Proportion of women in management positions at municipal companies varies greatly from region to region - study also shows major differences in Baden-Württemberg

Friedrichshafen. Women continue to be significantly underrepresented in the management levels of municipal companies in Baden-Württemberg and nationwide. With a share of 22.4 percent, only just under one in five top positions in Baden-Württemberg cities is held by a woman. This is below the national average of 23.0 percent. For the third time in a row, representation is below the level of the DAX 40 companies, as the current study "Women in top management bodies of public companies" by Zeppelin University (ZU) shows.

The highest proportion of women in top management was once again found in cities in eastern German states (24.7 percent), whereas the average in cities in western German states (19.1 percent) was lower - a widening of the east-west divide compared to the previous year. While four of the 69 cities surveyed achieve a representation of at least 40 percent, the proportion is below 10 percent in 13 cities, of which six cities again have a representation of 0 percent. Of the cities in Baden-Württemberg, Karlsruhe (32.1 percent), Freiburg (29.2 percent) and Mannheim (26.5 percent) are above the municipal average, while Stuttgart (14.3 percent) and Heidelberg (3.8 percent) continue to have below-average figures.

Last year, 30.7% of new appointments to top management positions were made by women - 2.8 percentage points more than in the previous year. Saxony (52.4 percent) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (50.0 percent) had the highest figures - the cities in Baden-Württemberg (34.4 percent) were in the middle of the field.

Professor Dr. Ulf Papenfuß, Dr. Christian Arno Schmidt and Katharina Zettl from the Chair of Public Management & Public Policy at ZU explain: "In addition to diverse 'cultural work' and sustainable personnel development, a key step for every local authority in light of the study results is to promptly develop and adopt a Public Corporate Governance Code with clear regulations."

In April 2025, Professor Dr. Ulf Papenfuß and his team once again examined the status quo of women's representation in public companies. They analysed data from 69 cities as well as from the federal and state governments and 2,019 public companies with a total of 2,126 positions in management, leadership and the board of directors of municipal utilities, public transport, hospitals, trade fairs, social institutions, IT and digitalization, among others.

The study is sponsored by the "zfm - Zentrum für Management und Personalberatung" in Bonn and the "AKDB - Anstalt für Kommunale Datenverarbeitung in Bayern" and is accompanied by the discussion of the topic in practice.

On Friday, July 18, from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m., a free online panel discussion will take place to mark the publication of the study.

The complete study for download and the registration link for the online panel discussion can be found at puma.zu.de