May 27, 2004

MNA Fauzia Wahab recently went to Berlin with a women’s delegation to study the concept of gender mainstreaming. Much was learnt about how Germany’s polity and society have successfully incorporated this integration into their policies

Gender mainstreaming is the buzzword in Europe these days. It is a subject that is taken seriously at every level, by all states and every government. The term is defined as “the process and procedure of incorporating the gender perspective into politics as a whole.” In simpler words it aims at achieving actual equality in every ministry and organization involved in political decision-making. Germany, an important member of the European Union, has achieved an envious kind of gender parity not only in the polity of the country, but also in the socio-economic sectors as well.

Historically, Germany was one country where women were restricted to their traditional duties. Even the land, which is associated with motherhood the world over, is related to the father. Patriotism is thus associated with fatherland. There was a strong women’s movement, many committed women such as Rosa Luxemburg or Gertrude Baumer campaigned for women’s rights, but rights did not come easily. It was not before the turn of the 20th century that women were allowed university education and given the right to vote.

Ironically, the two world wars proved to be a blessing in disguise. The numerical edge of women forced many gateways to open. However, the highly stratified society of Germany reluctantly conceded constitutional rights for women in general, though there are two million more women than men in Germany. The principle of equality was introduced gradually.

After the war, job opportunities for women were still confined to menial jobs, such as the secretarial sector, hair-grooming, sales and factory work. As the women workforce grew in numbers and the economic pressures multiplied, more and more pro-women policies had to be adopted. Today in Germany 43 per cent of the workforce comprises of women.

This was not achieved overnight. The public was continuously sensitized about the existing inequality of opportunities for women and targeted measures to counteract the situation. But the biggest change came when the principle of gender mainstreaming was adopted as a way of life in the polity of Germany. For the first time it was accepted that a woman is the most effective agent for social change, and without acceding her a substantial political role in the polity of their country, the change would not come.

Spearheaded by the Green Party, more and more women were encouraged to enter the political institutions of the country. Today in a house of 602, one-third of the seats are occupied by women as members of the German Bundestag.

One of the key factors for women’s greater role in politics came through the quotas but unlike Pakistan, the reform for quotas came from within the political parties, not from the outside. Knowing the far-reaching influence of political parties and the importance of political culture in a society, the powerful “women’s lobby” working since 1952 campaigned for quotas on tickets in every political party.

Consequently all the three major parties, namely, the Green Party, Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Christian Democratic Union (CDU), agreed to provide a certain percentage of quotas on tickets for women. In the Green Party, women are given 50 per cent of tickets whereas in the SPD women receive a 40 per cent share, while in the CDU their share has not gone up by more than 25 per cent.

The strong fraternity of women has acquired such proportions that on several occasions, women of all political parties crossed their party lines on issues such as marital-rape, the right to abortion and separate budgetary allocation for gender equality.

This revealing information was given to a women’s delegation from Pakistan, who were invited to Berlin by the German government to study the concept of gender mainstreaming.

Besides the writer, the delegation comprised of six prominent women of the country: the adviser to the prime minister for women’s affairs Nilofer Bakhtiar, the Sindh’s minister for women’s affairs Dr Saeeda Malik, chairperson NCSW Justice Majida Rizvi, principal of Kinnaird College Dr Mira Phailbus, and the vice-chancellor of the Women’s University Dr Najma Najam.

The German concept of the quotas took every participant by surprise. Being aware of how badly the provision for the reserved seats in the parliament was misused and abused by some political parties, we all wondered why the National Reconstruction Bureau took no notice of this system.

Another prominent feature of gender mainstreaming in Germany is the safeguards given by the state to various NGOs, who receive their funding from the state but act as an independent and critical agent on the implementation of government reform programmes for women. They are the watchdogs of women’s reform programmes. Without any fear they can criticize the government and can hold press conferences against anything they find not in agreement with the reform programme. For instance all the shelter homes in Germany are run by NGOs while they receive their salaries from the state. Currently there are more than 400 centres for victims of domestic violence being run independently by government funded NGOs.

Besides full-time careers, special measures have been taken by the government to ensure equal monetary benefits and better company pension schemes for women who are working part-time. They realize that family related interruption of gainful employment is an additional risk and exclusively affects women. A child bearing woman can take a leave of three years and come back to her previously held position after the said period without going into the rigmarole of re-hiring and re-application.

But despite all these facilities, women in Germany are reluctant to start a family. The trend to prefer a career over family is turning out to be counter productive for the German economy. The birth rate is rapidly declining. More and more women refrain from marriage. Over the years, their order of preference has changed considerably. Their first preference is their career, then a husband and then a family. I personally could feel the implication of this trend when I landed in the town where I grew up. This visit gave me the opportunity to visit Bad-Godesberg after 34 years.

It was an emotional experience. Bad-Godesberg is a small town inhabited by 300,000 people, attached to the former capital of Bonn. It has not lost its glory though most of the embassies in the town are vacant. Strikingly beautiful, the small town with a thousand years of history welcomed me without asking any questions.

Unknown girls in the bus helped me find my hotel and carry my luggage. The family from my childhood neighbourhood just took me in their arms. All my friends from those days were traced and Aunt Ursulla was gracious enough to host a small breakfast for us. The 34-year gap vanished within minutes.

The German language that I once knew so well, failed to help me in expressing my feelings. The English that they knew could not find them words of expression, yet we managed to talk, laugh, sing and tease each other. Affection does not need words, it just flows.

The Endemann’s family of four is still four while my family of six has expanded to two digit numbers. Both the daughters did not marry. Their cousin Christoph, who is of my age, is still childless.

The implication of the negative birth rate can be felt in every lane which were empty. I saw few children playing in lanes. The 100-year-old houses, though well kept with sparkling windows and beautiful decorations, had an emptiness that gave a forlorn look to a third world citizen like me.

The green house effect has taken its toll in this part of the world, too. Till the ’60s, Bad-Godesberg used to have heavy snowfalls, but not anymore. For the last 20 years, no snowfall has been recorded. The summers have become hotter. I remember that school holidays would be declared if the temperature would jump up 24 Centigrade, now the mercury goes up to 34 Centigrade.

Pakistan can definitely benefit from gender mainstreaming. Our women are highly marginalized, under represented, under privileged, deprived and dispossessed. They need to be brought out from their centuries old cocoons and brought at par with their male counterparts. The future of Pakistan’s progress can only be achieved through them, as they alone hold the key to the change that we all look for.

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