Push for more women on German company boards loses momentum in 2022 - study

BERLIN (Reuters) - The proportion of women on the executive and supervisory boards of large companies in Germany continued to grow in 2022 but at a slower rate than the previous year, according to a study published on Wednesday.

The study, conducted by the DIW research institute with the Freie Universitaet Berlin, found that the proportion of women on the executive boards of the top 200 companies in Germany was 15.6% in 2022, up from 14.7% in 2021.

On supervisory boards, women made up 30.9% of members, up slightly from 30.4% in 2021.

The small increase was attributed to a loss of momentum after a statutory minimum requirement was introduced in 2021 for women on executive boards. This required listed companies with full co-determination and an executive board with at least four members to have to have at least one female board member.

This requirement applies to around 60 companies in Germany and in their case, women made up 19.0% of executive board members, the DIW said.

The quota is having an effect, said Katharina Wrohlich, head of the gender economics research group at DIW Berlin. "But even with the legal requirement, getting to gender parity is a long-distance run rather than a sprint," she said.

(Reporting by Maria Martinez, editing by Rachel More)