Merkels decisive NO
Women fighting against Women's Rights
Merkel's ex cathedra puts a temporary halt to discussions about a women quota
Angela Merkel is a woman violently opposed to the idea of legally fixing a women quota. A contradiction? Every other women in Germany would expect her to make a stand and fight for women's rights, especially when women are still discriminated against in the big business. She could testify to the fact that it's quite lonely on the top, especially for women. German politics does have a women quota, now the question is, why does the first female Chancellor in the history of the Republic of Germany opposed the idea of getting more women into management positions.
Granted, there is always the old argument, a legally fixed quota is just another form of (positive) discrimination. A real woman would want to fight for her rights on her own, fly to the highest career height without politics, mingling where it has no business. It's Article 3 of the German Constitution that grants women equality on paper, in reality they often don't get the chance to shine in the job. There is a whole host of potentially big hurdles to overcome. Your employer is likely to ask whether you want children and how many. Frankly why would he hire you when he is forced to accept you taking maternity leave up to three years. And this is just the beginning of your career, not every one can be sponsored by the former Chancellor Helmut Kohl (CDU).
Secondly she cannot risk to alienate her coalition partner, the FDP who right from the beginning of the debate way back in 2011, declared they would not support any law that could possibly endanger growth, especially in times of a Euro crisis and a global depression. Therefore like the debate about minimum wages, the women quota was buried under mellifluous warm words. Similar to her predecessor Gerhard Schröder, member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Merkel seems to have decided on the new election battle cry: I am the chancellor of the people with deep pockets. Of course big businesses oppose the idea quite violently, consequently it's the FDP (Free Democratic Party) giving those loud mouthed objections a voice in the Bundestag, declaring a legally fixed quota, at least, according to Nicole Bracht-Bendt, would only further heighten the pressure to keep up a female friendly image. In his interview with Bild-am-Sonntag, FDP Secretary-General Patrick Döring, even went so far as to predict, the quota would endanger growth and prosperity", demanding Chancellor Merkel should put her foot forcefully down, which she did, speaking ex cathedra, forcing all her ducks into her political line. Forget the idea politicians make politics for the people, nowadays they charter to the wishes of the boys clubs with fat purses.
So this is exactly where politics blurs, quite forcefully the boundary between appearance and reality. Because a quota was not close enough to reality, at least for Hans Heinrich Driftman, President of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce. We could always try and apply his reality to the rest of the republic, the question however is, what kind of nation would we live, if big bucks was allowed to make the laws? "Today four out of ten medium-sized companies are founded by women", he insisted. Yet, according to the OECD report, published on Monday, women in Germany earn on average 21,6 % less than their male colleagues. Not even ten percent of all board seats are in female hands, only four in 100 positions are filled by women. The conclusion, there is no other country in Europe with an equally huge gender pay gap as Germany. In her blog, feminist Alice Schwarzer commented derisively : "What does Driftman mean by that, founding a beauty salon is naturally comparable to climbing onto a board seat of a DAX-company? How stupid does Man think we are?!"
Of course rational would tell them, a women quota does not force businesses to favor incompetent women over competent men, it is rather a guarantee politicians take the industry up on their promise to treat women equally and hire capable employe(e)s whatever their biological sex. Even the argument, women had better concentrate their energies on the issue of combining family and job, can be easily invalidated. Politicians could be tasked with providing the necessary groundwork to realize equality not only on paper, even against the old boys' network, the female employees work on the reproduction issue while being successful in their jobs. Now, the German discussion has reached Brussels, the EU commissionare Viviane Reding takes up the female cause and sets out to force businesses throughout the European Union to accept a women quota. But than again, Merkel's arm is long, and Europe is not as far way as one might think.
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