The question of the women’s quota remains intriguing until the very end. After a passionate debate, support from prominent speakers seems to be turning things around. One woman in particular manages to convince the delegates of her position.
Friedrich Merz has obviously made an effort. And fails in the end. Not with the result of the women’s quota – because in the end it made it through the vote with 559 votes. In his opening speech, he tries to give the impression that the decision on the women’s quota at the 35th party conference of the CDU is a minor matter by not even mentioning it. But far from it.
The high number of 34 speakers shows how heated and important the debate about the quota for women in the party is in the end. In order to limit the time, the speaking time is limited to two minutes. The exchange of blows between pros and cons is balanced until the end. But in the end there are significantly more women who speak out on the subject. And each of them makes it clear with a lot of verve and emphasis what the quota means to them.
When Hendrik Wüst is called to speak, a murmur goes through the room. The Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia gains attention with an emotional speech: “I’m standing here because strong women encouraged me,” begins Wüst. “First of all, of course, our mother.” She did an apprenticeship as a butcher, “she didn’t have any better chances”. As a child he had all the opportunities that mothers and women of previous generations did not have. “It’s about us focusing on giving women more opportunities.” Applause breaks out, the loudest of all speakers to date.
But he is not the only prominent supporter. A few minutes later, former CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer enters the stage. “I stand here as a CDU woman who owes this party an incredible amount,” she begins her speech. She has achieved a lot, but she was only able to take the very first step because there was a women’s quorum. “If what we’ve done up until now had worked, we wouldn’t be where we are now,” said Kramp-Karrenbauer. She also received enthusiastic applause.
Wiebke Winter, who at 26 is the youngest member of the CDU federal executive board, is happy not to be a “quota woman”. She argues like most opponents of the quota. But no one travels with the delegates as much as former Minister of Food Julia Klöckner. She is one of the last to enter the stage and makes it clear: It’s no good if women are positioned against women and argue against each other.
It seems to be a “thigh slap” when women declare that they don’t want to be a “quota woman”. Young politicians in particular are afraid of being called that. “Did you notice that?” she asks in the exhibition hall in Hanover. If there hadn’t been a quota in her time, she wouldn’t be in politics today, says Klöckner. “They asked me three times, they tried to get me.” A few arguments later, the point goes to Klöckner. The hall rages.
“This is the passion I’ve always wanted,” Merz concludes the debate and adds one more: “Let’s dare to take such a small step forward.” Visibly goaded by the previous speakers, there is nothing left of his initial reluctance on the subject. The atmosphere in the hall is charged, the decision seems to have been made.
“I think it’s important that we decided on the women’s quota,” Wüst said after the election to ntv.de. “Firstly, because the topic has been discussed for a long time,” said the Prime Minister. “And secondly, because it is also a signal to the women who may not have been involved in the CDU before.” It is an invitation to all women to join the party.
Klöckner is happy to have reached this stage. But the work is yet to come, she says ntv.de. “In the end, it’s about the self-preservation of a CDU, that they can’t do without role models, people that voters pay attention to.” This included women. “It’s a shame that we only have 26 percent women, and we can see how the voters accept it,” said the former minister.
When asked why so many young women spoke out against the quota, Klöckner says that she did the same when she was young. “But for a very clear reason, because you didn’t have to prove yourself, but as a young woman you had already done the homework that the boys wanted to copy.”
