The share of women in leading positions in the private industry fell back to the level of five years ago in the year 2007 reaching 27%. The number of female executives in lower management and in expert positions is still relatively high. In middle and top management, however, male executives play the dominating role. Insufficient qualifications, however, are not the reason for this situation. It is rather the fact that women prefer typically female careers which offer less prospects of promotion. This is the finding of a new study by the German Institute on Economic Research (DIW) in Berlin.
The study also showed that setting up a family benefits the career prospects of men. Professionally successful women, on the other hand, often have to do without a family. In 2007, more than half of all female executives were unmarried and almost two thirds had no children.
A detailed article on the above topic is available in the “Wochenbericht”, edition 23/2009 published by the DIW in Berlin. A free-of-charge version is available online. 