Imagine you’re talking to your best friend. Both of you are talking about Germany. What is the first thing that comes to your mind? The strong economy during the euro crisis? Stereotypes, such as beer and sausages? Or women’s rights? What if your friend told you that only 8.3% of women (in companies with 500+ employees) are in a senior position? Would you believe it?
Sadly, this number is true. If you take a closer look, Germany might not seem as well-developed in certain aspects, as you would expect.  An EU-wide statistic supports this figure. No German company has managed to achieve a rank within the top 50 when it comes to female bosses. Other countries, namely Holland or Sweden, have a much higher percentage of women working in the management.

In China 30% of working females have a position in their companies’ management.  Once again, China is showing the world how it should be done. Especially for me (a business student, graduating in 2015) it is shocking to see that Germany is still far behind when compared to other countries in the EU. While studying at university, many students dream of starting a successful career -and let’s be honest, that is one main reason why we are studying. However, it is hard to hold on to that dream when you read statistics like the one above.

BMW and Adidas are two examples of companies which originally come from Germany. Yet, both have a man as their CEO. The question arises: why? Is it because cars and sportswear play an important role in a man’s life? Or is it simply because women are still seen as the weaker gender and it is assumed that they wouldn’t be able to handle the workload and stress that accompany a managerial job? In addition to this, women who have the same job, with the same qualification as a fellow male colleague often earn less, even though the work is the same.

A possible answer to the question as to why highly ranked positions are still dominated by men is that women often fail to build support networks. Some might also believe that men are not able to accept the fact that a woman has a higher degree of importance in an organization than they might have.

The government should help solve this problem. Supporting upcoming young women by implementing a which states that at least a certain percentage of females working in the firm should be employed at management level might increase the number of women who are able to reach the top.

On the other hand firms could help women. Hosting annual “parties” where women can meet other women from any type of industry could help to build and maintain networks. Additionally, training courses can help to make them to become better and more suited to the job as a boss. Who knows: maybe women will turn out to be better bosses.

Author: Lisa Schefter

Editor: Grahame Lucas

I’m Lisa, a 19-year-old student at the Cologne Business School. I am originally from Berlin where I started my education in an international school.  Since August 2012 I have been studying “International Culture and Management” and specializing in “Media Management”. I will be graduating and getting my Bachelor degree in 2015.