Fewer women on DAX boards: Where is the equality?

Fewer women on DAX boards: Where is the equality?

A lot is happening on German boards, but not necessarily for the better. According to the current report on schwarzwaelder-bote.de, the proportion of women on the boards of the 90 largest companies on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange fell to 25.5 percent in 2025, which represents a decrease of 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous year. The situation is particularly critical in the MDax, where the proportion of leading women has fallen by 0.4 points to 19.5 percent. This ends a positive trend that lasted a whole decade and saw the proportion of female managers continually increase.

As already noted in previous analyzes by haufe.de, there are also other structural problems in the DAX companies that have a negative impact on equality. On average, men still earn 13.9 percent more than women - a clear indication of the unadjusted gender pay gap of 16 percent in Germany. 29 of the 33 DAX companies examined pay men more than women, with Deutsche Bank being the sad leader with a gender pay gap of 38.8 percent. This is particularly due to the nature of jobs in which women tend to work in social or administrative positions, while men disproportionately occupy better-paid leadership roles.

The situation in international comparison

In the international context, Germany is not doing particularly well. According to the study on schwarzwaelder-bote.de, only Germany and Sweden have a declining proportion of women in the boardroom. Compared to other countries, Norway has the highest proportion of women on boards, at over a third, while the DAX ranks sixth internationally in terms of the proportion of women. The MDax is at the bottom of the rankings and performs poorly in the EU, compared to an average of 35 percent in management positions.

A look at the EU-wide rankings shows that Germany will be in 22nd place out of 27 member states in 2024, with only around 29 percent women in leadership positions. For comparison: Sweden tops the list with an impressive 44 percent. Countries such as Latvia, Poland and Hungary also show high proportions of women, while Cyprus, Croatia and Italy struggle with the lowest rates.

The path to equality

In view of these figures, it is clear that there is still a long way to go towards equality in the management ranks of DAX companies. Female board members in Germany often head human resources, but are less often found in operational businesses. This discrepancy could be due to deeply rooted structures that still disadvantage women in leadership positions.

The new EU directive on sustainability reporting, which will require DAX companies to report on the gender pay gap since 2023, could be a step in the right direction. However, so far only two companies, SAP and Telekom, have voluntarily published the adjusted gender pay gap - a clear sign that there is still a need for action.

It remains to be hoped that the proportion of women in management positions will increase in the medium term and that we will soon be able to report positive changes here. Until then, however, the view remains muted, as the current statistics show.