50 years – that’s how long the CDU politician Wolfgang Schäuble has been in the Bundestag. On the day he entered the German parliament, Annemarie Renger was the first woman to be elected chairwoman. Reason enough to pay tribute to both of them accordingly.
Bundestag President Bärbel Bas (SPD) paid tribute to the election of SPD politician Annemarie Renger as the first female Bundestag President 50 years ago. “The election of a woman to this post has, understandably, caused quite a stir,” Bas said in the plenary session of Parliament. In fact, it took twelve years “until, with Rita Süssmuth (CDU), another woman came to the top of the Bundestag.”
Renger did “pioneering” and used her position to – as she said – “serve the cause of women”. Political commitment and family life can only be reconciled if the general conditions are right. For Annemarie Renger, this included enabling the women in the Bundestag administration to reconcile family and work. The opening of the Bundestag day-care center in 1970 also went back to her initiative.
And even today, at just under 35 percent, the proportion of women in the current 21st Bundestag is too low. Women are underrepresented in managerial positions and earn less. As a member of parliament, she always kept her own head, not always to the delight of her group.
Renger was elected President of the Bundestag on December 13, 1972. She was the first woman to head a parliament in the world. On the same day, the CDU MP Wolfgang Schäuble, who has been a member of the German parliament for 50 years without interruption, also moved into the Bundestag for the first time. “This is unique in the entire history of German parliamentarism,” said Bas. “It’s an era. Your voters have given you a direct mandate 14 times in a row.”
As head of the chancellery, Schäuble played a key role in shaping German-German relations and, as interior minister under Helmut Kohl, drafted the unification treaty and played a key role in steering the reunification process. As Finance Minister, he navigated Germany and Europe through the financial and euro crisis. And as President of the Bundestag, he established the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly, for example. Schäuble is a “man of the executive” and at the same time “a passionate parliamentarian”.
