On January 1, 2021, 15 of the 190 board members in Austrian stock exchange companies were women. This means that the proportion of women has risen by one board member in the last six months. The same number of women sat on the supervisory boards as in August, but nine fewer men. As a result, the proportion of women rose slightly to 27.8 percent, the consulting firm EY reported.
Although at least one woman sits on the supervisory board in 48 of the 55 companies examined and there have been 44 more women on the supervisory board since the introduction of the quota for women in 2018, almost a quarter of the 21 listed companies affected have not yet met the required quota. 30 percent would be women.
The quota has contributed to an increase in the proportion of women from 19 to 27.8 percent, says EY partner Helen Pelzmann also have a positive impact on the company's economic performance “. Of the current 521 supervisory board members of Austrian companies listed in the Vienna Stock Exchange Index (WBI), 145 are women.
For us, the German rule would mean: 16 more board members
One additional woman on the executive boards has resulted in the proportion of women rising from 7.4 to 7.9 percent since August 2020. In Austria there are no quota requirements for the board of directors, but the quota last decided in Germany would only be met by five of the 21 companies listed in the WBI. The German regulation stipulates that on the executive boards of listed companies with equal co-determination with four or more members, one member must be a woman at the latest after a new appointment.
If the German regulation were to apply in Austria, 16 women would also move into the board of directors for new appointments, writes EY in a broadcast. Overall, 41 out of 55 Austrian listed companies do not have a woman on the executive board.
