At the beginning of March, Petra Scharner-Wolff took over as CEO of Otto Group, a prominent German conglomerate. Known for its extensive catalogs that once dominated households across the country, Otto has transformed from a print catalog business into one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms. In 2022, the privately-owned company employed around 38,500 employees and generated €15 billion ($15.7 billion) in revenue, with its online platform offering over 18 million items for sale. Scharner-Wolff’s appointment marks a historic shift as the Otto family will no longer hold direct control of the company and symbolizes progress in gender equality in a traditionally male-dominated business world.
Germany, however, remains behind in achieving gender equality in leadership roles within companies. An AllBright Foundation report in March 2025 found that women made up 19.7% of executive leadership teams and 37.4% of boards of directors in the 160 largest publicly listed companies in Germany. Furthermore, only eight out of the 40 blue-chip companies listed in the German DAX stock market index have three or more women on their executive leadership teams, and corporate culture, career structures, lack of daycare for children among married women, and general labor market gender norms have been identified as barriers to women’s career advancement.
In response to these gender disparities, Germany has instituted laws mandating gender quotas for publicly listed companies. The European Union has also established rules to promote gender equality in leadership positions set to be enforced from June 2026. However, the Otto Group, as a family-owned business, is more slowly embracing these changes, being comparatively better than the average family-owned company when it comes to gender representation on its executive board. With Scharner-Wolff’s appointment and the potential promotion of another woman to CFO, the company moves towards a more representative leadership composition, reflecting a broader trend towards increased gender balance in German corporate leadership.
Source: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-lags-behind-in-boardroom-gender-equality/a-71819369?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf
