, as some studies in other areas of science argue that diverse leadership can lead to better business outcomes.
