No Exemplary Values: Women Still Rare in Austria's Corporate Boards

At the top of the board, there is still only one woman: Radka Doehring as Co-CEO of Immofinanz AG. "The historical high in the proportion of women on boards is indeed a positive signal, but by no means sufficient," EY partner Helen Pelzmann is quoted in a press release. "The fact that still significantly more than half of the companies have no female board member and only one woman is at the top of a company shows the urgent need for action".

Women's Share in Supervisory Boards Even Slightly Decreased

In the supervisory boards, the share of women has even slightly decreased - to 31.6 percent (165 out of 522 supervisory board positions) after 31.8 percent in August last year. A legal gender quota of 30 percent was introduced for supervisory boards at the beginning of 2018. Just before the introduction (end of 2017), the share of women was significantly lower at 19.8 percent. After a significant increase in the first years after the introduction, the share recently stagnated around the legal 30 percent quota.

Even with the boards, a clearer development is shown in the longer-term comparison: In July 2015, almost ten years ago, the share of women in Austria's boards was still at 4.1 percent. In absolute numbers, the number of female board members has thus increased from seven to 24.

The analysed Vienna Stock Exchange Index WBI is a total index. This includes all shares listed on the Official Market of the Vienna Stock Exchange.

(APA/Red.)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.