MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - Female representation on the shareholder side of Dax supervisory boards has hit a plateau. While the current round of annual general meetings saw a marginal uptick of 0.1 percentage points to 38.3%, according to an analysis by executive search firm Russell Reynolds, the share among newly elected representatives stands at 32% - the lowest level recorded this decade.
Until 2024, the proportion of women had grown steadily for 15 years, rising from 7% to over 40%. One reason for the current stagnation could be that women tend to have shorter tenures on these boards. Looking at the length of service for supervisory board members stepping down this year, women averaged only 5.4 years, compared to 9.5 years for men.
'For the second consecutive year, there has been no progress on what recently seemed a certain path toward parity - and this runs counter to the broader European trend,' says Jens-Thomas Pietralla of Russell Reynolds. Furthermore, the appointment of women to key power positions continues to lag significantly. 'Taken as a whole, this is not a positive development.'
Past inequality breeds new disparities
One underlying cause may be rooted in historical inequality: given the current uncertain climate, candidates who have previously served as CEOs are being prioritized, Pietralla notes. 'Since very few women have headed Dax companies in the past, the pool of female candidates with this specific experience is inevitably much smaller, which puts women at a disadvantage.'
There is, however, some slight improvement at the very top of these boards. Since Sabrina Soussan assumed the chair at Continental a few days ago, five of these boards are now led by women, according to the study. When Amparo Moraleda succeeds René Obermann as chair of the Airbus supervisory board in October 2026, that figure is set to rise to 15%./ruc/DP/mis
