Germany is experiencing an interesting battle about female quotas. The upper house (Bundesrat) has a majority to push through a law to introduce quotas for women on public company boards (albeit limited to very few companies, with many exceptions, and not covering other fields of the economy or politics). This undermines the government, which currently has a majority in the lower house (Bundestag) that is in favor of blocking such a law (and to pass, the law must be passed by both houses). There's some debate on whether parliamentarians could vote outside of their party line in order to have the law pass (technically they are allowed to do so in all cases, but in practice they only vote against their party line in cases of "significant moral questions").
The rather public and divisive debate about a quota for such a narrow are affecting gender relations shows that Germans are very confused about the role of women in society. Are we to be encouraged to stay at home with the kids (following the "hearth premium" that the family minister is trying to but so far failing to introduce because the coalition cannot agree on the precise format)? Are we supposed to be encouraged to participate more actively in decision making (and hence work, following the female quota proposal above)?
Because these debates are raging in such narrow fields - even though they are symbolically highly significant - I in part agree with Germany's (female) justice minister that these debates are taking away the focus from more fundamental and important debates. Then again, what would a fundamental, big-picture political solution to women's underrepresentation look like? What government would have the power to push through a "women's plan" instead of start with incremental changes? Germany (and its female population) is far too heterogeneous for such a broad-brush solution.
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