Pirate Anke Domscheit-Berg: "Women too have stereotypes in their heads"
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde: How attractive is the political business for women?
Anke Domscheit-Berg: Highly unattractive.
Why is that?
It starts, for example, that you can take as a member of the Bundestag no parental leave. Those who want that have been bad luck. You are not even allowed to bring a baby into the plenary hall. Fortunately, that is different in the European Parliament.
After the elimination of the three-percent hurdle, the doubts about the entry of the Pirate Party have fallen silent. Did you have a hard time deciding to run for the European Parliament?
Absolute. I have a 13-year-old son whom I will probably never see in the future because MEPs have to commute constantly between Brussels, Strasbourg and their hometown. Only suitcases and hotel? that is not exactly comfortable for families. Despite the disadvantages of the step, I believe I can hold it. I have political stamina, the support of the party, but above all the support of my family.
What disadvantages do you still accept?
I was happy to finally shut down the revs and gain new freedom. For example, when the sun is shining on a Wednesday morning, today I can say, "I'm going to the garden now, I'll do the work later." Previously, for fifteen years, I have been working very hard in a world where women still have to fight especially hard. Especially in the male-dominated IT industry women have a hard time. And I'm sure: In Parliament, I will experience daily again how the working culture makes life difficult for us.
What are your criticisms of the political working culture?
The tone. I am not made of stone, personal attacks do not pass me by without a trace. It's hard not to personally take attacks that are more likely to have a political direction or office than that when addressed personally.
Do you fear personal attacks?
One never makes it all right and becomes a target. Those who say you should not be so sensitive are part of the problem. I do not want to dull. Do we want that only hardened people make politics? The result of such structures can be seen when dealing with the topics Hartz IV or asylum policy. We need more humanity in this business. If we managed to change the style of politics, more women would certainly be ready to take the step into politics. There are enough studies showing that women with hard style have problems.
Do you have to adapt to the prevailing style of politics if you want to be successful?
I refuse, otherwise I would be ashamed. And of course, there are men who are not so hard and women who adapt and play the classic game of men.
For example?
Angela Merkel. Such women are not the majority. I have often seen women working with each other more constructively, more appropriately and more purposefully than men. Whether this can be confirmed empirically, I do not know. Even in the election campaign, women on the podium rarely make verbal attacks. For some men this obviously belongs to folklore. With more women, the level of sexism that is also prevalent in politics decreases.
Do you think a quota system at local level makes sense?
Although there are some reasons against it, I am in favor of it. After all, far fewer women are politically active at the local level than at the federal level. The fact that, for example, the proportion of women who are mayors is smaller than the proportion of women on the DAX 30 boards by five percent is unbearable.
You write in your book "Tearing Walls" that women often come across a glass ceiling when working. Which barriers are particularly hard to break?
A particularly hindering barrier is the widespread use of stereotypes. It is annoying when men and women are constantly assigned different competencies, as if the strengths and weaknesses were predetermined from birth. That's nonsense.
Is not it unfair for all this to blame the men?
I do not do that! Although men complain that they would accuse them of active discrimination, I firmly believe that most men do not discriminate against women in a conscious way - especially in everyday working life, this often happens unconsciously. In addition, women also have stereotypes in their heads.
Which, for example?
Leadership is associated with masculinity, and social and communicative skills are attributed to women.There are, for example, experiments that show that the selection of personnel is not only based on competence and suitability, but often on gender. At present, therefore, a men's quota is actually in force when it comes to leadership positions. Another barrier is the annoying theme of "Old Boys Networks".
The men want to stay under themselves ...
Exactly. They rate the benefits of business relationships more positively. I therefore appeal to women to become more courageous in networking. While men often mix private and professional contacts, women tend to invest their leisure time in private networks. It should be said, however, that it is incredibly difficult for women to penetrate into the networks of men. The similarity principle still applies and men are more like men.
What barriers are still bothering women?
Inadequate childcare, still unfair tax and social legislation or unfair salary structures, just to name a few examples. All this needs to be changed urgently. But women can contribute to their success more than just their own performance, many could be more confident, more confident and more often leave their comfort zone.
Thilo Sarrazin speaks in his new book "The New Virtue Terror" of gender equality, which is part of a fashionable furor. What do you make of it?
I think that is a shattering treatise in which a tremendous ignorance comes to light. Anyone who dismisses gender justice as a fad and confuses it with egalitarianism obviously suffers from perceptual disorders or personal problems. If somebody had said in the century before last, okay, at a time when women were starting to fight for their own suffrage, then maybe one could explain the statements somehow for historical or cultural reasons. But nowadays? I would have thought, a former financial Senator is more concerned with numbers.
There are many numbers in his book.
But he uses the material exclusively, as it fits him in the junk. The obvious he fades out. I think the man belongs on the couch of a psychiatrist. He seems to have great fears, fears of strangers from distant lands, or powerful women who want to cut him off. The guy needs a doctor.
Men and women have different career preferences, this is normal and not a problem, says Sarrazin.
And why are these preferences so different around the world? Why are half of graduates in some countries women? And why is this different with us? It probably can not be due to the genes.
"It will always be the case that fewer women than men find the profession of the engineer interesting" - all nonsense?
At least a simple statement. For example, a programmer used to be a woman's profession. Only when the profession gained prestige, the women were ousted. It was the other way around with the secretaries. Maybe Mr. Sarrazin should deal with history a bit. And here we are again with the stereotypes mentioned at the beginning. When I had 10 years of IT experience, a customer came to my boss and asked him how he could possibly occupy a woman as a project manager, it was finally about millions. He asked the tremendous question: "Will that do it?" At that time I had much more project experience than my predecessors. Such things happen to women in so-called male professions constantly and that does not make these professions more attractive to them. And then comes a Sarrazin and talks to the world that the women would not be interested in these professions for biological reasons. That's nice, but nonsense anyway.
Finally, a prognosis: which wall will be torn next?
The most important thing at the moment is: save democracy from decay. That we limit the intelligence services, make them more transparent - and ideally abolish them. We have to tear down the wall that the secret services have built around us, otherwise we will one day wake up in a surveillance state.
