The eight Wolfratshausen city councilors invited their peers to a discussion. The tenor: A women's quota is the wrong approach.
Wolfratshausen – Do women act more solution-oriented and pragmatically than men? And why does the female representation in political bodies far from correspond to the proportion of the population, which is 51 percent? The eight Wolfratshausen city councilors Gerlinde Berchtold, Claudia Drexl-Weile, Annette Heinloth, Dr. Ulrike Krischke, Jenny Layton, Ingrid Schnaller, Assunta Tammelleo and Renate Tilke discussed on Sunday morning in the Flößerei business.
City councilors discuss with their peers - and comment on the women's quota
In a short round of introductions, the elected representatives first described their different motivations for taking on a city council office. “At some point I noticed that I didn’t like certain things in Wolfratshausen and initially went to regulars’ meetings at the citizens’ association,” reported Dr. Ulrike Krischke. Before the mother of two knew it, she ended up on the city council list and was promptly elected. For Ingrid Schnaller and Claudia Drexl-Weile, it was the formative influence of their parents that motivated them to become politically active. Other city council colleagues took on responsibility early on in clubs, kindergartens or schools. “Political commitment does not begin in the city council, but in the public: once this step has been taken, the next one can follow,” emphasized Krischke.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s male or female, as long as the commitment is right.”
Eva-Maria Rühling, chairwoman of the Citizens for Citizens neighborhood support group
But why is it that citizens often prefer to elect men to the city council rather than women? “Men are often better known,” speculated Lili Doctor. Management consultant Silke Kraus therefore wants women to sharpen their profile and appear in public more often. Like other participants in the discussion, she did not accept the frequently made pretext that they primarily wanted to take care of children and the household.
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Nevertheless, Eva-Maria Rühling – chairwoman of the neighborhood support association Citizens for Citizens – found that many women only want to get involved selectively in individual projects rather than in the long term. Kerstin Arndt can confirm this: “I see myself more as a sprinter and not as a long-distance runner,” she admitted. Krischke tried to allay these concerns with another sporting metaphor. She compared the city council activity to a relay race in which women can sometimes simply support decisions and do not always have to go 100 percent full force ahead. Expert knowledge, for example in construction matters, is also not absolutely necessary. Königsdorf CSU councilor Luise Seemayer sees it similarly. “In my job as an architect, I have already accompanied many building applications and noticed that there is also ignorance among men,” she assured.
Third mayor speaks of constant “expanding horizons and further training”
Third mayor Annette Heinloth sees her work as a constant “broadening of horizons and further training”, especially since she, like family representative Gerlinde Berchtold, attends many annual meetings of associations and political discussion evenings outside of city council meetings. Citizens often give them homework, for example by inquiring about the financial feasibility of construction projects.
At the end of the exchange of ideas, everyone agreed that more female participation would be good for politics. However, setting women's quotas to achieve parity in parliaments would be the wrong approach. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a man or a woman, as long as the commitment is right,” said Eva-Maria Rühling. The city councilors now want to set up a WhatsApp group and, depending on participation, invite people to further meetings. (ph)