Power in equal parts

Women remain a rarity in politics: while the proportion of women in the German Bundestag is just under 37 percent, it averages 25 percent at the local level. In smaller municipalities in particular, there are still councils with no women at all. The underrepresentation of women in local leadership positions is also particularly serious.

Does it have to be this way, and must it stay this way? How can we achieve equal participation for women and men in politics? How can the underrepresentation of women in parliaments, especially at the local level, be effectively combated? With the project "Equal Power – Democracy Needs Parity," EAF Berlin provides information on the current parity debate in Germany, including initiatives, arguments, and legal situations.

The debate regarding corresponding legal requirements for Germany has recently intensified. Since the early 1990s, the proportion of women in parliaments has stagnated – despite internal party commitments by some parties and the state mandate for equality in Article 3 of the Basic Law. There is no shortage of recommendations for action and concepts (e.g., Kletzing/Lukoschat 2010; Lukoschat/Belschner 2014), but there is clearly a lack of will to implement them.

Efforts to establish a nationwide parity law or state-level parity laws represent a new path for Germany. EAF Berlin supports this path with the following priorities:

Raising awareness: Public attention for the topic of parity needs to be increased through lively political debates and stimulated with balanced and clear information.
Networking: Since 2007, regional actors have launched various parity initiatives at the state level. These should be given momentum so that initiators can exchange ideas and network nationwide, and new parity initiatives can be launched.
Activating: Parliamentarians and parties are the central actors in enforcing parity in politics: The project aimed to win over parliamentarians and parties to the cause of parity and involve them in the individual project steps in order to jointly advance effective legal quota regulations.

To specifically initiate the public debate on women and parity in politics, EAF Berlin, together with the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, invited participants to the federal forum "Equal Power – Democracy Needs Parity," among other events. The federal forum was preceded by regional parity forums at the state level in Bavaria, Brandenburg, and Saarland.