Podcast
“The Boss”
Katarina Barley: “When it comes to equality, Germany has a negative influence in Europe”
Katarina Barley, Vice-President of the European Parliament
© Katarina Barley / www.katarina-barley.de
“I always thought I was for the second row,” says Katarina Barley, Vice-President of the European Parliament. How that has changed and why she advises women to go into politics, she talks about in the star-Podcast “Die Boss” with Simone Menne.
The SPD politician Katarina Barley was only a judge before she decided to go into politics. There she made a rapid career, was first family minister, then justice minister and is now Vice-President of the EU Parliament. “I had always thought before that I would be more of someone for the second row,” she says in an interview with Simone Menne in star-Podcast “The Boss”. However, she enjoyed her first election campaign so much that she decided to stay in politics. Even though she lost it.
“Actually, you only really learn through defeat. If you always see that you have the guarantee of success, then you develop a lot less,” says Barley. Her advice to women is therefore: give it a try! You and Menne also talk about the work in the EU Parliament. “So far, Germany has had a rather negative influence in Europe when it comes to equality, we are adopting certain legislation that other states want to advance. For example, women in management positions or equal pay,” says Barley. And she reports why she is currently looking at Europe with great concern and what you need to know when you observe the shift to the right in some countries.
A shift to the right is always at the expense of women
“For the very first time, with Poland and Hungary, we have countries that not only want to change their own country, but also really want to change the understanding of democracy and the rule of law in the European Union. That is a completely different dimension,” says Barley. These developments have always been at the expense of women’s rights.
In “The Boss – Power is Female”, top women talk to each other: hostess and multi-supervisory board member Simone Menne (including BMW, Deutsche Post DHL, Henkel) meets female bosses from all areas of society to talk to them about their lives and careers. “Die Boss” appears every two weeks on wednesdays on stern.de and the Youtube channel of staras well as on Audio Now and all common podcast platforms.