In Fall 2022 we have run a survey on the state of women in project management in Germany with more than 400 valid responses. We covered topics such as job satisfaction, likelihood of a job change, working models, salary as well as demographical data. We also asked women about barriers they face due to their gender in the project management profession. The presentation will give an overview of the findings as well as the way forward. This presentation could be a first step in creating a reliable data set on women in project management throughout Europe to create comparability.

1. Presentation
Women in project management –
New data and insights from Germany
Embrace Equity Event
March 08th (19.15 GMT)
Online
Darya Schwarz-Fradkova

2. Agenda
 Why this study?
 Study Design
 Key Points
 More Women in Project Management
 Your Questions

3. Thank you so much for the invitation – about me
 Initiator and Operator of the website www.die-projektmanagerin.de on women in
project management
 Webseite contains about 30 portraits of female project managers and content on
this topic
 Original idea of the website was to portray the occupation of „project manager“
and make it more attractive for young females
 Consultant for project and change management for 10 years (first private, now
public sector), currently on parental leave

4. Why this study?

5. Why this study?
 About 30 % of project managers are female.
 In German speaking countries (GER, AUT, CH) a study on the situation on women in project
management was carried out by the German branch of the IPMA (GPM) in 2014.
 Very limited knowledge on women in project management.
 In the last nine years information on salary has been gathered, no overview of the current situation
and current state of mind of women in project management.
At this point our study comes in. It has two goals:
 Examining the current state of the women in the project management profession.
 Being a starting point for bringing more women into project management.
 (Be a starting point for an international discussion on the situation on women in project
management  Comparability)

6. Study Design

7. Methodological Approach
Questionnaire creation Survey execution Data clearing Evaluation
 Creation of the
questionnaire by students
from Universtiy of
Würzburg*
 Validation by five female
project managers from
personal network
 Transfer of questions to an
online tool
 Survey conduction 15.09.-
08.10.2022 inlcluding the
lottery of an incentive
 Distribution of survey link
through personal network,
social media, mailing lists,
partner organizations
 Initial cleaning of the data
(elimination of incomplete
/ incorrect data sets)
 In total 417 valid data sets
 Before the evaluation
plausibility checks were
conducted (e.g. correlation
of increasing professional
experience with increasing
age)
 Evaluation mostly based
on frequencies
1. 2. 3. 4.
We encountered huge interest in the results by the professional (!)-Community.
*We would like to take this opportunity to thank Eva Herterich, Sarah Pauly, Leon Schleier and Prof. Dr. Harald Wehnes for preparing the questionnaire in the summer semester 2022
at the University of Würzburg

8. Main topics of the questionnaire
 Demographic information
 Project operation (Project Lead, Co-Project Lead, Project team etc.)
 Job satisfaction
 Gender related questions
 Workload
 Project management in general

9. Key Points

10. Persona “Female Project Manager” according to attributes most frequently
mentioned in our study*
*We are not looking at the average, but at the frequencies.
Aged between 40-49 years
Full time employed with 1-5 hours
overtime per week
Working in the IT / software
industry
PM training consists of:
1. Training-on-the-job
2. PM-training courses
3. PM-certification
Sole Project Lead with project
team of 6-10 people
More than 10 years of PM
experience
Gross annual salary between
46.000 - 60.000 €*
I like my job
but encounter
structural
gender related
barriers.

11. Results present a balanced situation of women in project management
Satisfaction
Salary
Load
Willingness to quit
Genderrelated
Advancement
opportunities
+ -

12. Results present a balanced situation of women in project management
43 % feel their pay is
(very) fair
50 % are unlikely to quit their employer
during the next 12 months
61 % see their
advancement
opportunities as middle
to very low
+ -
62 % have felt
diasadvantages to male
collagues in the past
54 % see career
opportunites for women
as medium to very low
Sexism was named as the
most common
experienced challenge
*Compared: the national average is almost 3 hours of overtime per week, source:: https://www.handelsblatt.com/karriere/arbeitszeitmonitor-2021-das-sind-die-branchen-mit-den-meisten-
ueberstunden/27613858.html
** We did not filter by full-time / part-time, which means that part-time workers worked overtime as well as full-time worker
39 % feel their workload
is medium,
32 % is low to zero
29 % work 1-5 hours
overtime, 14 % 6-10
overtime* per week**
Overall 58 % are (very)
satisfied
59 % feel their
performance
(very)appreciated
60 % are (very) content
with their superios
Satisfaction
Gender
related

