Germany

Government responsibilities

The main responsibility for the development of strategies, laws and federal programmes rests with the BMFSFJ. However, ministerial responsibility for gender equality is not established by law.

The BMFSFJ comprises one minister (member of the government cabinet), three state secretaries and five sectoral departments. It does not have a federal gender equality commission officer. One department is dedicated to equality, with the others dedicated to: democracy and civic engagement; family; demographic changes, older persons, and welfare; and children and youth. There is also a central department. The equality department has specific units on: women and work; boys and men; violence and protection of women; international gender equality politics; and equality and participation.

As the equality division is one of six departments, the BMFSFJ is responsible for a variety of tasks and challenges. While that gives it an intersectional perspective on political issues, gender equality is not the only priority. Annex 6 to § 45 (1), § 74 (5) of the Joint Rules of Procedure of the Federal Ministries states that the Ministry’s responsibility regarding equality is ‘a) In examining whether the proposed legislation can be expected to affect matters of gender equity policy’.

However, its other responsibilities may interact with this task, as they refer to assessing  ‘b) If the proposed legislation affects family and senior citizens policy matters; c) If the proposed legislation affects matters of children and youth policy, especially if it is advisable to consider whether the proposed legal norms are compatible with children's welfare.’ The BMFSFJ is heavily engaged in family-related policies, reconciliation of family and working life, and anti-discrimination, including drafting laws, developing national strategies, advising, researching and publishing relevant reports. It is also responsible for demographic change, family affairs in general, democracy and diversity, engagement policy, digital engagement, and participation and media.

The most relevant infrastructure for gender mainstreaming is the federal operational programme for the implementation of the European Social Fund (ESF) in the funding period 2014–2020. The programme has three horizontal objectives: promotion of equality between women and men; promotion of equal opportunities and non-discrimination; and promotion of sustainable development. In 2015, the Agency for Horizontal Objectives within the ESF (Agentur für Querschnittsaufgaben im ESF – Gleichstellung von Frauen und Männern, Antidiskriminierung und Ökologische Nachhaltigkeit) was established to monitor, advise and support the stakeholders implementing the federal operational programme to integrate these horizontal objectives into their initiatives.

The Agency promotes gender mainstreaming (alongside other specific actions) as its strategy for gender equality. It emphasises the obligation to implement gender mainstreaming at all levels and in all phases of analysis, objectives, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Gender budgeting is promoted within the framework of the ESF but is only partly implemented in some counties/cities (such as Freiburg, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich) and not at national level.

Independent gender equality body

The Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency (Antidiskriminierungsstelle des Bundes – FADA) is Germany’s independent gender equality body. Part 6, Section 25 of the AGG states that ‘the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency shall be provided with the personnel and materials required to fulfil its tasks. It shall be identified as a separate chapter in the federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth’s individual plan’. Section 26 states that the ‘agency shall be independent in the execution of its duties and only subject to the law’.

The FADA is an independent body, focused on various forms of discrimination, including on the grounds of age, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnic origin and multiple discrimination. It can provide information on legal claims, outline possibilities of taking legal action within the scope of legal provisions for the protection against discrimination, provide referrals for counselling by other agencies and seek amicable settlements between parties. Anti-discrimination agencies and networks or designated NGOs have been established in most of the Länder as well.

Parliamentary bodies

In the Bundestag (the lower house of Germany’s federal parliament), the Committee on Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (Ausschuss für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend) is one of the 23 standing committees established in January 2018 following the last election. It focuses on family policies, children and youth, family and work, and the promotion of gender equality.

In the Bundesrat (upper house), legislative proposals of the Ministry must be submitted to the Committee on Women and Youth (Ausschuss für Frauen und Jugend des Bundesrates). The Committee deals with draft act/law (bills) in the areas of equality, children and youth, and civil service. This includes:

• general equality policy,
• general child and youth policy,
• gender mainstreaming,
• equality at work,
• child and youth services,
• child and youth protection,
• pregnancy counselling,
• sex education and civil service affairs.

The Committee is responsible for proposals submitted by the federal government to the federal council under the auspices of the BMFSFJ, and for submissions by the state (regional/Länder) governments, drawn up by the respective Länder ministries. In addition to national regulatory proposals for legislation and regulations, the Committee deals with a large number of EU projects, within the framework of community competence for these issues.

Regional structures

Ministers for gender equality and women’s affairs exist in every federal state (Land) and each have different tasks, which can be subject to change after elections. Similar to the budget of the federal ministry, most states’ budget for gender equality are not always clearly separated from tasks such as integration of migrants or family matters.

The Conference of Ministers for Gender Equality and Women's Affairs - Senators of the Länder (Konferenz der Gleichstellungs- und Frauenministerinnen und -minister, -senatorinnen und -senatoren der Länder – GFMK) ensures interaction and coordination between the federal states. Its main task is to define basic lines for common gender equality policy for women at regional (Länderebene) and national level. It adopts measures for equal opportunity policy/strategy for women and men in all areas of life and accompanies the legislative processes at the federal level.

The GFMK comprises the following taskforces and expert groups:

• Labour market and women taskforce (AG Arbeitsmarkt und Frauen);
• Women in family law and family policy taskforce (AG Frauen in Familienrecht und Familienpolitik);
• Promotion of women in the field of science taskforce (AG Frauenförderung im Bereich der Wissenschaft);
• More equal opportunities through gender-sensitive education and training taskforce (AG Mehr Chancengleichheit durch geschlechtersensible Erziehung, Bildung und Ausbildung);
• Social security for women taskforce (AG Soziale Sicherung von Frauen);
• Equality atlas taskforce (AG Gleichstellungsatlas); 
• Official assessment in administration taskforce (ad hoc AG Dienstliche Beurteilung in der Verwaltung).

The 16 state equality opportunity acts (Landesgleichstellungsgesetze) and the relevant equality regulations in the higher education laws of the Länder were mostly enacted in the 1990s. The equality laws primarily regulate the equal treatment of women and men in the public service.

In addition to these institutional bodies, equality officers of the highest authorities of both the federation and the Länder meet regularly. Germany has official and volunteer commissioners in the municipalities who are tasked with meeting the equality requirements of the Basic Law (Article 3, paragraph 2), highlighting the discriminatory structural barriers for women inside and outside the administration and developing proposals to reduce those barriers. These volunteers advise both the administrative and political bodies of all projects on measures that affect women differently or to a greater extent than men.

In accordance with the provisions of the equal rights laws and the equality laws of the federal states, equality commissioners, women's representatives or equal opportunities officers are appointed or elected either full-time, part-time or as honorary representatives. They are usually responsible for promoting women's affairs and women’s participation in equal opportunities measures, as well as monitoring and initiating work-life balance proposals.

At local level, the Federal Association of Municipal Women's Offices and Equality Bodies (Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft der kommunalen Frauenbüros und Gleichstellungsstellen – BAG) is composed of 1900 municipal women’s and equal opportunities commissioners, most of whom are linked to municipal administrations. It can be viewed as a civic society organisation, as it is volunteer-based. The BAG’s main tasks are networking, lobbying and creating an open alliance of women in political decision-making, with the goal of extending women’s influence in national politics. The BAG has expertise in women's and equality policy and regional initiatives.

Browse all Germany structures