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Better than average: With
Katja Dürrfeld
(pictured) and Ariane Reinhardt , the automotive supplier Continental has
two women on its five-strong executive board.
In contrast, 68 of the top 100 family businesses are exclusively managed by men
Photo: Continental
They are considered the heart of the middle class and see it as their duty to do business in a socially responsible manner: family businesses.
However, their efforts to promote equal opportunities and diversity leave a lot to be desired: On March 1st of this year, only 8.3 percent of the executive boards of the 100 top-selling German family businesses were women, as the new report by the AllBright Foundation shows.
"Family businesses are not living up to the standards they have set for themselves," explains Wiebke Ankersen, managing director of the German-Swedish foundation, which advocates for more diversity.
"Even the Dax companies are further along, and their numbers are well below average in an international comparison."
At the 160 companies listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the proportion of women in management is 14.3 percent.
Most of the 100 largest German family businesses are already in second, third or fourth generation family ownership.
Only a few companies are still operationally managed by their founders, but by employed managing directors.
The selection for top jobs is no longer limited to female or male offspring.
They can draw from a large pool of specialists from which the 160 listed companies also recruit their executives - but have made a different choice for years.
"Rich in tradition and poor in women"
In March 2020, the AllBright Foundation examined the proportion of women within the largest German family businesses for the first time and made the diagnosis at the time that these were "rich in tradition and poor in women".
At that time, the proportion of women was seven percent and has hardly changed in the past two years.
"That really surprised us," explains the AllBright CEO.
There were no fewer new appointments than in the companies listed on the DAX, MDAX and SDAX.
Almost all of the 126 people who have been newly recruited to the executive boards of family companies since March 1, 2020 are non-family executives; only two people came from the owner families.
The opportunity for more diversity was there, but family businesses seem to continue to rely on the familiar and tried and tested: men's teams.
Male, German, over 50
The average executive board member in the 100 largest family businesses is 92 percent male, 87 percent German, born in 1967 and 79 percent completed an apprenticeship in West Germany.
"It goes without saying that the companies then lack the interaction of different perspectives," says Ankersen.
Stefan is the most common name in the management of family businesses and he prefers to hire people who are very similar to him - especially in times of crisis like the last two years: the proportion of women in new recruits between 2019 and 2020 was 22 percent, has it will almost halve between 2020 and 2022 to just 12 percent.
"Diversity is not yet anchored at the top of the company and is the first thing that falls under the table in a crisis," says Ankersen, explaining the decline.
This development is most extreme in companies that are 100 percent family-owned: in the past two years, more people with the first name Stefan have been appointed to the management board, a total of seven, than women, a total of five.
Actors from outside the family increase the proportion of women
The higher the transparency and the influence of non-family actors, the higher the proportion of women in management.
Of the 100 largest family companies, 19 are listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the family holds a significant share of the shares, for example
BMW, Continental or Henkel.
At 16.4 percent, the proportion of women on the executive boards of these listed family businesses is significantly higher than the average for family businesses.
The worst performers are the 70 companies that are 100 percent family-owned: there are only 4.8 percent women on the executive board.
Schwarz Group and Fressnapf are men-only events
The pet food
specialist Fressnapf
and the
Schwarz Group
(Lidl, Kaufland) fared the worst.
The two companies have large management teams of ten and nine members respectively.
None of the posts are occupied by a woman.
"You have to explain that in 2022, as really not a single suitable woman could be found," says Ankersen.
She names
Henkel and Haniel
as beacons of hope .
The families would have firmly anchored the diverse further development in their heads.
"They want to achieve parity in management positions by 2025, that's ambitious."
Family businesses always struggle with the challenge of combining tradition and change in their company.
"In recent years, however, there hasn't been a bit of change, only the continuation of outdated management concepts," says Ankersen.
It is important not to miss the step and not to be seen as a second-choice employer for top executives.
"The best minds feel more comfortable in an open corporate culture and attract more diverse talent."
50 years to parity
If you keep up the pace of the past two years, the change will be long-lasting.
It takes 58 years for the 100 largest family businesses to achieve a 50:50 ratio of men and women in management positions.
17 more years in the 160 companies in the Dax, MDax, SDax.