Woman Up. Wie Unternehmen mit Vielfalt an die Spitze kommen BCG Gender Diversity Index Austria 2020

The BCG Gender Diversity Index Austria 2020 report ('Woman Up. Wie Unternehmen mit Vielfalt an die Spitze kommen') analyses the representation of women in leadership at Austria's 50 largest listed companies, comparing Austria to other EU countries. It was produced by BCG (Boston Consulting Group) authors including Lukas Haider, Sabine Stock and Karin Scheteli.

The report sets out to document Austria's underperformance on women in top leadership relative to EU peers and to recommend concrete action, including building a diverse pipeline of junior staff, setting representation targets at executive-board, supervisory-board and sub-board levels, and placing women in visible key positions.

The analysis examined changes over the preceding year in the proportion of women and their remuneration (relative to male counterparts) on the executive and supervisory boards of the 50 largest Austrian listed companies, supplemented by interviews with Austrian board members, supervisory board members and personnel consultants conducted in the months before publication.

The report finds Austria performing poorly on women's representation in leadership compared with other EU countries, though specific comparative percentages are not given in the material reviewed. It also cites a general literature claim, not tied to specific Austria data, that companies with women in top positions tend to innovate services, processes and products roughly every 3-4 years or less depending on the sector, compared with companies where gender equality is weaker.

The report's recommendations centre on early promotion of a diverse junior talent pipeline and explicit representation targets across board and sub-board levels as levers to close Austria's gender gap in leadership.