Status: 9/9/2022 9:36 p.m
The party has been arguing about this for decades – tonight, at their party conference, the Christian Democrats decided on a women’s quota for party offices. The regulation will be limited to 2029.
At its federal party conference in Hanover, the CDU decided by a large majority to introduce a graduated quota for women in the party. In the evening, the delegates voted with 559 votes against 409 votes for a compromise proposal by the federal executive board. From next year, a third of the posts on board members from the district level must be filled by women, from 2024 it will be 40 percent and from mid-2025 50 percent.
CDU leader Friedrich Merz had previously spoken out strongly against a proposal to postpone the vote. The Vechta district association had called for a member survey to be held first and then to be decided later at another party conference. The motion was rejected by a show of hands with a large majority.
Wüst, Günther and Kramp-Karrenbauer for quota
In the debate on the women’s quota, 36 speakers spoke, including six men. The opponents of a quota – including many young women – argued that this was only symbolic politics. The problem is not getting into politics, but the compatibility of family and political commitment. One group should not be placed above others in the party, this is a forced redistribution of offices.
The supporters, who included Prime Ministers Hendrik Wüst (North Rhine-Westphalia) and Daniel Günther (Schleswig-Holstein) as well as former party leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, emphasized that it was about giving women more opportunities. Mixed teams also work more creatively and successfully.
Merz, who was the last speaker to speak, said it was “a signal to the outside world that we take this topic seriously”. More than 50 percent of voters in Germany are women. He exclaimed, “Are we serious about practically ignoring this problem and saying we don’t need to talk about a solution here?”
CDU below average female
The CDU has a below-average proportion of women both among members and in parliaments – in the Bundestag it is 23.5 percent. The rule that has now been decided is to expire at the end of 2029. Merz had vehemently campaigned for the adoption of the federal executive board’s proposal. 37.4 percent of the delegates at the party congress in Hanover are women.
For the party leader – who has been in office for about seven months – the vote was a first test. Above all, the business wing and the newcomers to the party from the Junge Union vehemently reject the women’s quota.
In his party speech, Merz had previously taken the traffic light coalition to court – because of their handling of the energy crisis. “Especially at a time when leadership, a clear course and action are required, our country is affording what is probably one of the weakest federal governments of all time,” he said. With a view to current survey values, Merz emphasized: “We are back in first place among the German parties.”
Merz railed against traffic lights
Merz said that if the party congress sent out the right signals, this could help win the election in Lower Saxony on October 9 with CDU top candidate Bernd Althusmann. So 2022 could be “one of the most successful years in our party history”.
Merz demanded a course correction in energy policy from Scholz. “Stop this red, green and yellow ship of fools on this course you are on,” he shouted to the cheers of the delegates. Merz sharply rejected allegations from traffic lights that the Union, with its policies of the past 16 years, was solely responsible for Germany’s dependence on Russian gas. 20 out of 24 of the past years have had Social Democrats in government in Germany. “They bear at least the same responsibility for this stupidity and for this naivety and for these mistakes.”