Gender equality for women has come a fair way in marriage and family. In parliament, it is still a long way off. The initiative ‘Parität Jetzt’ wants to change that: the Bundestag should be half women and half men.
The fight for parity in parliaments is probably the last major step toward gender equality in Germany; in Europe, France, Spain, Portugal and Slovenia have already taken this step. The initiative ‘Parität Jetzt’ recently promoted its cause with a second day of action ‘for equal political participation of women’ in Germany as well. In the Federal Republic, parity laws are still as controversial today as the introduction of women’s suffrage was in 1918/19 and the equality clause in the Basic Law was in 1948/49. That equality clause was, back in 1948/49, the signpost to a legal revolution – but the Adenauer cabinet initially paid no attention to it. The entire post-war period was a time when equality was enshrined in the Basic Law but otherwise remained stuck at the stove.
Source: www.sueddeutsche.de
