Women In Politics : Germany

Women have enjoyed the right to vote and the right to stand for election in Germany since 1918. Although the number of politically active women is increasing, it is still much smaller than that of men. Some of the political parties have introduced quotas to increase the number of female representatives on executive committees.
Each Federal Government since 1961 has included at least one woman; the present Government has two. The percentage of women Members of the German Bundestag has risen from 8.4 percent in 1980 to and political radicalism that has of late been manipulated and exploited by the leaders of extremist right-wing groups for their criminal objectives.

Attacks by young people on foreigners, especially in the east, have highlighted the situation of the people there. Young offenders and their political leaders cannot expect any lenience from the police and judicial authorities. The federal and state governments have demonstrated their resolve to pursue suspects with all democratic means and bring them to account. Education and information, however, can play an at least equally important role in the suppression of politically motivated acts of violence, especially given the age of the culprits.

Since 1991, therefore, the Federal Government has launched several programs designed to eradicate xenophobic attitudes among young people. Between 1992 and 1996 the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth provided about DM 90 million for the “Action Program against Aggression and Violence” in the new federal states. These programs include projects at the main centers of violence and measures to promote the youth work of voluntary organizations in the new states. Since the beginning of 1993 it has together with the state interior ministers been running a massive publicity campaign against extremism and animosity towards foreigners. Surveys of representative cross-sections of young people in Germany, however, have indicated that the overwhelming majority have no sympathy whatsoever for xenophobic excesses.