Meeting of Union and SPD
Again the photo of a men’s team makes the round – Saskia Esken is outside
It looks as if Saskia Esken is being excluded. A photo from the conversations of the CDU/CSU and SPD once again raises the question of male dominance in politics.
It was just a week ago that a photo rushed through the social networks: six grinning politicians gathered around a table, all men. It was the Union’s negotiation team for the explorations around Friedrich Merz and Markus Söder. On the Internet there was ridicule and trouble about the pure men’s round.
In the meantime, the Union and SPD are sitting at a table, not only at the exploratory negotiations, but also on other important topics that affect the future of the country. And again a picture makes the round that gives the impression that the men set the tone.
This time the recording comes from the talks before the special conference of the European Council on Ukraine policy. The still incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz discussed the German position with election winner Friedrich Merz (CDU) and Alexander Dobrindt, head of the CSU state group. Also here: the SPD party leaders Lars Klingbeil and Saskia Esken. But in the picture only the four men can be seen in the lively conversation, Esken sits offside.
Saskia Esken looks like an outsider
Certainly just a snapshot, but it conveys a subtext: the men talk and decide, the woman looks like an outsider. It is also interesting that the photo was taken by an official photographer from the federal government and passed on by the Federal Press Office to the image agencies. Usually you take care of which messages could be read out of pictures. And shouldn’t actually be interested in making Esken look bad as head of the Chancellor Party.
“Important photo. And not for Saskia,” commented star-Kolumnist. After the photo of the Union men’s ranks, Greens chairman Franziska Brantner mocked: “The new Syrian government is likely to become more diverse than the Union’s negotiation team.”
Saskia Esken had recently confidently presented herself. At an SPD press conference, she sounded with regard to the exploratory talks: “All of these questions will certainly not make up the men among themselves.”
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
