Women in Leadership Positions

Explore why women are underrepresented in leadership despite educational success. Learn how MBAs can help women build crucial experience, networks, and confidence to advance their careers.

What really helps women reach leadership positions

Not only in the management of many companies, but also in most elite universities, women are underrepresented. Only 42 percent of MBA applications come from women. Why this is the case, and how it can be changed.

Men are the weaker sex – at least when it comes to education. This is proven by current figures on the "Gender-Education-Gap" recently published by the Federal Statistical Office. According to these figures, young women are more likely to obtain a high school diploma than men and also dominate in university degrees – and not only in social sciences or humanities, but also in medicine, law, economics, mathematics, and natural sciences.

However, as soon as women transition from education to their professional lives, their lead dwindles. Numerous studies show that in business and politics, men still predominantly make the decisions: the higher the position, the lower the proportion of women. In the top management of large listed companies, it is only 20 percent.

While legal standards at federal and EU level have contributed to there being more female Dax board members and supervisory board members today than ten years ago, many decision-making bodies are still all-male. Especially in companies that are not in the public eye, the proportion of women on the board remains low, says Ev Bangemann, an expert on diversity in leadership teams at EY.

How can this be? Diversity, equality, and inclusion – abbreviated as DEI in English – are considered drivers for motivation, employee retention, and innovation. Business schools worldwide have been emphasizing the connection between a diverse workforce and economic success for years, yet they themselves often have catching up to do.

Less than one in three elite institutions has a female academic leader, gender parity is rare in most degree programs, and the case studies used in teaching usually feature white men in the main roles.

So, do companies and universities need to be forced by stricter laws and further regulations to create a better environment for women? Not a good idea, says María del Mar Martínez, Senior Partner and Global Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at McKinsey until June 2024. Not only because real cultural change cannot be mandated. Many people perceive quotas as unfair, arbitrary, and detrimental to performance, as the anti-DEI wave in the USA clearly demonstrates.