… and the problem of demography will automatically be solved
Excerpts from the book by Family Minister Kristina Schröder
In a society that respects the freedom and the individuality of the person and that does not force equality by interfering with freedom, there will always be a certain inequality between women and men, just as there will always be disparities between 30-year-old and 60-year-old people. It is about dealing with diversity and ensuring that women and men have the opportunity to realize individual perceptions of a good life. It is not about leveling the differences in the name of gender equality! Interpreting the different performances of women and men in occupational statistics as discrimination against the female sex results in a dead-end. To declare every gender-specific difference a proof for the division of mankind into discriminated women and privileged men, only restrictions of individual liberties will remain as policies, starting from the attempts to tell women how they have to live by means of supposedly modern models, via degradation of alternative life styles, up to government control via women quotas and other state-controlled interventions.
Time to assume responsibility: On the way towards the future world of work
Is it an utopian idea to believe that time for the family and care will naturally belong to the curriculum vitae of female and male managers as well as to a good education?
Is it utopian to allow people to choose their working hours fitting their family situation? Is it utopian to abolish the unwritten rule that decisive career steps have to be taken between 30 and 40 – which is just a stage of life, when most people want to found a family? Is it utopian to trust mothers and fathers of young children to lead a team or manage a project during a presence time of 30 hours per week? Is it utopian to think that even top executives like the board member of a DAX Convern Group, the chief editor of a national daily newspaper or the female partner of a renowned law firm can stay with their children for two half days a week and generally keep their weekends free from work commitments? Is it utopian to negotiate not only money but also time concerning one’s family and own personal life during a job interview? In short, is it utopian to say “family first!” even if you want to succeed in vour career?
“If we [...] were willing to invest as much energy and expertise in the development and implementation of new working models as are usually invested in the development of new means of transportation or new cell phones, any organizational problem will dissolve very fasts.”11, Radisch once remarked dryly. That’s exactly as it is!
Sovereignty of time is the liberty to be able to say “family first!” when it comes down to it. Sovereignty of time is the liberty to be there for the partner, for members of the family who need care, as parents for the children, without getting disqualified for responsible activities in the job area or for the next step in the career. Sovereignty of time is, for women and men, family and partnership, the liberty to give it the significance it requires from their point of view – especially and even more when they have a job. Instead of regarding the desire to be present for the family as disturbing – as the grit in the works of the performance oriented society – we should question the constraints against which family life is regularly pulling the short straw. Instead, we should defend partnership and family against the space-taking claims for availability, mobility and flexibility of the working world. This is no fight of women against men for half the world. Instead it is a struggle for the freedom of individual.
The political conclusion can only be to stop to try and steer role and family models; instead the conclusion must be to enable different lifestyles by means of modern family and equal opportunities policy. It is politics’ mandate to support people in pursuing their own, very personal vision of a good life, and time is the leading currency, because it equally promotes equal rights and responsibility skills. If we want equality in our partnerships and family cohesion in our society, we need both the freedom and the courage to make the pace of working life individually fitting to the rhythm of family life. “Thank you, we are emancipated ourselves!” would be the right attitude for once. •
(Translation Current Concerns)
Source: Kristina Schröder with Caroline Waldeck, Danke, emanzipiert sind wir selber! Abschied vom Diktat der Rollenbilder, Reprint by kind permission of the publisher,
© 2012 Piper Verlag GmbH, München, ISBN 978-3-492-05505-5
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