Germany may have a female Chancellor, but there are also
some areas where the country could step up its game in the name of women’s rights.
1. Abortion rights
While abortions may be performed legally in Germany, the
procedure is actually technically defined as “illegal” under the criminal code,
and the circumstances under which it can be performed are labelled as
“exceptions”.
In order to get an abortion, the following conditions must
generally be met: the woman must request the abortion, undergo counselling at
least three days before the operation, a physician must perform it, and it must
occur within the first 12 weeks of the pregnancy. Women seeking abortions due
to medical reasons or because the pregnancy was caused by a crime, such as
rape, do not have to go to counselling.
A woman found to be under “exceptional distress” may also be
able to have an abortion up to 22 weeks into the pregnancy, if she also
undergoes counselling.
Still, the wording of the German law concerning the required
counselling has a pro-life ring to it: The counselling is meant to “protect
unborn life”, and to “encourage the woman to continue the pregnancy and to open
her to the prospects of a life with the child”, the law states.
Insurance providers will generally cover the costs of an
abortion if there is a medical risk or criminal aspect to the pregnancy. For
other kinds of abortions, women must take on the costs themselves, unless they
are considered low income.
2. Contraception rights
Emergency contraception - also known as the morning after
pill - has been available at pharmacies without a prescription needed since
2015. Women under age 20 can have this pill covered by insurance, if the woman
sees a doctor and gets a prescription, meaning those without a prescription or
over 20 have to pay out of pocket.
Regular contraceptive methods like the birth control pill
are not generally covered by insurance.
3. A wide wage gap
Germany has one of the largest wage gaps in Europe, with
women earning 21.6 percent less than men. The European average, meanwhile, is
17 percent. And only two European countries pay women less than Germany:
Estonia and Austria.
The German Federal Statistics Office reported last year that
the gender pay gap can be attributed to various factors, such as the different
industries in which men and women tend to work, as well as “poor opportunities
for women to access certain professions or career levels, which may be the
result of discriminatory structures”.
Women in Germany are more likely to work in low-paid
sectors, or only part time.
When adjusted for comparable qualifications and positions,
women in Germany made 7 percent less per hour than men in 2010.
4. Small amount of women are political or business leaders
About 36 percent of Germany’s parliamentary representatives
are women, which placed the country 24th worldwide in the World Economic
Forum’s gender gap ranking last year. This meant that Germany was directly
behind Tanzania, Slovenia, Angola and the Netherlands.
When taking into account German women’s representation in
other high-ranking positions - like company managers - Germany fell to 75th
place worldwide with only 29 percent of women at such levels professionally.
According to an EY report earlier this year, women made up
just 6.7 percent of executive boards of the 160 market-listed companies
surveyed.
5. Comparatively low amount of women in higher education
While most of the more than 100 countries surveyed by the
World Economic Forum had either equal ratios of men to women in tertiary
education, or even higher amounts of women, Germany had slightly more men
enrolled.
6. But it’s trying to close the pay and achievement gaps
In recent years, Germany has pushed two different laws aimed
at closing its wage and achievement gaps. The first is the so-called ‘women’s
quota’, which went into effect last year. It obliges Germany’s largest
companies to ensure 30 percent of all supervisory board positions are held by
women.
DAX 30 companies have already met the 30 percent quota for
women on supervisory boards, according to research by the German Institute for
Economic Research (DIW).
But the EY report from January showed that overall, the law
is having a slow impact.
The second law is still yet to be passed by the German
parliament, but was approved by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet in January.
This proposal is intended to create more wage transparency as it would ask
larger companies to disclose what men and women in equal positions are paid.
Written by Emma Anderson
emma.anderson@thelocal.com
