The proportion of women in management positions in German federal government authorities is rising but not fast enough, Family Minister Lisa Paus said in Berlin ahead of International Women's Day on Friday.
She noted that 19 of the main federal authorities still had fewer women than men in management positions. Paus put the proportion of female managers in these bodies at 43% in mid-2023, up two percentage points on the year.
"Promoting equality must have the highest priority for the entire federal administration, so that we achieve the legal target of equal participation by women in management positions by the end of 2025," she said.
Women failed to make the leap into executive positions much too often on the grounds that they worked part-time, she said. "We have to do something about this."
According to Paus, the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth has the highest proportion of female managers at 66%, while the Federal Audit Court has the lowest at 33%.
The target of full equality between men and women by the end of 2025 applies to the federal administration as a whole, while the figures released by Paus refer to the approximately 34,000 employees of the most important federal agencies.
The major part of the federal employees – another 567,000 – work for lower-level authorities, corporations, institutions and foundations. Women fill 45% of management positions in this larger group.
