Politics

Forty percent of DAX's supervisory boards are now composed of women.

Women ascend to commanding heights in DAX supervisory boards, yet leadership positions remain elusive. A recent report by HR firm Russell Reynolds indicates that over 40% of supervisory board seats in DAX corporations are now filled by women. However, female managers occupying leadership...

SymClub

May 14, 2024

2 min read

News, content, My-money, DAX, Handle, Management Board

Clara C. Streit (l.) and Dr. Simone Bagel-Trah are the only women to head a DAX supervisory board

Researchers release findings on topic - Forty percent of DAX's supervisory boards are now composed of women.

Since 2016, a mandatory 30% female representation was set for supervisory boards of listed companies with parity governance. The majority of DAX companies surpass this requirement now. In a European comparison, Germany comes in seventh place, with France topping the list with approximately 46% women.

In current standings, Russell Reynolds reported more women than men were elected to supervisory boards this year. Four DAX companies hold predominantly women on their supervisory boards: Vonovia, Beiersdorf, Hannover Re, and Zalando. Furthermore, women share half of the members in Bayer, Commerzbank, and Covestro's supervisory committees.

Notably, 24 out of the 40 businesses display women representing more than 40% on their supervisory boards. A fifth of these boards' committee chairs are females, and only two of the forty DAX companies possess a female member on the supervisory board.

German-American Clara C. Streit (55) has led the Supervisory Board at the housing group Vonovia since May 2023. Upon completing her business administration degree at the University of St. Gallen, she joined McKinsey consulting firm for over 20 years, devoting solely to her roles on Supervisory Boards and Boards of Directors since 2012.

At Deutsche Börse, Clara C. Streit has been a member of the Supervisory Board since 2019 and Chief Supervisory Officer at Vonovia

Simone Bagel-Trah, aged 55, serves as Chief Supervisor at Düsseldorf-based Henkel since 2009. Her family connection to Henkel ranges to its founder, Fritz Henkel, and she obtained a doctorate in microbiology from the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn.

It's worth noting that gender equality is present in a supposedly "soft" topic: half of DAX's supervisory boards are filled with sustainability experts, and three-quarters of these positions are occupied by women.

Serving on a DAX supervisory board is financially rewarding for both sexes. In the 2023 fiscal year, Ryussell Reynolds found that the average remuneration came to 200,000 euros, marking a 7% rise in comparison to the previous year.