19 October 2025
Pay for top female managers lagging behind male counterparts – study
Top female managers at Germany’s biggest companies saw their pay fall sharply in 2024, while men earned slightly more, reversing a two-decade-old trend, according to a study by consulting firm EY seen by dpa news agency.
Many years ago, few women served on the boards of stock exchange companies, meaning they could demand very high salaries that sometimes exceeded those of men.
But that has changed, said EY partner Jens Massmann.
“Gone are the times when female board members were a rare breed and demanded very high salaries,” she said.
The study showed that the pay of female board members across the three DAX indices, DAX, MDax and SDax, excluding chief executive positions, fell to an average of €2.15 million ($2.51 million) in 2024.
This represents a decline of 11% compared to the previous year.
However, their male colleagues’ earnings increased by a modest 0.4% to €2.27 million.
The highest-paid female managers in the study were listed as Merck boss Belen Garizo with €7.6 million, followed by Deutsche Bank board member Rebecca Short with €6.5 million and Fresenius Medical Care chief executive Helen Giza with €5.7 million.
For the study, EY analyzed total remuneration, which included fixed salary as well as short- and long-term bonuses.