Abstract
In 2021, Angela Merkel stepped down after 16 years as German chancellor, marking the longest post-war tenure of a woman in a political leadership position in Europe. Having a powerful woman chancellor suggested to many observers that Germany is on an upward track to gender equality. However, the project of transforming a longstanding conservative gender regime is far from being complete. This chapter identifies three periods of German post-unification gender politics in which different challenges informed particular policies in the gender equality arena. Phase one is defined by East–West consolidation. In phase two, domestic and EU-level pressures align to create economic and social investment policies, and in phase three, Germany sees dual-track mobilizations for parity and equality. Throughout these three periods, ongoing legacies of unification inform strategic gender policy choices.
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Notes
- 1.
This particular gender gap will most likely appear to have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020/21.
- 2.
The AGG in fact implements four EU Directives: the 2000 Racial Equality Directive, the 2000 Employment Equality Directive, the 2002 Employment Gender Equality Directive, and the 2004 Gender Equality Directive for goods and services.
- 3.
Data from this section is drawn from Lang (2017).
- 4.
The so-called Ehegatten-Splitting (spousal income splitting) is still in effect in 2021, allowing spouses to combine taxable income and thus offering incentives for women to have little or no income. The tax break gets higher with the magnitude of the difference in income between spouses.
- 5.
The Joint Constitutional Assembly consisted of members of both chambers of the German legislative, Bundestag and Bundesrat.
- 6.
Gesetz zur Änderung des Grundgesetzes 1994, BGBL I 3146. Artikel 3 (1) Alle Menschen sind vor dem Gesetz gleich. (2) Männer und Frauen sind gleichberechtigt. Der Staat fördert die tatsächliche Durchsetzung der Gleichberechtigung von Frauen und Männern und wirkt auf die Beseitigung bestehender Nachteile hin.
- 7.
With the European Council meeting in Barcelona in 2002 and the passing of the Barcelona Objectives in 2003, the EU affirmed the necessity of member states providing accessible and affordable high-quality childcare to enable “women, and men, with caring responsibilities, to participate in the labour market” (European Commission, 2018, p. 1).
- 8.
This goal was ambitious and was not reached in 2013. The so-called care quota for children under 3 years crossed the 35 per cent threshold only in 2020 (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2020).
- 9.
The law was overturned by the Federal Constitutional Court in 2015.
- 10.
Gesetz für die gleichberechtigte Teilhabe von Frauen und Männern an Führungspositionen.
- 11.
Gesetz zur Förderung der Transparenz von Entgeltstrukturen.
- 12.
Gesetz zur Weiterentwicklung des Teilzeitrechts—Einführung einer Brückenteilzeit.
- 13.
See Swaantje M. & Manon P. (2020, October). Weil wir es können und weil wir es wollen. FAZ. Access at https://www.faz.net/aktuell/stil/trends-nischen/prominente-in-ichwill-kamapagne-fuer-mehr-teilhabe-von-frauen-17004681.html.
- 14.
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Lang, S. (2022). The Reluctant Modernizer: Gender Equality in Unified Germany. In: Oswald, M., Robertson, J. (eds) The Legacy and Impact of German Unification. New Perspectives in German Political Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97154-0_9
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