The Rule to the Exception

When asked to assess attitudes towards top female executives in Germany, members of management and supervisory boards described them as dreadful. “Prejudice is rampant in Germany,” said one interviewee. Another executive expressed the belief that when it comes to gender parity in managerial roles, the social model in this country has not changed as quickly as public opinion has – because traditional gender roles continue to exert an influence on modern society.

When organizations are dominated by men from the top down (see company-related factors), certain gender-specific stereotypes have both an internal and external impact. These stereotypes invariably result in partially unconscious expectations. Female executives who reach board level during their career will inevitably fail to live up to these expectations – because society currently lacks an ingrained image of women in top management roles.⁹

Both female and male interviewees told FGS Global and Egon Zehnder that this is the reason why the performance of female executives is frequently undervalued. Colleagues refuse to recognize the successes of female executives and even punish them for their expertise. They are also punished for behavior that would be viewed positively if it applied to men. One female interviewee described the situation in this way: “You have to understand that women are walking a tightrope. If men behave in a certain way, it is associated with competence, assertiveness and likability,” she said. “But if women behave in the same way, they may possibly be seen as assertive and perhaps as competent, but they will definitely not be considered to be likable.”

At the same time, German society still expects women with children to take care of their young families for as long as possible. In the interviews, several executives talked about female employees who had been criticized by both male and female colleagues for not taking a full year of parental leave. “Social norms and attitudes make it very hard for women to do the things that they consider to be in their own best interests,” one interviewee pointedly noted.

Reporting in the media is another area that often reflects gender stereotypes. Studies conducted by FGS Global show that when journalists interview male members of management boards, they focus on business topics.¹⁰ By contrast, interviews with female board members center more frequently on private matters: their family or childhood. Appearance – hairstyle, make-up and clothing – plays a far bigger role in the media for female executives than it does for their male peers.

Sentiment analyses show that the tone of media reporting turns negative faster for women than for men once these individuals become more widely known.¹¹ In sociological terms, these women are transgressing expectations of typical female behavior. Criticism expressed in social media about women in publicly prominent positions is much harsher, more insulting and more threatening than it is for men. And when a successful woman fails, she is rarely presented in the media as a single isolated case. Rather, she is frequently depicted as representing women as a whole.

“Female pioneers get the most fame, but they also take the heaviest beating,” said one female member of a management board. “It’s normal for them to frequently fail. We are now in a transition phase in which women do not feel that they are completely alone. The next goal is to normalize female representation so we no longer have to be the exception to the rule.” Another female interviewee went a step further: “You always hear that it was the woman who failed,” she said. “But you never hear it told the other way – that yet again, a company was incapable of bringing a woman into the fold.”

Many journalists are well aware of this skewed image and are trying to actively eliminate stereotypes. They do so by consciously giving a platform to female members of management boards and to top female executives. These efforts include things like compiling “top 100” lists for women. But some female interviewees did not see this approach in an entirely positive light. One female interview partner noted that such “top lists” further exaggerate the current dearth of female managerial role models and cement the notion that women at the top are some sort of “oddity.”

Of course, media images are not created in a vacuum. Instead, they reflect fundamental social attitudes – as well as what agenda-setters and decision makers think and say.

Stereotypes are also found in companies’ own communications. According to a 2022 study conducted by the Boston Consulting Group in cooperation with the Technical University of Munich, press releases announcing changes of managerial leadership more frequently attributed leadership and business expertise to male executives than to their female counterparts. In contrast, press releases focused on female executives’ expertise in talent and project management, the study noted.¹²

The conclusion is clear: individuals across societal groups need to work on changing their perspective.

“We continue to lose too many women between their mid-20s and mid-30s who do indeed return to work, but are left too alone to deal with one question: who will shoulder responsibility for the family? Women in Germany simply assume more of it.”

“Women also have to deal with the lingering social prototype of what the ideal woman looks like – perhaps she is a mother, someone that everyone likes. Women are caught in a crossfire: do I want to live up to this social prototype, or do I free myself of it?”

“They commented on my clothing, on my personality. I spent an hour talking about serious topics. But the portrait of me as a woman had nothing to do with serious topics. Rather, it always boiled down to questions on how I organize my workday, etc.?”

“I think many women view things the same way: they have no desire to get involved in status-driven and egotistical conflicts.”

“If women want to succeed in business, they have to know the rules of the game written by men. They can then decide what they want to use for themselves and what they don’t want.”

“I urge women to take a harder line. I have seen over and over again that women’s efforts to mediate or reach consensus simply blow up in their faces. Achieving group agreement through discussion will remain out of reach as long as women are in a minority on these boards.”

“If you join a company from the outside, after you start work you should spend a significant amount of time getting to know the individual stakeholders.”

“I used to think that I didn’t need professional networking. I thought that I would be accepted for being competent and doing my job well. But I’ve learned that men see things differently. Men consider making contacts to be part of the job.”

Creating a new and better culture needs people with different ways of thinking to come together and form a new entity. Our study is just one small contribution to this effort. We believe in co-creation and welcome your feedback: kommunikation@egonzehnder.com, femaleleaders_eu@fgs-global.com

9 Heilman, 2001: Description and Prescription: How Gender Stereotypes Prevent Women’s Ascent Up the Organizational Ladder
10 FGS Global, March 2020: The exception, the bad mother and the fighter. Bias in the media portrayal of female executives / FGS Global, March 2021: Rising stars and female CEOs. Bias in interviews with female executives
11 Shor, van de Rijt & Kulkarni, 2022: Women Who Break the Glass Ceiling Get a “Paper Cut”: Gender, Fame, and Media Sentiment
12 Boston Consulting Group, December 2022, Gender Diversity Index