13. Results present a balanced situation of women in project management
43 % feel their pay is
(very) fair
50 % are unlikely to quit their employer
during the next 12 months
61 % see their
advancement
opportunities as middle
to very low
+ -
62 % have felt
diasadvantages to male
collagues in the past
54 % see career
opportunites for women
as medium to very low
Sexism was named as the
most common
experienced challenge
39 % feel their workload
is medium,
32 % is low to zero
29 % work 1-5 hours
overtime, 14 % 6-10
overtime* per week**
Overall 58 % are (very)
satisfied
59 % feel their
performance
(very)appreciated
60 % are (very) content
with their superios
Satisfaction
Gender
related
Gender discrimination has no significant impact on willingness to change,
as women are more likely to prioritize family commitments.

14. Study results in short (1/2)
 Women on project management generally show high levels of job satisfaction und see the
cooperation in the team as largely positive, when it comes to the relation with superiors (mostly
male) the picture is rather mixed.
 Job satifaction is boostered by high levels of recognition of one‘s own performance.
 Reconciliation of work and family life and part-time work are often mentioned as an obstacle in
taking up more responsibility.
 Some women who reject lead roles alreday have been project leads and / or are currently
working in a PMO environment.
 Many study participants have experienced various disadvantages related to gender, in terms of
pay, promotions or attributed competence.
 Women in higher salary brackets were holding PM-certifications, on average women with a
certification received a salary higher by 11 %.

15. Study results in short (2/2)
 Experienced disadvantages due to gender do not lead to a higher willingness to quit. This is due to
a higher desire for security caused by family obligations.
 Overall mood among female project managers seems balanced.
 The comments show that women have adjusted to their situation.
 Changes are demanded on organizational level (flexible working models) and individual level
(more confidence among women).
 Our study supports previous findings about „Women in project management“ in Germany and do
not show huge changes in the situation of women.
 Similarly, our study confirms the same barriers women in other leading positions face.

16. This was expected / surprising to us:
Expected:
 „Surrounding eats Ambition for breakfast“
– both in teams and leadership
environments*
 Part-time as a key obstacle
 Demand for more flexible working models
Surprising:
 Very high indication of „Sexism“
 High level of job satisfaction despite not
optimal working environment (Paradox of
contented female worker)**
 Willingness to quit does not depend on
salary
 Job satisfaction rises with experience (load
does too)
*Study „Women want to lead – under different circumstances“, online: https://gehrke-vetterkind.com/studie-frauen-wollen-fuehren-aber-unter-anderen-vorzeichen/
** Crosby (1982): Paradox of the contented female worker

17. More women in project
management

18. Women need the following (sorted by frequency responses)
Today
Flexible working models*
Role models
Networking – and
Mentoringprograms
Better
offerings for
care
Qualification
1.
2.
4. 5.
*Only 14 % of the participants had a Co-Lead. Part time work was mentioned as one of the main obstacles.
3.
Women wish for initiatives changing the environment rather than qualification.

19. Skills for projects:
 Study participants see increased
level for „classical female skills“
 Reinforced by ongoing digitalization
Role models:
 Study participants need role
models in the project management
profession
 These role models will encourage
other females
More courage:
 Study participants call women to
have more confidence
 57 % of the non-leads would like to
lead project in the future
Skilled workers shortage:
 Projectisation of work needs more
PM-professionals
 Replacement of existing PM
positions through retirement of
baby boomers  especially
German demographics
Need for qualified project management professionals increases constantly*
What chances do women see for themselves?
External: Internal:
Project management as a professional field holds great potential,
but has not yet been fully developed in terms of ideal conditions for women.
*PMI estimates that in Europe alone up to 83.1 billion GDP could be lost in the period 2019-2030 if the PM talent gap is not filled, especially due to the huge waves of retirement.
Accelarator

20. What‘s next:
 Oureach of the study
 Visibility for succesful female project managers
 Visibility for best practice flexible working models
 Starting an international discussion (comparability)

21.  Looking forward to get in touch:
www.die-projektmanagerin.de/kontakt/
or via LinkedIn
www.linkedin.com/in/die-projektmanagerin/
 Download of the study (currently only in German):
www.theprojectgroup.com/studie-frauen-im-pm

22. Your Questions