Women in Power: How Women Can Hold Their Own in Business and Increase the Proportion of Women at the Same Time

Authors

  • Bettina Christiane Karen Binder Pforzheim University, Germany
  • Cindy A. Schipani University of Michigan, USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14276/2285-0430.5370

Keywords:

Gender quota, Women on management boards, Women on supervisory boards, Management reporting, Women Process Performance Measurement Index, Key performance indicators

Abstract

During the COVID-19 crisis, many women were either underemployed or unemployed, which limited their participation in the labor market. Since then, the number of women in companies across Europe, the US, and the Asia-Pacific region has risen again. Companies now need straightforward ways to track and support this progress. Tools like gender targets and the Women Process Performance Management (WPPM) Index can help measure how women move up within organizations. This paper introduces the WPPM Index as a proposed measurement instrument and uses real-world examples from Europe, the United States, and the Asia-Pacific region to demonstrate how companies can report on gender equality.

Author Biographies

Bettina Christiane Karen Binder, Pforzheim University, Germany

Since 2010 Prof. Dr. Bettina C.K. Binder works at Pforzheim University at the institute of Business Administration and Engineering, giving courses in Managerial Accounting, Strategic Management and Process Management. Her research focus lies in general Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Process Performance Measurement in international companies and the measurement of the KPI women quota in supervisory and management boards. She is visiting professor at several universities and referee of open and inhouse seminars for Financial Control and Process Management. More than 60 publications are realeased to public in international journals, books or congress proceedings.
Before, she worked 10 years as consultant and general manager and got the projet experience of more than 25 projects in Automotive and Machinery Industres, Chemical and Pharmaceutical industries and Public Management institutions. She had 4 years a Finance Director position and was Head of Controlling for APAC in the department of Global SCM at an Automotive supplier. She is married and mother of 3 children.

Cindy A. Schipani, University of Michigan, USA

Cindy Schipani is the Merwin H. Waterman Collegiate Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Business Law at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. She received her J.D. from the University of Chicago School of Law. She has held visiting appointments at law and business schools throughout Europe, Asia, and Australia. Professor Schipani currently teaches business law topics, including corporate governance, legal aspects of entrepreneurship, law of business organizations, and cross-cultural negotiations, in graduate and undergraduate programs at the Ross School of Business.
Professor Schipani's primary research interests are in corporate governance, with a focus on the relationship among directors, officers, shareholders and other stakeholders and pathways for women to obtain positions of organizational leadership. Her research includes consideration of specific issues confronting women in corporate governance, analysis of the corporate fiduciary duties of care and loyalty and the role of independent directors, including a number of empirical studies. Professor Schipani has published over 40 journal articles and a book, and has received numerous awards for her scholarship including the Career Achievement Award from the Academy of Legal Studies in Business, the Senior Faculty Research Award from the Ross School of Business, and the Outstanding Mentor Award from the University of Michigan. She is frequently invited to present her research nationally and internationally. She has served as an expert witness in several cases involving issues of corporate governance and is often quoted in the press.

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Published

29.08.2026

How to Cite

Binder, B. C. K., & Schipani, C. A. (2026). Women in Power: How Women Can Hold Their Own in Business and Increase the Proportion of Women at the Same Time. International Journal of Economic Behavior (IJEB), 75–104. https://doi.org/10.14276/2285-0430.5370

Issue

Online first articles

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Bettina Christiane Karen Binder, Cindy A. Schipiani

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

L'opera è pubblicata sotto Licenza Creative Commons -CC Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0

Received 2025-10-15
Accepted 2026-08-12
Published 2026-08-29