Efforts to boost gender equality at the top of Germany’s biggest companies have stalled — and in 2025, they slipped backward.
The share of women on executive boards at the 90 largest firms listed on the Dax and MDax fell slightly last year, ending a decade-long upward trend, according to a study by executive search firm Russell Reynolds.
In the Dax, which tracks Germany’s 40 largest companies (blue chips), women now hold 25.5% of board seats, down 0.2 percentage points from a year earlier.
Only four companies—Beiersdorf, Merck, MTU, and Siemens Healthineers — stand out with women making up more than half of their executive boards. At the other end of the scale, Porsche and Brenntag still have no women at the board level.
The picture is even weaker in the MDax, which tracks the next 50 successful mid-sized companies. The share of female executives slipped by 0.4 points to 19.5%, marking the first decline after 10 consecutive years of progress.
The study also found that women on boards are disproportionately assigned to human resources roles rather than operational leadership positions.
In a European comparison of nine countries, Germany and Sweden were the only ones to record a setback, while Norway led the field with women accounting for well over one-third of board members.
“The international comparison, the distribution of power within boards, and the shorter tenure of women all show that real structural equality in German boardrooms has still not been achieved,” said study author Jens-Thomas Pietralla.
Despite years of political pressure to promote more women into top jobs, the figures suggest Germany’s corporate glass ceiling remains firmly in place.