Women remain underrepresented on the boards of Austrian listed companies, despite a slight rise in their numbers, according to a recent report.

The latest Mixed Leadership Barometer, published by consultancy EY, shows that the proportion of female board members has reached a new high of 12.5%, with 24 women out of 192 board members. However, 32 of the 55 companies listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange (58%) still have male-only boards.

At the top of the corporate hierarchy, there is still just one female CEO: Radka Doehring, Co-CEO of Immofinanz AG.

Helen Pelzmann, an EY partner, described the increase in female board members as a positive step but stressed that more needed to be done. “The fact that more than half of companies still have no women on their boards, and only one woman leads a company, highlights the urgent need for change,” she said.

Slight Drop in Women’s Representation on Supervisory Boards

The proportion of women on supervisory boards has decreased slightly, falling to 31.6% (165 out of 522 positions) from 31.8% last August. A legal gender quota of 30% for supervisory boards was introduced in early 2018, after the proportion of women stood at just 19.8% in late 2017. Although the quota led to a sharp increase in female representation in the early years, progress has since been slow, with the proportion hovering around the legal minimum.

Looking at longer-term trends, the proportion of women on Austrian boards has seen a more significant increase. In July 2015, only 4.1% of board members were women. Since then, the number of female board members has grown from seven to 24.