"Men and women shall have equal rights," says Article 3 of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany. 75 years ago, this sentence was a minor sensation, as Germany – a few years after the Second World War – was still largely patriarchal in character. And today? The gap has narrowed. But not all is well in terms of equal rights. Diplomatisches Magazin spoke to Ekin Deligöz, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, about the many areas of improvement.
DM: Mrs. Deligöz, the German government wants to make it easier for women to get into management positions. By what means is this to be achieved?
Ekin Deligöz: Women are just as well qualified as men. Nevertheless, they are still underrepresented in management positions. Despite all the good arguments in favour of diverse management ranks, no progress has been made for a long time without legal regulations. However, the laws on management positions with fixed quotas and minimum participation requirements are having an effect: they have ensured that the proportion of women in management positions in the private sector has risen continuously. However, there is still a lot to be done before women are represented on all management boards. The federal government is setting a good example and is gradually approaching the 50% mark in its own companies, federal bodies, and the federal administration. However, equal participation of women in management positions requires more than just legal requirements: The framework conditions must be right. A cultural change is needed in companies. We need to remove structural barriers, ensure equal pay and improve the compatibility of family and career. In the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, we are therefore working together with the federal states to ensure reliable childcare. We are also supporting a pilot project to raise awareness of the possibility of part-time management. This also offers great potential for reconciling management and caring responsibilities – for both women and men. Companies also benefit because it increases their attractiveness as an employer.
DM: Keyword childcare places: The lack of childcare places in Germany has recently been criticised by leading business associations. Many women want to work full-time but are unable to do so due to a lack of childcare places. What concepts do you want to use to counter this shortage?
Ekin Deligöz: The federal government has been supporting the federal states and local authorities for years in expanding child daycare in line with demand and improving the quality of the facilities. Since 2008, the federal government has launched funding programmes totalling 5.4 billion euros, which have created more than 750,000 places for children up to school age. In order to promote quality, the federal government has made around 2 billion euros available to the federal states in 2023 and 2024 via the KiTa Quality Act. The federal government is also supporting the expansion of all-day places for primary school children to the tune of billions of euros. So we are already doing a lot to enable parents to work more and more flexibly. We are currently facing the challenge of meeting the high demand for skilled labour in child daycare. To this end, the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, with the involvement of the federal states and a broad circle of experts, has initiated an “Overall strategy for skilled labour in daycare centres and all-day care.” This focuses on a range of different measures to attract and retain skilled staff in child daycare. A good childcare infrastructure for daycare centres and primary school children is key to enabling more women to expand their employment. The commitment of the federal government is still required.
DM: Both the gender pay gap between women and men in Germany remains high (around 20 per cent) and the gender pension gap, i.e. the difference in pensions in old age. The difference here is as much as 53 per cent (!). In other words, women only have around half as much financial means in old age as men. What can be done about these scandalous differences?
Ekin Deligöz: In a nutshell, men earn an average of 4.46 euros more per hour than women. The gender pay gap is a complex problem and therefore there is no one simple solution. The governing parties have committed themselves to economic equality in the coalition agreement. I am convinced that this is not only in the interests of gender parity but also a question of economic common sense. We must ensure that women can work to the same extent as men, but also that they receive the same pay for the same work. To achieve this, unpaid care work, which is predominantly carried out by women, must be distributed more fairly. Needs-based childcare and flexible working time models are other important pieces of the solution puzzle. And last but not least, the structures need to be rethought to make it worthwhile for women to extend their working lives. Transparent salary structures within companies help women to better assert their right to equal pay. We are also working on this: we will strengthen the equal pay requirement and are working flat out to implement the European Pay Transparency Directive into federal law before the end of this legislative period. If we reduce the gender pay gap, we will also close the gender pension gap in the long term.
DM: Girls still often opt for stereotypical training programmes. In the professions that have to do with maths, IT, science and technology, women have caught up slightly (just under 11%), but this is still a long way from equality. And the proportion of young people who leave school without a qualification and do not complete vocational training has risen dramatically. Both of these are not just issues for education policy, but also affect the areas of family, social policy, skills shortages, etc. Wouldn’t a “turning point” also be necessary for a joint family and education policy?
Ekin Deligöz: The Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth is a social ministry with the aim of supporting people in Germany in all their diversity and developing our democratic society for the future. Unfortunately, outdated gender stereotypes still influence who is given responsibility for the household and who is given leadership skills or technical expertise. We want young people to be able to choose a career or subject based on their personal interests and strengths and to have all options open to them. To achieve this, we need to show them career paths that go beyond clichés. On the one hand, we are trying to get more young women interested in STEM professions. On the other hand, we are aware that young men are also restricted in their career choices by gender stereotypes. To this end, we have been supporting the Klischeefrei initiative since 2016. This initiative is an alliance of representatives from the fields of education and training, politics, business and research. It is committed to ensuring that career and study choices are made free of gender stereotypes. More than 620 partner organisations confirm the success and need for this initiative. We also continue to support the Girls’ Day and Boys’ Day campaigns so that young people can get a broad orientation early on.
DM: Mrs. Deligöz, thank you for this interview.
Interview Marie Wildermann