Election campaigns: Women get more difficult in politics than men in politics

When Markus Söder posted a picture on his Instagram channel on February 25, he did not know that this photo would take a debate that continues to this day: Six men in a suit to a conference table in the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus and discuss the “change of politics in Germany”. The photo went viral – also because it symbolically stood for a bigger problem: there are too few women in the Bundestag.

The initiative “#Parity now” wants to change this and therefore used Söder’s men’s round for an action day this week in front of the Reichstag building. A fifty high and three meters wide was a list of the photo on a banner sign, with the heads of Thorsten Frei, Alexander Dobrindt and Martin Huber cut out. The message: The heads of women should have space here. The alliance, to which over 80 organizations have come together, calls for an equal voting right that ensures the equal opportunities of women’s candidates and brings 50 percent women to parliaments.

“I’m tired of getting upset about it or not,” says former Bundestag President Rita Süssmuth, co -founder of “#parity jet” star. “Women have long since proven that they have talent and can help shape the world.” The image of men and women had been determined for centuries. “Thank God the women. Several politicians such as Bodo Ramelow from the left, SPD politician Saskia Esken or Wolfgang Dahler from the CDU came to support the initiative.

The fact that the proportion of women in the Bundestag after the election in February was only 32.4 percent is mainly due to the male -dominated factions of Union and AfD. At that time, Merz had said that it would just have to run for more women for political offices and the problem would be solved by itself. “I always advertise for it and I am not getting tired of doing this,” Merz repeated the statement in June in one of his social media videos: “Run young women enough for the German Bundestag, we later have enough women in the government.”

A study by the association “Parité in the parliaments” now shows that it is not that easy. If you want to run for a political office in Germany, you not only need support in the party – but also money. And women have a structural disadvantage, because they not only fight for votes in the election campaign, but also against financial inequality. To run for the Bundestag, 35,000 euros are required. Candidates can hope for their party’s donations and loans, but a share of their own is mandatory. The study at CDU, CSU and SPD has looked at how unevenly the financing of the election campaign of women and men is composed.

The result: whether someone is nominated often depends on whether the person has financial means. The local associations decide how exactly the campaign financing is regulated. In the SPD, candidates are supported much more generously than in the CDU. There, men also receive significantly more financial aid than women. There is also an imbalance when it comes to donations: CDU politicians are less common to raise donations of a similar amount to their male colleagues-albeit more successful than their competitors at the SPD.

For women, this means that they usually have to invest a higher share of their own in their election campaign than men. Anyone who loses is a significantly higher personal risk. On average, women earn less, work part -time more often and have less assets. The result is a structural disadvantage – not only in parliament, but already on the way there. The hurdles are therefore high, especially for first candidates.

But not only money is often in the way of women. Women would also receive “safe constituencies”. To do this, women in the male -dominated party structures have to defend themselves against sexist manners. “In the end it starts with the simple question, yes, how do you do that with your family? Do you want children or do you have any?” Are there any questions that women should hear, a CDU politician stated in the study.

For Christian Democrat Süßmuth, her party “gives a miserable picture”. She would not have thought that she still had to fight for equality between women in politics at the age of 88 as Federal President from 1988 to 98. “Women have tremendous strength and a lot of talent.” Despite defeats, you have to continue.