Men and Women Still Not on an Equal Footing in the Workplace

Progress towards gender equality on the German labour market has been slow, with women still being under-represented in management positions and feeling less supported by their employers than their male counterparts. Nevertheless, German women on average exhibited the same level of satisfaction with their job and salary as men. These are the findings of a recent monitoring report on equal opportunities for men and women in the workplace conducted by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim, in collaboration with the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

For the purposes of the report, ZEW and IAB researchers analysed survey data from 770 HR managers working at companies in the private sector with at least 50 employees and from 7,100 employees working at these same companies for the years 2012/13 and 2014/15. The results showed that there are still significant differences along gender lines, for example, in terms of workload, representation at the management level as well as career development opportunities.

The study found that women, whether working in full- or part-time positions, were less likely to occupy management positions than their male colleagues. At 14 per cent, the percentage of women in management positions is less than half as high as the percentage of men at the level of management (32 per cent). Moreover, 40 per cent of women work part-time, compared to only three per cent of men.

The share of women on staff or in management positions varies considerably depending on the sector. Still leading the pack in terms of gender equality are the information and communication sector, with 43 per cent of women in managerial positions, and business-related and financial service providers, with 28 per cent. Bringing up the rear are the metal, electronic and automotive industries with just eight per cent. The percentage of women in managerial positions is strongly linked to the percentage of women employed in a company or sector overall.

A gender gap also exists in career development opportunities

There is also a clear gap in how men and women perceive equal opportunities in their respective career development, with women generally feeling less supported than men. This particularly applies to women working part-time and those in non-managerial positions. However, women in management positions were more likely to say that they felt at a disadvantage compared to their male counterparts when it came to personnel decisions such as promotions or salary increases. Women employed part-time were more likely to feel that they were treated fairly in these areas by their direct superiors than women working full-time.

Finally, a gender gap also arises in terms of training opportunities, with women being less likely to participate in further professional training than men. This particularly applies to women working part-time and those not in managerial positions. For men and women that did participate in further training, however, there was no difference in the number of training days or the costs covered by their employer.

Companies are implementing targeted measures to promote women

Despite differences in the career development of men and women, women do not seem less satisfied with their situation. With regard to their salary in particular, and their work in general, there is no difference in the satisfaction levels of men and women.

The monitoring report also shows that more and more companies are introducing specific measures to improve equal opportunities in the workplace. One in every four companies have expressed the wish to increase the number of women in management positions. Just under 40 per cent of larger companies claimed to be pursuing this goal, a larger number than among smaller firms. Flexible working hours, part-time hours for managers and specific training opportunities are all popular measures used to promote women in the workplace. While smaller firms generally use a wide variety of different measures, except for mentoring programmes and promotion schemes, with fairly even frequency, larger companies tend to focus on flexible working models, part-time hours for managers and targeted training programmes,” explains Junior Professor Susanne Steffes, a researcher in the ZEW Research Department “Labour Markets, Human Resources and Social Policy” and co-author of the study.

For more information please contact

Jun. Prof. Dr. Susanne Steffes, Phone +49(0)621/1235-281 E-mail susanne.steffes@zew.de