Berlin – So there is this famous wormhole from science fiction. In any case, this week you had the clear feeling that you had gotten into a time warp. First the debate about the previous Bild boss Julian Reichelt, who, after repeated allegations of abuse of power, had to go in favor of relationships with female employees. Then the question of who for God’s sake is supposed to be President of the Bundestag. But not a man alongside the Chancellor, Federal President and the heads of the Federal Council and the Federal Constitutional Court.
You feel tired and madly angry at the same time. It never stops and it never gets better. It is of no use that at the end of a debate a woman is supposed to become President of the Bundestag.
Let’s start with the abuse of power. I’ve been in this job for 30 years. What Julian Reichelt is accused of, the attempt to get women to bed by taking advantage of a power gap, inappropriate and unpleasant approaches, verbal as well as physically, I have seen over and over again, observed, cursed, smiled away, silent and angrily discussed.
When you explain the world as the mother of your own growing daughter, you say – at least that’s how I did it – you have the world at your feet. You can become anything: plumber, mathematician, astronaut, chancellor. Choose something new. Boys and girls are equal. Women and men too.
Unfortunately, that’s only partly true. And here again the déjà vu. My mother told me that too, and the reality was still different.
It’s not just a problem because young girls have to be cared for very differently from boys so that they don’t get raped. That you have to make them aware of the dangers of inexperienced closeness, especially towards older men, at an age at which they themselves have not yet developed any sexuality at all.
You also look at the numbers of women in management positions and you know for sure that your daughter has to want it a lot to get there, much more than the boys. She will not have any similar networks to promote her, she will have to do more, she will be confronted again and again with the question of whether she can do it, even though she is a woman, she will make completely different decisions about children or a career must than their male counterparts of the same age. Abuse of power, the unequal opportunities of the sexes – you can cry about it or fight against it. You can’t accept it.
Abuse of power, the unequal opportunities of the sexes – you can cry about it or fight against it. You can’t accept it.
Let’s get to politics. Then the SPD found a woman: Bärbel Bas. A woman nobody knows, but that’s not the problem. She can be known now. But the way to get there is problematic. When SPD leader Norbert Walter-Borjans initially suggested sending a man into the race, there was a real revolt in the party. SPD women raged, exchanged disappointed and appalled comments, networked nationwide and covered the party leadership with angry emails.
Honestly, was that necessary? Couldn’t you have named a woman right away?
Of course, one can always try to gain something positive from such processes. For example: This is perhaps a good moment for a quota for women in political parties. Like the Greens have been doing for many years. The different methods used by this party alone to fill offices equally are certainly not entirely innocent of the fact that more women are involved in the Greens.
The proportion of women among the Greens is 58 percent. Then it goes down. The left is still doing quite well, followed by the SPD and still manages to 42 percent. Then it gets dark. CDU, FDP, CSU – all just above ground level. It’s worst with the AfD.
Apparently, the vast majority of parties need a quota for women in order to change. Obviously it won’t change on its own. Of course, the parties could only prescribe them themselves, and as is the case with voluntary self-control, it won’t work at first. Because giving up power has to be wanted, signaled and considered necessary.
It doesn’t help to claim that women don’t want to get involved and are afraid of evening meetings. Because that leads directly to the next minefield, which is about family work, the question of who picks up the children, makes food, goes to the tiresome parents’ evening, where, surprisingly, women are suddenly in the majority – evening appointment or not.
If you put all these things together, the conclusion remains that women have wanted change for a long time. Men don’t. And that’s a problem. But it can be changed. Men can change their attitudes.
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