There are three female mayors in Icking.
On International Women's Day, our newspaper met the trio for an interview.
Icking – 21 municipalities belong to the district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen.
They are governed by 20 mayors and exactly one woman: Verena Reithmann (UBI) from Icking.
In turn, she not only has a woman as head of the building department, namely Cornelia Zechmeister.
Her two deputies are also female: Claudia Roederstein belongs to the same faction as Reithmann.
Laura von Beckerath-Leismüller is part of the Greens parliamentary group.
This moved into the Ickinger committee for the first time in 2020.
Reason enough - and in keeping with International Women's Day - for a conversation about women in politics.
And about what women might do differently, what is easier for them - and what isn't.
On International Women's Day: Mayors from Icking in an interview
Ladies, one community and three women mayors: do you actually meet up from time to time to talk about "women's issues" in Icking?
Reithmann: When I started as mayor, we always got together.
However, due to lack of time, this could not be continued.
Roederstein: But it wasn't about typically female issues.
We discussed general community issues.
Ms. Roederstein, Ms. Beckerath-Leismüller, have you often worked as deputy heads of town hall?
Roederstein: In January alone, I visited nine people from Icking to congratulate them on their birthdays or wedding anniversaries.
I always like to take my time.
Sometimes serious concerns are raised.
Von Beckerath-Leismüller: So far I have been able to present two bouquets, one of them to my father.
Where in Icking is it noticeable that the municipality has three female town hall chiefs? Or to put it another way: Do you think that will make itself felt?
Von Beckerath-Leismüller: I think it's more noticeable that there are a lot of women on the municipal council.
Women think more cooperatively, they arrange more instead of arranging things.
They are more concerned with working together than with delegating.
Women think more cooperatively, they arrange more instead of arranging things.
Laura von Beckerath-Leismüller
Roederstein: It's possible that Icking had a "Children's House" so early on because there was a mayor (Margit Menrad, editor's note) before Verena Reithmann.
Reithmann: In my opinion, the boundaries between men's and women's "responsibilities" are becoming increasingly blurred.
Many fathers have also been on the parents' councils for a long time, and social interaction in Icking is largely carried out by men.
Icking: "I think it makes itself felt in the municipal council when there are many women there"
When your children were small, Mrs. Reithmann and Mrs. Roederstein, there was a playgroup for pre-kindergarten children in Icking once a week. But the mothers had to stick with it. Do you sometimes envy today's mothers?
Reithman: No.
Perhaps there wasn't such a wide range of childcare options - conversely, I could just about afford the luxury of spending time with my children.
This freedom often does not exist today.
Roederstein: No, no envy from my side either.
Back then, we mothers started this mother-child group ourselves.
We just made the best of our situation back then.
Ms. Roederstein, after completing two degrees, you didn't even start working. It was then that you decided to have a family.
Roederstein: The question of whether I wanted to work simply didn't arise.
Organizationally it wouldn't have worked.
Nevertheless, I was not idle, I got involved in many areas through honorary posts and social commitment on site.
And what made you run for municipal council, Mrs von Beckerath-Leismüller? Two years ago your twins were only eight.
Von Beckerath-Leismüller: We first founded the local branch of the Greens for the election, the mood was and is very euphoric.
That also carried me.
I wanted to help shape the community I live and grew up in.
Like all parents of small children, traffic issues are important to me, as well as the energy transition, and I think that more must happen for children and young people in the village.
In the Ickinger municipal council: "In the beginning I was very excited every time I wanted to say something"
Have you found your place, your role on the municipal council?
Von Beckerath-Leismüller: It took a while, but that's completely normal.
At first I was very excited every time I wanted to say something.
Roederstein: Really now?
I didn't even notice.
From Beckerath-Leismüller: Yes.
But that has now totally subsided.
Roederstein: It's still the same for me today that unfortunately I can't think of how I could have phrased this or that better until afterwards.
Then that annoys me.
Do men have such doubts too?
Von Beckerath-Leismüller: In my opinion, men are generally better at marketing themselves.
Roederstein: I'm actually less concerned with whether I'm enough for the municipal council.
But I want to meet my own requirements.
In my opinion, men are generally better at marketing themselves.
Laura von Beckerath-Leismüller
How do you feel as a municipal councilor when the rows of visitors at the back of the meeting are full? And you know exactly what the people, in this case Attenhauser, expect from you when it comes to ground-mounted photovoltaic systems?
Von Beckerath-Leismüller: Of course you know and have it in the back of your mind what people are concerned about.
But that doesn't mean you simply abandon your own position.
We don't have much time left to get the energy transition going.
Which means: I want to continue to put my heart and soul into a photovoltaic system on the B11.
Roederstein: Of course, we always have to take the opinion of the public into account.
But we mustn't let that put us under pressure, I see it that way too.
Ms. Reithmann, every few weeks there are mayoral staff meetings in the district, and 20 men sit there – and you are the only woman. How does that feel?
Reithmann: I find the cooperation with my colleagues to be brilliantly collegial.
We exchange information about where what works and how, and it doesn't matter at all who is a man and who is a woman.
Interview on Women's Day: "I find the cooperation with my colleagues to be brilliantly collegial"
Do men do politics differently than women?
Reithmann: At least locally, it's always about the thing.
And by the way, I think it's very nice that when we write circular emails to each other, the salutation is: 'Dear colleagues, dear Verena'.
Aren't women more adept at making social commitments?
Reithmann: As a mayor, you always need someone who is capable of doing just that.
But is it possible that the people of Icking confide more in you than they would in a male mayor?
Reithmann: Yes.
I may have conversations with citizens that men would not be offered.
I may have conversations with citizens that men would not be offered.
Mayor Verena Reithmann
Do women have more visions in politics, broader ideas, a fresher perspective?
Roederstein: It's more a question of personality, regardless of gender.
And it's really important to me that it doesn't just stay with the visions.
What counts for me is what is implemented in the end and does not get stuck in the subjunctive.
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How about the Greens? The committees all have equal representation, with one woman taking first place on the list. Does this affect the collaboration in any way?
Von Beckerath-Leismüller: I have the feeling that our cooperation is absolutely balanced.
Each of us has his/her own issues.
Do you have a role model in politics? A politician who you admire, who is a role model for you?
Reithman: No.
Laura von Beckerath-Leismüller is "very impressed" by Annalena Baerbock's work
What about Angela Merkel? Annalena Baerbock?
Von Beckerath-Leismüller: I am very impressed with the way Annalena Baerbock organizes her office.
I also like the member of the state parliament Katharina Schulze.
I admire both of them, but they're not role models, I don't aspire to their positions.
In my life I follow my own inner guiding principle, which is: Always stay optimistic.
Because there is always a way.
In the context of construction projects, I sometimes ask myself whether my demeanor would be different towards a male colleague.
Mayor Verena Reithmann
Have you ever wished you were a man?
Reithmann: In the context of construction projects, I sometimes ask myself whether my demeanor would be different towards a male colleague.
I then have the feeling that those involved express themselves to me in a deliberately simple manner – so that I, as a woman, can understand everything.
But you can easily counteract this: by preparing twice as well for the relevant appointments.
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