“There are only two women in chairwoman positions in all the Dax companies – in Siemens and Deutsche Bahn. That makes me sorry,” she told weekly newspaper Die Zeit.

She said big business was still a closed part of society where gender equality was concerned. But Merkel admitted a political quota system would not be an effective way to tackle the problem. “I do not see this as the task of the law-makers but as one for business,” she said.

It will prove to be good business to allow or enable women to rise through the ranks of management, she added.

She said she was convinced, “that much will change in the foreseeable future, in the interests of the businesses concerned.”

Merkel also said she believed men should become more active in the debate over gender equality and will soon have to consider how their roles can be made more interesting and fair.

“In the foreseeable future there will be a stronger discussion between men about their role within the family and society in general, as they grow into a new role,” she told the paper.