Women change the dynamics of the supervisory board and also have a positive impact on the company as a whole. This is the result of a recent study by the University of Tübingen.
Companies benefit in different ways when women sit on supervisory boards. A study by the University of Tübingen found this. Meeting attendance is higher if a company has at least one woman on its supervisory board than if it has only men on the board. Companies are also more profitable when there are two or more women on the supervisory board.
The scientists demonstrated the results with greater diversity: “Different views of the supervisory board mean that more options can be considered and better decisions made,” says one of the study’s authors, Kerstin Pull from the Department of Economics.
The research suggests that companies are missing out if they specifically appoint a woman into their management and controlling bodies, rather than systematically grooming women for such positions.
Especially valuable from the outside
If there are several women on the supervisory board, their different perspectives and expertise are better recognized and the board is able to take more informed decisions. “Therefore, a ‘critical mass’ of women on supervisory boards must first be reached before a positive impact on company profitability can be measured,” Pull explains.
The positive effect was only partially attributable to higher attendance at supervisory board meetings. Another reason could be that women are more often recruited to supervisory boards from outside and have not previously served on the company’s board of directors. The supervisory board should control the board of directors. From an external standpoint, the functionality is easier to implement,” Pull said.
Significant increase in the proportion of women
Based on the information provided, the authors survey German listed companies that report participation rates in supervisory board meetings. The researchers compared these figures with the proportion of women on supervisory boards and with the profitability of companies. The authors also interviewed 17 supervisory board members.
Since the introduction of quotas for women in jointly determined German listed companies in early 2016, the percentage of women on DAX supervisory boards has risen from 30.2 percent to 37.3 percent by the end of 2022. In 2023, for the first time, there will be more women than men on the DAX Supervisory Board. The percentage of women on executive boards of DAX companies has also increased significantly, from just 2.2 percent in 2010 to 21.8 percent in 2022.