Women MPs and the Socio-Environmental Preconditions for Political Participation in the Federal Republic

Abstract

With the election of Germany's first woman chancellor in November 2005 it would appear that equal opportunities have finally been achieved in German politics. Furthermore, most parties in the Federal Republic are committed to increasing or maintaining certain levels of female representation within their ranks, and many use quotas to achieve this. This article looks not only at the formal mechanisms employed by the German parties to help women enter politics, but also at whether the practice of politics is conducive to women's working methods and lifestyles. Its focus is on the compatibility of a political career with family responsibilities. The author argues that while quotas have helped increase the number of female politicians, party cultures and practices have not been completely transformed. Many problems remain for current and potential female politicians, especially those whose family circumstances make it hard to adapt to the male norms of behaviour which still characterise political life in the Federal Republic.

Notes

The author wishes to acknowledge the support of the Anglo-German Foundation for the Study of Industrial Society for this project.

1. Eva Kolinsky, Women in Contemporary Germany. Life, Work, Politics (Oxford: Berg, 1993); Eva Kolinsky, Women in 20th Century Germany: A Reader (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995).

2. Eva Kolinsky and Hildegard Maria Nickel (eds.), Reinventing Gender: Women in Eastern Germany since Unification (London: Frank Cass, 2003).

3. Eva Kolinsky, ‘Party Change and Women's Representation in Unified Germany’, in Joni Lovenduski and Pippa Norris (eds.), Gender and Party Politics (London: Sage, 1993), pp.113–46; Kolinsky, Women in Contemporary Germany, pp.192–293.

4. Eva Kolinsky, ‘Political Participation and Parliamentary Careers: Women's Quotas in West Germany’, West European Politics 14/1 (1991), pp.56–72.

5. Kolinsky, ‘Party Change and Women's Representation’, p.146.

6. Kolinsky, Women in Contemporary Germany, p.290.

7. For a general discussion of female representation in German politics in recent years see Joanna McKay, ‘Women in German Politics: Still Jobs for the Boys?’ German Politics 13/1 (2004), pp.56–80.; Joyce Marie Mushaben, ‘“Girl Power”: Women, Politics and Leadership in the Berlin Republic’, in James Sperling (ed.), Germany at Fifty-five. Berlin ist nicht Bonn? (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004), pp.183–91.

8. See Mark R. Thompson and Ludmilla Lennartz, ‘The Making of Chancellor Merkel’, German Politics 15/1 (2006), pp.105–7.

9. Kolinsky, ‘Political Participation’, p.69.

10. Ibid., pp.69–70.

11. Kolinsky, Women in Contemporary Germany, p.253.

12. ‘Die Unmögliche’, Der Tagesspiegel, 20 March 2006. The term was allegedly used by Renate Künast of the Greens.

13. Vicky Randall, Women and Politics: An International Perspective, 2nd edn. (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1987), p.323.

14. Ibid., p.130.

15. This problem has been noted in the new post-communist democracies of eastern and central Europe. See Richard E. Matland and Kathleen Montgomery (eds.), Women's Access to Political Power in Post-Communist Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), pp.22, 325.

16. For example, Helen Jackson, Diana Organ and Alan Milburn.

17. ‘PM's “Juggle” of Work and Family’, 28 Feb. 2005, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk_politics/4304417.stm.

18. Randal, Women and Politics, p.125.

19. Anne Phillips, Engendering Democracy (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991), p.82.

20. Ibid., p.97.

21. Ibid., p.97.

22. Ibid., p.101.

23. For German government policy www.gender-mainstreaming.net/; for the UK see http://www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/equality/mainstreaming_explained.htm

24. For details see www.bundesregierung.de/artikel-,413.944813/Foerderung-der-Familien.htm. See also ‘Ich möchte gar nicht provozieren’, Der Tagesspiegel, 18 Dec. 2005.

25. Defined by Lovenduski at 30 per cent of a given body. Joni Lovenduski, ‘Women and Politics: Minority Representation or Critical Mass?’ Parliamentary Affairs 54/4 (2001), p.744.

26. MdB (and mother) Nina Hauer outlines her typical week in Berlin, http://www.ninahauer.de/berlin/sitzungswoche.php.

27. Bundestag members Antje Tillmann, Gesine Loetzsch and Katherina Reiche were all of this view. Author's interviews, Berlin, 10 and 12 May 2005.

