Publikationen der Forschungsgruppe Gender Economics

Number of Women on Boards of Large Companies Keeps Growing: Momentum from Inclusion Requirement, However, Is Waning

The upward trend in women’s representation on executive and supervisory boards of major companies in Germany continued in 2022, although the overall momentum has slowed yet again. Growth on executive boards in particular has slowed, as the most recent DIW Berlin Women Executives Barometer shows: Following a significant increase at the 200 largest companies from 2020 to 2021, there was only a one-percentage-point ...

Gender Parity on Top Boards Is Still a Far-off Goal, and It Is Time for Companies to Take Action: Editorial

While Gender Quotas for Top Positions in the Private Sector Differ across EU Countries, They Are Effective Overall

This second report in the DIW Berlin Women Executives Barometer 2022 explores the designs and effects of gender quotas across Europe, coming to the conclusion that they are an effective instrument for increasing the share of women in top positions at large companies. Furthermore, the quotas differ greatly between the countries, for example in regard to the number of companies subject to the quota, ...

Markedly More Women on Executive Boards of Large Companies; Inclusion Requirement Seemingly Already Having an Effect

There was a significant increase in the number of women on executive boards of large companies in Germany from 2020 to 2021 after years of slow progress: In fall 2021, there were 139 women on the executive boards of the 200 largest companies, 38 more than in 2020. This is an increase of a good three percentage points to almost 15 percent, the largest seen since the beginning of the DIW Berlin Women ...

Executive Boards Remain Dominated By Men, but Change Is Finally Coming: Editorial

Gender Pay Gap in a European Comparison: Positive Correlation between the Female Labor Force Participation Rate and the Gender Pay Gap

Public interest in the gender pay gap has risen significantly over the past years in Germany, but the size of the gender pay gap has barely changed. A comparison across European countries shows that a lower female labor force participation rate is associated with a smaller gender pay gap. The gender differences in the characteristics of the labor force, which vary across countries, are one explanation ...

Gender Diversity Benefits Supervisory Board Work of Many Companies

Over the past years, the proportion of women on the supervisory boards of major companies in Germany has increased. As this second report in the DIW Women Executives Barometer 2021 shows, this has a meaningful, positive impact on the supervisory boards of many companies, and affects interactions between members, discussions, and decision-making. These findings are based on qualitative interviews with ...

Number of Women on Boards of Large Firms Increasing Slowly; Legal Requirements Could Provide Momentum

The proportion of women on the boards of large companies in Germany continued to increase during 2020. In the fourth quarter of 2020, there were 101 female executive board members in the 200 largest companies, seven more than in 2019. However, growth was slow, as it was in some of the other groups of companies as well: The proportion of women on the executive boards of the top 200 companies (around ...

Momentum in Sight for the Executive Boards of Major German Companies: Editorial

Reform Proposal for Marriage Taxation in Germany: De Facto Income Splitting with a Low Transferable Amount

Two traditional options for reforming Ehegattensplitting, the joint taxation of married couples with full income splitting, are de facto income splitting (Realsplitting) or individual taxation with a transferable personal allowance. However, these proposals do not significantly reduce the marginal tax burden on the secondary earner’s income and therefore only minimally encourage married women to participate ...