Women in management positions: Less transparency in public companies than in listed companies

Friedrichshafen. In order to promote the proportion of women in management positions, legislation requires companies with more than 500 employees to set targets for the proportion of women at second and third management level and to report on these. This is contradicted by the fact that 40.5 percent of companies do not adhere to the requirements and therefore do not guarantee transparency. The transparency of women's representation targets is therefore considerably worse than in listed companies. This is shown by a recent study by Zeppelin University (ZU).

The study published by Professor Dr. Ulf Papenfuß from the Chair of Public Management & Public Policy and his team of researchers analyzed not only the reporting, but also the level of targets for the proportion of women at second and third management level at 190 public companies in the five largest cities in each federal state. The average target figure has risen slightly by 1.3 percentage points to 28.2 percent. Public companies from the eastern German federal states and cities have an overall average target figure of 34.7 percent for the second and third management levels, while public companies from the western German federal states and cities only have a target figure of 25.9 percent. There are substantial differences not only between but also within the same sector.

Companies are therefore a long way from achieving the targets formulated by politicians. The authors therefore call for compliance with the requirements in order to ensure trust in the state and public institutions. "Flexible targets are a tool with great potential for personnel development and employer attractiveness. The responsible players must now act quickly to maintain credibility and trust in order to implement the requirements," concludes Papenfuß.

The study was supported by the AKDB - Anstalt für Kommunale Datenverarbeitung in Bayern, the L-Bank - Förderbank Baden-Württemberg and the zfm - Zentrum für Management- und Personalberatung Edmund Mastiaux & Partner and accompanied the discussion of the topic in practice.

On Tuesday, November 26, a panel discussion will take place at the ZF Campus of the ZU in Fallenbrunnen from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. to mark the publication of the study.

Further information and the complete study can be found at puma.zu.de