International Women’s Day: Men’s thing politics? What few women in the Bundestag mean

47 years old, male, knows: This is the average MP in the newly elected Bundestag. And women? Although they make up a little more than half of the population, they are significantly underrepresented in parliament with a share of 32.4 percent. The proportion of women has dropped compared to the previous legislative period: So far, around 35 percent have been able to have a say in the ranks of the plenary hall.

According to Sheyda Weinrich, the value in the new Bundestag is particularly low from the Federal Foundation. In 1998 there was a proportion of women of over 30 percent for the first time. In 2013, the previous maximum mark was reached with 37 percent – since then the value has fallen off again. At that time, under the chairmanship of ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel, a grand coalition from the Union and SPD ruled.

Too few women at AfD and Union

According to Weinrich, the sunken proportion is mainly related to the strengthening of AfD and Union. “There are too few women, especially in the direct mandates,” explains too few women, “explains Weinrich in the conversation of the German Press Agency (dpa). Around 12 percent of parliamentarians are female at the AfD. In the Union, 23 percent of MPs are women.

The lawyer Silke Ruth Laskowski, expert in parity and anti -discrimination rights at the University of Kassel, also sees a structural problem with parties. “They prefer men and brakes women with candidacies and this violates their right to equal opportunities in the candidacies,” says Laskowski.

With around 61 percent, the Greens can record the highest proportion of female MPs for themselves, just behind the left follows with around 56 percent. At the SPD, the gender ratio is slightly in favor of men with around 42 to 58 percent.

Expert: Certain debates without women would not lead

But with fewer women in parliament, equality issues are left behind? Due to this fact, a “male look” dominates in the Bundestag, says Laskowski. “This means that topics from women and perspectives that are important for their reality of life disappear or are being downplayed.”

If only a few women in parliaments make it, their “living environments and perspectives” would also be less incorporated into the decision-making process, explains Kathrin Mahler Walther, chair of the EAF research and advisory institute in Berlin. “The range of what is discussed is reduced.”

In the past, breakthroughs in women’s rights and equality concerns have often only been brought through, “because the few women in the Bundestag have merged and brought up topics,” says Weinrich. Not all female MPs inevitably campaign for equality -oriented politics, but more women in parliaments become more likely. “The more women came to the Bundestag, the more topics that affect women were brought up there,” confirms Laskowski.

Co-chairwoman Britta Haßelmann looks at the small proportion of women from the group of the Greens, which is comparatively well staffed with women. “Women will not take a supporting role and will not put up with it,” she said just a few days after the Bundestag election.

For Katja Mast, Parliamentary Managing Director of the SPD, the sunken proportion is a “frightening development that shows the equality policy step backwards by conservative and right -wing parties”. Mast warns time for a parity law that has so far failed “repeatedly due to the CDU and CSU, FDP and AfD”.

The Union faction’s women’s policy spokeswoman, Silvia Breher, would have liked a higher proportion of women in her faction. The small proportion is “mainly due to the fact that a large part of our seats are drawn from obtained direct mandates,” explains Breher on request. The new voting right has ensured that “six women from the Union do not move into the German Bundestag, although they won their constituency directly”. The Union must create framework conditions “that women in our party have the same opportunities as men.”

From the point of view of the AfD politician Beatrix von Storch, the small proportion of women in her own ranks is related to dealing with the party. If the party “like any other” will be treated, “more women will also get involved in the AfD and be chosen in offices and mandates,” says von Storch on request. Regardless of gender or other properties, the MPs would also represent “the whole people”. From her point of view, she rejects an unconstitutional quota for women.

Expert: Parity is not a “mammoth task”

From the perspective of the experts, a democracy problem is also hidden behind the low proportion of women: women don’t come in political offices, “because there are structural barriers and there are no equal access opportunities,” criticizes Weinrich. They would less often put up in important constituencies, and politics are often not trusted. “Ultimately, this is a democracy question if we fail to give all women and men the same access to political offices.”

“Our representative democracy is only as strong as the diversity of the voices represented in it,” added Mahler Walther. If the diversity is restricted, representation is also lost. “The European understanding of democracy requires the equal participation of women and men in the field of parliaments of decision -making,” says lawyer Laskowski.

Weinrich ultimately sees an important step in parity that is not a difficult undertaking. “In total we talk to 630 MPs from 315 women. Nobody can tell you that this is a mammoth task that cannot be solved.”