Good morning, dear readers and especially dear readers,
Rituals are calming. Collective routines bring people together, create meaning and self-assurance. But rituals are also dangerous. They repeat the same thing over and over again, glorify outdated certainties and can lead entire societies into a dead end. The International Women’s Day belongs to the second category. There was no German city, no association, no party and no company that did not participate in some way yesterday: demos and discussions, announcements and appeals, celebrations and manifestos were carried out dutifully and routinely, few of them original, most of them as expected as they were without consequences.
A day later, the speeches have faded away and the demonstrators have gone home, and everything is the same as before: Germany is and remains one misogynistic country. Men decide across the hierarchies in the Chancellery, in the Federal President’s Office, in most ministries, authorities, offices and companies. As representatives, men make the majority of laws, lead the most important media companies as editors-in-chief, determine the course of corporations as CEOs and also like to act like bosses in every respect. Some people struggle to come up with a few phrases about rituals like Women’s Day that are supposed to sound enlightened, progressive and solidarity-based. But when it comes to setting the next course, they prefer to decide for themselves.
In this country we occasionally tend to rise above supposedly backward societies: the Arabs, the Asians, yes, yes. In truth, we are not one bit better. The Germany of 2024 is a through and through patriarchalisches Land, in which the bipeds with X and Y chromosomes defend their power so routinely that they no longer even need to make any effort. Even the self-criticism of an editor-in-chief doesn’t change that.
The male state is not just unfair. He is also economically stupid. If you listed all the quotes in which politicians, company bosses and association presidents spoke about the Shortage of skilled workers If you complain, you wouldn’t be finished after three months. People complain about demographic change, cry about the impending recession, castigate the messed up immigration law and, of course, curse the German bureaucracy. All very true, all very short-sighted.
At the same time, hardly anyone talks about the greatest leverage for immediately recruiting millions of promising workers. To make Germany more innovative, competitive, stable and, at the same time, fairer. The biggest lever is women. Millions of people who are systematically disadvantaged by tax law, by the pension system, by many employers and of course by politics.
On average, women earn less than men: The unadjusted wage gap is 18 percent, the adjusted one, taking qualifications, activities and employment histories into account, is still 6 percent. Two thirds of all women have no long-term livelihood security. One in three working women cannot even cover their immediate needs with their own income. 2.7 million women are at risk of poverty in old age despite 40 years of full-time work.
At the same time, women do the majority of the care work: They raise children, care for parents and grandparents, and look after relatives and friends. If you let all these facts and figures sink in (there are many more), it doesn’t seem as if Germany has already moved away from the 17th century.
What needs to change so that we can finally arrive in the 21st century? So that we can all still live well in 5, 10, 20 years? So that women finally get the same rights as men? So that men can finally share their privileges? Lisa Paus has very clear answers to these and other questions. So we invited the Federal Minister for Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth to our podcast. Lisa Fritsch moderated. I also contributed a few thoughts, but they certainly aren’t the most original.
All the more reason why I hope you listen to what the two Lisas have to say. No matter what chromosomes you have, you can learn something here. And then maybe do some things better. Please listen.
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Now I wish you a nice weekend. The next daybreak will come from my colleague Annika Leister on Monday.
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