Passau (dpa / lby) – The women’s union of the CSU sees the time for a female prime minister. “Bavaria is ripe for a female prime minister,” Social Affairs Minister Ulrike Scharf told the “Passauer Neue Presse” (Monday). “We’ll see when the time is right for that.” Scharf was appointed to the state government by Prime Minister Markus Söder in February. In 2018, he declared that he wanted to head the state government for a maximum of ten years.
The Women’s Union, founded in 1947, is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, but women are still in the minority, both among CSU members and among elected officials. That’s why Scharf emphasized that women had to play a bigger role in the party.
“Women are not only systemically relevant, they are the elixir of life for the CSU,” said the FU chairwoman. “Women make up more than half of the population. If they aren’t represented appropriately in the CSU, there’s actually even a question of whether they exist as a people’s party.” There is no getting around the fact that “women can participate to a correspondingly large extent in the party and in political decisions”.
Scharf also wants to resume the discussion about increasing the women’s quota in the CSU – but “wait for the right time”. “In the coming year there will be district and state elections,” she said. “Some elected officials are going to step down and I hear that the first signs of interest in the succession are already being expressed – mainly by men.” The FU will motivate its members to apply as well. “Otherwise I fear that the number of CSU women in parliament will remain at the current level.” The discussion about the quota will come – “unfortunately, we won’t make any progress without it, or only much too slowly”.
