Germany and Switzerland are wealthy Western nations with mature financial sectors, well-educated women, and a relatively high labor force participation of women. As such, you might expect a large portion of senior roles in their financial services firms to be occupied by women.
You would be disappointed. When it comes to Boards of Directors, both countries are mid-ranked in the list of 32 countries analyzed in the report: Switzerland ranked 12th, with 22 percent of Board members women, and Germany 15th, with 20 percent. Both countries are near the bottom of the list when it comes to women’s representation on the ExCos of financial services firms: Germany is 24th with 10 percent women and Switzerland 30th with 5 percent.