28. For more detail of the 2002 federal election see McKay, ‘Women in German Politics’, p.76.

29. Author's interview with Katherina Reiche MdB, Berlin, 10 May 2005.

30. According to Elisabeth Scharfenberg MdB, in a survey conducted by the author.

31. See Kolinsky, ‘Party Change and Women's Representation’, pp.143–4; Kolinsky, Women in Contemporary Germany, p.246.

32. Kolinsky, ‘Party Change and Women's Representation’, p.146.

33. According to Bundestag members Maria Flachsbarth and Gesine Loetzsch, author's interviews, Berlin, 11 and 12 May 2005.

34. Author's interview with Maria Flachsbarth MdB, Berlin, 11 May 2005.

35. Author's interview with Gesine Lötzsch MdB, Berlin, 12 May 2005.

36. The view of Katherina Reiche MdB, author's interview, 10 May 2005.

37. Author's interviews with Katherina Reiche MdB and Antje Tillmann MdB, Berlin, 10 May and 11 May 2005. Even a Green MP reported this in a survey for this project.

38. Author's interview with Maria Flachsbarth MdB, 11 May 2005.

39. Kolinsky, Women in 20th Century Germany, pp.169–70. Maria Flachsbarth MdB is another example.

40. See Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, Statut zur Gleichstellung, Appendix.

41. According to Ulrike Jaenicke, former Green Bundesfrauenreferentin in correspondence with the author, 4 July 2003.

42. Only 35 per cent of all Green candidates at the 2005 federal election were women. Source: http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/bundestagswahl2005/wahlbewerber.

43. Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain-Prenzlauerberg-Ost in 2002 and 2005.

44. According to Silke Stokar MdB, author's questionnaire, spring 2005.

45. For more details see Gleichstellungsbericht, Bundesparteitag der SPD in Karlsruhe, 14–17 Nov. 2005, p.5.

46. ASF, Rechenschaftsbericht 2000–2002; Gleichstellungsbericht 2003.

47. See Manifest, Nach der Quote: Frauenzukunft und die neue Aufgaben der ASF. Beschluss der Bundeskonferenz der ASF, 3–5. Juni 1994 in Nuernberg, pp.2–3.

48. Gleichstellungsbericht 2005, p.5.

49. Ibid., p.36.

50. Beschluss des 5. Parteitages der PDS vom 17. Jan. 1997 in Schwerin.

51. ‘Parteirat bereitet sich auf Parteitag vor’, 18 March 2000, http://www.pds-online.de/partei/strukturen/parteirat/berichte/view_html?zid = 12&bs&24&n&29.

52. According to Gesine Lötzsch MdB, author's interview, Berlin, 12 May 2005.

53. Bundessatzung der Partei Die Linke, http://sozialisten.de/sozialisten/parteibildung/gruendungsdokumente/view_html?zid = 34759&bs = 1&n = 3.

54. Author's interview, Berlin, 12 May 2005.

55. While 30 per cent of CDU MPs elected via lists are female, only 14 per cent of those elected for direct mandates are women.

56. Frauenbericht der CDU Deutschlands 2004, http://www.frauenunion.de/content/blogcategory/22/67/.

57. Ibid., p.2.

58. Author's interview, 9 May 2005.

59. Joachim Herrmann, ‘CDU und CSU sind die eigentlichen Frauenparteien’, 6 June 2005, http://www.csu.de/Gremien/Display/ag_aktuelles?verband = ag_Fu&reiter = reiter1.

60. See McKay, ‘Women in German Politics’, pp.72–3.

61. According to Christel Happach-Kasan MdB, author's survey, spring 2005.

62. According to Silke Stokar MdB, author's survey, spring 2005.

63. Of 57 MPs born after 1970 only 15 are women. Source: Kürschners Volkshandbuch Deutscher Bundestag 16. Wahlperiode (Rheinbreitbach: NDV, 2006), p.291.

64. See ‘Die Unmögliche’, Der Tagesspiegel, 20 March 2006; ‘Super Mama’, Der Tagesspiegel, 11 Feb. 2006; ‘Gesucht: Haus für Familie mit sieben Kindern’, Der Tagesspiegel, 10 Nov. 2005.