Women from Waldeck-Frankenberg visit the Hessian state parliament

Local politics is the basis of democracy - and still has too few women. Politically interested women from Waldeck-Frankenberg therefore recently went on an excursion to the Hessian state parliament - organised by the district - to gain a direct insight into the work of the state parliament and its members.

Discussions with members of the state parliament
The group was given an introduction to the functions and working methods of the state parliament and the women watched part of a plenary session from the gallery. Four members of the state parliament also answered questions from the participants. Claudia Ravensburg (CDU) and Dr Daniela Sommer (SPD) had organised for the travel costs to be covered by the state parliament administration and also made themselves available for the question and answer session. MPs Wiebke Knell (FDP) and Daniel May (B90/Greens) also made time for the group that day and joined the discussion.

Willingness to get involved in local politics strengthened
"The women really appreciated the fact that the MPs took the time for personal discussions," reports Beate Friedrich, the district's women's representative. "We want to encourage and motivate more women to get involved in local politics. The feedback from the participants showed that the visit to the state parliament reaffirmed their desire and willingness to be active in local politics."

The trip was organised by the Women and Equal Opportunities Department of the district administration, supported by the "Municipal Action Programme: Women in Politics", an initiative of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs and the German Rural Women's Association. Within the district administration, this project is overseen by the village and regional development department.

Background: "Women in local politics" action programme
There are still far too few women deciding the fate of their municipality, town or district. The district of Waldeck-Frankenberg wants to change this. Together with strong partners, it wants to sustainably increase the proportion of women in local politics.

The action programme aims to sustainably increase the proportion of women in municipal representations (city and local councils as well as district councils) and the proportion of full-time and honorary female mayors and district administrators. The programme therefore not only focuses on women, but also aims to help initiate structural changes that can have a positive impact on the participation of women and the acceptance and attractiveness of local politics as a whole. One focus is on rural regions. Over a project period of 1.5 years, ten selected regions - including the district of Waldeck-Frankenberg - will benefit from numerous programmes and a grant for regional activities.

The project is supported by a regional steering group consisting of, for example, equal opportunities officers from the municipalities and districts, mayors and district councillors, representatives of local parties/factions, regional rural women and women's political organisations from the region. The project is organised by EAF Berlin in cooperation with the German Rural Women's Association (dlv). The action programme is funded by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ).

Keywords:

Women in local politics Women and Equal Opportunities Service