(Adnkronos) – At least four SPD women are expected to be part of the next German government. This was stated to Dpa by the co-leader of the party, Saskia Esken. “Our goal must be gender parity in the cabinet and throughout politics,” she said a few days after the coalition agreement reached between the Social Democratic Party of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the conservative CDU/CSU union led by Friedrich Merz.
“Women represent half the population. We don’t want just half the cake, but half the bakery,” added Esken, who has not yet clarified whether she intends to take up a position in the new executive. Under the terms of the agreement, the SPD will be entitled to seven of the sixteen ministries, despite the party having obtained only 16.4% of the vote in the February parliamentary elections. Asked whether this means that four positions would therefore go to women, Esken replied: “If you can count, yes, it makes four.”
The outgoing SPD-led government was initially made up of nine men and eight women, thus missing the stated goal of parity. The next executive is expected to include an additional ministry, theoretically making gender balance possible. However, Chancellor-designate Merz has not publicly committed to pursuing it. Only 22.1% of CDU deputies are women, compared to 25% of the CSU (active only in Bavaria) and 41.7% of the SPD.
