At the starting of March, Petra Scharner-Wolff Took Over As Ceo of Otto Group, A German corporation.
In Germany, Otto is an Iconic Company Best Known for Its Huge Catalogs, a duplicate of which beinged in numerous homes throughout the nation for years. In its prime time, The Otto Catalog Came Out Twice A Year, Had Over 1,000 Pages and consisting of whatever from Clothing and Toys to Entire Bedroom Sets.
Today, Otto No Longer Prints Its Catalog But Has Transformed Into One of the World’s Largest E-Commerce Platforms Last Year, The Privateely Owned Company Had Around 38.500 Employees and Brought in EUR 15 Billion ($ 15.7 Billion) inRevenue Its Namesake Otto Online Platform Offers 18 million Items for Sale.
The modification in the Boardroom Means the Otto Family Won’t Be Directly in Charge for the First Time in theCompany’s History Scharner-Wolff’s altitude is a tiny Victory for equal rights in the nation’s male-dominated service globe.
Germany Behind in Boardroom Gender Equality
One Way to Measure Gender Equality is Counting Women in Leadership Roles inCompanies Though an Imperfect Measure Since It Doesn’t Count All Women In The Job Market Or Take Gender Pay Gaps Into Account, The Idea Has Caught On.
Looking at 160 Big Publicly Listed Companies in Germany in March 2025, Women Made Up 19.7% of their Executive Leadership Teams and 37.4% of Their Boards of Directors, According to A Report by the Allbright Foundation
Overall, there were 561 males and 138 Women on the exec management groups.
Looking at the 40 Blue-Chip Companies Listed in the German Dax Stock Market Index, Just Had Three Or much more females on their executive management group. Porsche Holding is the just one with no.
Part of the trouble is a traditional company society in the nation, Says Wiebke Ankersen, Co-Director of theAllbright Foundation “Companies Have Been Doing Very Well for a Long Time and there was wasn’t Enough Pressure to Change,” Ankersen Told DW.
Blame everything on nature?
There are in addition probleming like tax obligation policies that dissuade wives from functioning.”There is a Lack of Tens of Thousands of Missing Daycare Places,” Ankersen Said “Women in germany often only work a few hour a week or below their qualification level and don’t make a management career.”
There are Several Other Reasons for Germany’s Low Share of Women in Management Positions, Says Katharina Wrohlich, Head of the Gender Economics Research Group at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) inBerlin
“One Significant Factor Is The Prevailing Gender Norms in the Labor Market,” Said Wrohlich, that is a Professor of Public Finance, Gender and Family Economics at the University ofPotsdam “Social Attitudes Toward Full-Time Employment for Mother With Young Children Are Often Negative, which adversely affects Women’s Opportunities for Leadership Roles.”
Thesis Deeply Rooted Gender Stereotypes inCorporate Culture Often Get In The Way “Both Father and Mother Should Be Allowed to Take Time Off for Family Reasons and Have the Option to Work Part-Time,” Wreohlich Told DW. Afterward it is essential that Companies Encourage Them to go back to full time job.
Germany Has Gone the Legal Route
Over the Past Two Decades, Wreohlich has Seen some renovation however claiming germany is still much from attaining sex parity. Looking Forward Though “It Remains Uncertain Whether We Will Continue to See Positive Developments in The Future,” She Said.
“We have seen a positive development over the past five years, alpine at a low level,” Agreed Wiebke Ankersen “It has bigome tough to provide a board with a solitary Woman on it as it is no longger socialy account.
Still, at the Current Rate IT Will Take Another 15 Years to have as numerous females as males in administration and decision-make settings inGerman Companies “We Simply Can’t Wait That Long,” Said Ankersen.
The Country Has Two Pieces of Legislation Mandating Gender Quotas forMost Publicly Listed Companies The First Enacted in 2015 Requires Supervisory Boards to Be Made Up of At Lease 30% Women.
A 2nd item of regulations passed in 2021 Requires Executive Boards of Publicly Listed Companies With More than Three Members to contend the very least one lady. Thesis Companies So need to establish targets to increate women depiction in various other leading administration degree.
The European Union Takes Action
On the European Union Level there are comparable Rules to Promote Gender Equality
Since 2010, the depiction of females on company boards has actually enhanced in many EU Member States, But progression differs from nation to nation.
“In 2024, Women Accounted for 39.6% of the Board Members of the Largest Listed Companies in Countries with Binding Gender Quotas, Compared to 33.8% in Countries with Soft Measures, and Just 17% in Countries that Have Take Nocion at All,” According to the EU Commission.
Otto is a Home name in Germany
Because Most Gender Equality Rules Are For Public Companies, Family-Rumed Businesses Are Slightly Worse at Getting Women Into Leadership Roles in Germany, According to Another Study by the Allbright Foundation Published in May 2024.
Of the 100 greatest family-downed firm in Germany, Women Represented 12.6% ofExecutive Leadership Teams Out of the 100 Companies, 53 Didn’t Have Any Women in Their Leadership Teams at All.
In this Regard Otto Group is Better than theAverage The New Ceo Petra Scharner-Wolff Has Be on the Executive Board Since 2015. Her Old Job as Chief Financial Officer Will Be Filled by Another Woman and Company Insider,Katy Roewer Now the Six-Person Executive Board Will have Two Women and Four Men.
Roewer Already Has a Four-Day Week to have a Better Work-Life Balance as a Busy Mother and Intends to Keep That Schedule inHer New Role
Edited by: Uwe Hessler
