CDU and the women’s quota: the economic wing wants to survey the base

The German Christian Democrats should become more attractive to women, just how? The CDU economic wing wants the party base to vote on a women’s quota. This is linked to the hope of abolishing the unpopular regulation.

Friedrich Merz and Jens Spahn seek the approval of the Women’s Union during their candidacy for the CDU presidency in 2018: Meeting with Annette Widmann-Mauz (middle left) and Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

Mauersberger / Imago

There is a lot of rumbling among the German Christian Democrats. In 2020, they had laboriously agreed on a graduated quota for women. Now there is resentment again. The Mittelstands- und Wirtschaftsunion, the influential business wing of the Christian Democrats, wants to push through a member survey about the unloved quota for women. If a party congress decides on the quota, this could lead to a conflict at the base, argues the business wing. A questioning of all members would pacify the party.

Around three quarters of all CDU members are male. While the majority of the women’s union in the CDU voted for a quota system, the business wing, the young union and the ring of Christian Democratic students (RCDS) are against it. A conversation with RCDS chairwoman Franca Bauernfeind about her reasons.

23-year-old Franca Bauernfeind has been chairwoman of the Ring of Christian Democratic Students since October 2021.  She studies in Erfurt and is involved in the CDU and the Junge Union.

23-year-old Franca Bauernfeind has been chairwoman of the Ring of Christian Democratic Students since October 2021. She studies in Erfurt and is involved in the CDU and the Junge Union.

Daniel Beck

The SPD currently has four female prime ministers, the CDU not a single one. The CDU state chairmen are also all male. The CDU does not seem to be particularly attractive to young women.

I find that the CDU is attractive to young women. Around 25 percent of our members are women. That’s not a good percentage. But I’m also a young woman, in the CDU and I really like being there.

What is stopping young women from getting involved?

The point is that we hold hybrid meetings, for example, so that there is no longer just a regular table mentality. It must also be anchored in the articles of association that resolutions from hybrid meetings are correspondingly valid. Young people and families are more likely to say that we would like to join you. But we have to motivate young women in particular to join the party. That goes through role models, not through a quota. I also see my task as encouraging other young women.

You are against the introduction of a women’s quota. You would also overturn the decision of the federal executive board that every third member of a CDU executive committee must be a woman. Wouldn’t that be a step backwards?

It’s not a step backwards. We met around two and a half years ago in the Statutes Commission, of which I am also a member. And I voted against the quota for women there. As RCDS, we are a young association and half of our state chairmen are women. That shows that it is also possible without a quota. For me personally it is clear: a quota is rigid and by no means a step forward. I myself come from Thuringia, where there are district associations where there is not a large number of members and certainly not women. Of course we want women and committed members. I fight for that. But when I hear some people arguing for a quota of 50 percent, I ask myself when was the last time they were guests of smaller associations.

What do you say to the arguments of the advocates of a quota in the CDU and the women’s union?

I think the motivation of some parts of the Women’s Union is dishonest. At the last party conference in particular, it was observed that the young women candidates in particular did not have the support of the women’s union. I got the impression that it was partly about the advancement of a few and not about structural improvements for women members at the grassroots level. To believe that the women’s quota is the panacea is simply unrealistic. What’s next, a youth quota? I reject all of that.

Do you feel you have enough support from the party leader? Friedrich Merz is not exactly known as a champion of equality.

Friedrich Merz takes the topic very seriously. He has repeatedly emphasized that the CDU must become more attractive to women. The only question now is how this will be implemented, and I am in favor of this happening without a women’s quota.

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